Manfrotto 393

[geordie1970]

Has anyone tried this head I know there was a thread a while back but i can't find it.Anyhow the nations favourite auction site has a "copy" from India for half the price warehouse ex are selling it for with an almost identical spec and positive feedback.Any thoughts?

[MagpieMick]

The 393 is a great head, tried and tested for long lens users and at £ 90 a fraction of the price of the other three much more expensive gimbal type heads.
They might be cheap on said auction site BUT would you trust your camera and lens on it........I know i wouldn't !!!!!!

Buy the 393 .......

[denisg]

The 393 is a good long lens head that does the job well at a fraction of the price of Wimberly's for instance, around 20% of the price in fact.

A member of another wildlife forum where I am an admin has had the opportunity to try them both on a side by side basis and was not impressed with the Indian version. While the spec suggests that the copies are anodised the general consensus is that they are painted and it seems to flake quite easily. Available on ebay, i would seriously suggest you read the feedback. A number of us use the genuine Manfrotto head and mine can be seen in use at Accessories with slightly larger pics here DenisG Photography - Manfrotto 393 Tripod Head

I use it with my Minolta/Sony cameras and the Tammy 200-500 lens as shown. The 393 is very a good VFM piece of kit imho.

Denis.