Considering a fluid head - A7Riv and Tamron 28-200

Craig Gillette wrote:

As my search goes on, as is typical, along with adding recommended items, there are also a number of counter reports which suggest that one user's favorite is perhaps also a different user's worst possible choice, etc.

I browsed a second Samy's today for a while. This one had several Manfrotto products out on the floor where the first didn't. At one, the guy I talked with favored Benro, at the other store, the guy I spoke with favored Sirui (not necessarily ruling out others).

Maybe you could narrow your search by visualising how you would operate the head, such as whether a tilt-lock being on the left side is likely to suit your needs better or worse than being on the right side {for example}, or whether you think you can work around the compromises of the more basic heads.

I suspect having some drag adjustment to the pan action may be more important than a tilt drag adjustment for some users. I personally am happy enough with the built-in drag of my tilt option....but would have found a proper adjustment to the pan action to be preferable.

That said, any panning {or tilting} i do with birds, is usually limited to a pretty narrow degree of pan angle, if the subject is moving about {often just a few inches or a couple of feet in either direction} so any smooth panning/tilting i need is not as extreme in length of movement, as someone who may need to pan wide vistas or panoramas etc....therefore extra pan/tilt adjustments for me maybe less essential than for others.

If i find my panning is not perfectly smooth throughout a clip, it can often be smoothed out enough, or entirely, with the aid of a touch of slow motion in post, from my usual 60fps.....or filming with the aid of ibis {although my panasonics ibis can be a bit jumpy at the beginning and end of the travel, if any change of pan direction is too quick}.

I'm not sure I fully grasp the counter-balance thing.

Fixed vs Adjustable counter balance fluid heads: Digital Video Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Aside from the Smallrig and other small ones, which might be a bit too small for the A7Riv and 28-200 , I don't think I've ruled anything out completely. The Manfrotto MVH500AH (or A?) and a couple of both Sirui and Benro interest me. Haven't worked through some of the others that have been recommended

The Manfrotto MVH502AH is interesting but only for use with the 200-600. It's quite large, so like the 200-600, would be used intentionally, not just casual or walk around, etc. It also seems to generate broadly different responses.