Regarding my xmas wishlist from the other day, I hit up my boy Philip Bloom for a fluid head recommendation.

Click through for the verdict;

I think I mentioned I had been excited to see him using what I thought was the Manfrotto 501HDV with the 5dMk2, because I had been considering it as well. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. Then he posted some specs indicating he had been using the 701HDV paired with the Canon T2i, which heightened my excitement because it’s relatively inexpensive at ~$120. I was about to pull the trigger until I started thinking that the T2i is nearly half the weight of my camera. Add what I hope will someday be a 300mm or 400mm lens to the mix and you’re starting to talk about a lot more weight. If your head can’t counterbalance the weight of your gear, it’s useless. So I shot him a message on his blog and the response is…. 503HDV, which only supports my theory that everything is $400 or more if it’s worth anything.  Also supported is my theory that Philip is great.

I still feel like the 501 ($180) might do, but I’m always of the mind to buy the item that won’t end up disappointing when possible.  Like, I’m rarely in the position to buy the absolute best but I do try not to buy the worst either, because you just end up replacing it with what you should have purchased in the first place.  And if you don’t, you just end up cursing it and yourself every time you use it.  The 501 might be that case where it doesn’t quite satisfy.