Manfrotto 229 Super Pro pan and tilt 3 way head review
A review of the Manfrotto 229 Super Pro Head for wedding photography and portraiture.
I'm a professional portrait and wedding photographer. If you are new to this site you might like to read why I review photography equipment which I use for my business before reading on. My aim is to provide the information I would be looking for when trying to decide if something would help or hinder my photography business. You won't find specification details ad nauseam, or comparisons between the incomparable, but you will find out how this professional photographer rates the equipment for professional use.
I use the Manfrotto 229 Super Pro head for my wedding photography. It's teamed with a Manfrotto 055 Pro tripod. I do find it a bit slow to use, particularly the hexagonal quick release head. I use it as a second camera support, prefering my much older and, at least for me, much faster Manfrotto 141 RC head. The 141 RC is not as sophisticated as the 229, it doesn't have spirit levels, it won't carry as much weight having only the 200PL-14 quick release plate compared to the big hexagonal plate on the 229, but I still prefer it. The smaller 200PL-14 is also much easier to keep on the camera. I usually take three cameras to a wedding with a 200PL-14 fitted to each one, and they are relatively unobtrusive when shooting hand held which is most of the time as it suits my reportage wedding photography style. The cameras also still easily fit in the camera bag, at the time of this writing a Lowepro Commercial shoulder bag. The big hexagonal plates of the 229 are too big for this sort of use. Bigger isn't always better.
I wonder if the Manfrotto 229 is more suited for studio portrait photography although for this I tend to use the camera hand held. The 229 will take a lot of weight and would doubtless come into its own for landscape photography, particularly in windy conditions.
Manfrotto 229 Super Pro Head summary
It is a big, but heavy, well specified head which will have many uses. If it was the only head I owned I would be perfectly happy using it for wedding photography, but I find it relatively slow to use at weddings and I prefer my Manfrotto 141 RC head which I find faster to use.
229 technical specification (January 2009) |
|
| Height | 16.0 cm |
| Weight | 1.90 kg |
| Load capacity | 12.00 kg |
| Panoramic rotation | 360 ° |
| Color | Black |
| Material | Aluminum |
| Lateral tilt | -90° / +30° |
| Front tilt | -25° / +90° |
| Quick release | Yes |
| Secondary safety system | Yes |
| Bubble spirit level | 3 of them |
| Plate type | 030-14 |
| Attachment (bottom) | 3/8" female thread |
| Attachment | 1/4" and 3/8" screws |
More details about current Manfrotto heads may be found at www.manfrotto.com.