I finally got the chance to play with my new tripod tonight.

I'd purchased the tripod based upon a few reviews I'd read and the head because I wanted an economical, easy to use, ball head.

Manfrotto 190XPROB

The tripod is exactly what I was told to expect from anything Manfrotto. Solid, simple to use and pretty well featured. It's not too heavy at a little under 2kg's and height ranges from 8.5cm to 146cm (according to the specs!), though that excludes the head dimensions.

Leg adjustment is managed via pressure locks on the leg, and the vertical column via a small thumb screw device. The legs themselves have a range of preset angles from 25 degrees through to just under 90. The vertical column can be extended and flipped out horizontally for shooting at 90 degrees (or if you're into weird positions).

You can find the full technical specification here.

I really like the thing. It's easy to use, it's a good weight and it offers all the little gadgets my original cheapo tripod didn't. Things like a little spirit level bubble and a hook for hanging your camera bag (useful on a windy day to as as ballast). It feels solid. I've used that word a lot. Well, it is.

I'm expecting many many nights of fun with this.

I'd set out looking for a ball head for a number of simple reasons.

1. I didn't like the 3 bolt pan and tilt operation of my original tripo - I could never get it to quite line up and still be happy the thing was secure

2. I'm kind of lazy and liked the thought of a simple one lock operation

Whilst I'm still happy a ball head is what I want, I kind of wish I'd spent a little more on something a bit more 'user friendly'.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great head and has a really good feel to it. It's well put together and things like the locking plate are an excellent size and do feel secure. The one lock nut does exactly what you'd expect and keeps the head and camera secure (so much so that I had the thing pointing vertically downwards at full tripod elevation with my heaviest lens on and still felt happy to go make a cuppa).

But, the failing for me is the position of the lock nut. Twice now I've opened it without thinking (not accidentally by brushing it or anything, just while setting up for a shot) and the camera has fallen to one side or the another with a 'thunk'. Yep, a 'thunk'. I've been telling myself that it's just the noise as the head stops moving and not the camera getting a 'thunk'. And I'm pretty sure I'm right.  It's just a little unnerving. It's all OK if you hold said camera in one hand and release the nut with the other, then it's all just peachy. But, still, things did go 'thunk'...