OK, I've been using a few old cameras (canon A-1, ricoh 500), since november or so and have finaly saved up some money with christmas, bday, tax returns etc to finally buy my own camera. I think I've determined the camera and lense I'll be getting so my real issue is that of a tripod.
How important is tension control on a ball head? I'm looking at Bogen 3001 legs, and one of their QR ball heads, but none of them have tension control until you get to a price point I dont like, I'd rather not spend more than about 160-170 on the whole system. So in short: is tension control important? And Bogen makes three QR ball heads in my range, the 488, 486, 484, all seem to have the same features. The 88 has a hexagon shaped plate and levels, the rest are squared w/o level. I'm at a loss. I'll hopefully be doing a lot of sports photography if that makes a difference.