Hi All

I'm in the market for a new tripod because my Dad's 30 yr old one isn't and probably was never doing the job right. Haven't taken too many long exposures because of that. I've put it off for a while but I'm getting too annoyed to not have one anymore. I want to take it on travel if I can. I took my friends gorillopod to the NZ slopes which wasn't too bad. But even then it was hard to find places to use it and limited my shots a little.

I want to keep the budget around $200-300 but am not fussed if I have to spend more for something decent. I don't wanna buy this thing twice if I can avoid it. Will be putting a d90 and 17-55mm 2.8 on it. That's probably the heaviest thing that'd be on there so the 4kg max weight will be enough I think.

Was thinking of something standard like a manfrotto 190xdb with 804rc2 head? I was also looking at somethign lighter and more expensive like the 190cx3 with a 484rc2 ball head.

Any opinions/suggestions/comments welcome.

THanks.