Sigma 150-600mm vs Vanguard Alta Pro 2+ 263AB100

With the Nikon D3200 and Sigma 150-600mm, I often used the 600mm end. It's my personal sweet spot and I still have to sneak up on the birds. The problem with the 600mm end is with a maximum aperture of f/6.3, the autofocus system was not always reliable even with proper settings and back button focus

Don’t buy this tripod if you use a large telephoto or zoom lens ie., Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6. I understand the product isn’t “heavy duty”, the ball will nod hold larger lenses

The reason I upgraded was because I loved the 400mm reach and got addicted to it, and figured 600 was better than 400, right?? I will say that this is quite a bit bigger and heavier than the 100-400mm version (twice the weight). Your forearm WILL get tired of you handhold this for too long, but it’s bearable. The autofocus on this is a little slower than the 100-400mm, and it seems to hunt more - but it’s possible it’s because the extra reach compresses the scene more (that’s just a guess, I don’t know if that’s actually how it works). Costwise it’s not much more than the 100-400, so I would base your decision on whether you’re okay with the extra size and weight

Vanguard doesn’t even sell accessories that fit it, which seems a little ridiculous to me. Maybe there is some other user of the tripod that the 3/8” works for besides camera equipment, but otherwise it is frustrating that I have to buy an adapter to use any accessories on this when they could’ve made it a 1/4” thread. While small, I paid a good chunk of money for this tripod, and the details matter

All right is this good. Can you turn to the left a little? I need this reflection. Yeah yeah, I'm getting the bounce back right here, that's good! It'...

Took some 30 sec exposures alongside a busy highway with 18 wheel tractor trailers going by at 65 mph and still got tack sharp images. Their passing was enough to blow my hair around, but didn't budge the camera. It's not exactly what I would call lightweight, but I've gladly carried it for several miles into the swamps of Florida to get the shot I was after. Very impressed with this piece of equipment

The Sport is supposedly more ruggedly built and better sealed - but that doesn't matter if the lens is too heavy for me to want to carry in the first place. And You can literally buy two Contemporary lenses for the price of one Sport.

This was my second Vanguard camera tripod. My first, the very tough Auctus Plus 283AT was my everyday tripod (most architecture) for almost ten years. I still use it but I wanted to have a lighter tripod last year and settled on this one. It seemed a good buy and worked acceptably