My most recent head is a Bogen/Manfrotto 128RC/3130 and I'm happy with it -- it is a significant improvement over the ones I had been using. Unfortunately, now I have 3 tripods and they all have their own quick release system which are of course incompatable. I like the Manfrotto's best -- so do they make some kind of "receiver" that I can put on my spiderbrace and other tripods so that they accept Manfrotto QR plates? Then I could put one kind of plate on all of my cameras and know I can lock it into any mount at a moment's notice....

Thanks
-Sean

I faced the same situation with a Bogen 501 head. It does have a sliding quick release plate, but that is too large and weighty for a small camera like a PD-150 or Z1. So I bought their rectangular quick release plate assembly, which has a base and a camera plate with antirotation locator and 1/4" screw. I mounted this on the sliding QR plate and now just a small QR piece is on the bottom of the camera. My still photo system uses similar QR plates, so I can share gear if need be. The QR plate ass'y goes for about $30 in camera stores.

If your system doesn't have a leveling ball, you can get a Bogen ball leveler as well for use with their flat plate mounting system which the 501 has.