I shoot with a Canon XL2 and LIbed TC-50 tripod. Things are great until I'm out to almost full zoom, then I get what I call are the "Micro Jiggles". These are the vibrations that you get when simply touching the pan and tilt handle and you get very noticible vibrations in the tape. The only way to avoid the is to not touch the tripod and go into lockdown mode.
Is this a tripod problem that can be fixed with a more robust tripod ... can it be dampened?
I'm thinking of putting some foam or cork or something to isolate the handle from the head...

Any thoughts?

Bill

A neat trick someone helped me out with for great smooth pans also works to dampen the micro jiggles (I've seen them too!). Use an elastic band to pull the pan/tilt handle. If you have matched your head drag settings well with the size of elastic band then it can produce incredibly smooth pans and tilts....even diagonals with a bit of pratice. Since the rubber band also isolates you from the tripod it smooths out these micro jiggles.

Try it out if you never have before.