Hi Holly,
I'm happy with a Manfrotto (Bogen to the American bogans) 190D with a Manfrotto 410 geared head. This works for my Wista field 4x5 as well. The geared head is not so pricy and is a joy to use.
Should you find yourself shooting straight downwards the Manfrotto horizontal bar (adding a counterweight), or macro, Manfrotto has horizontal bars or incremental geared sliders that fit into this system too.
Mine came from Vanbar in Sydney.
It seems that one item that digital won't supercede is a good tripod.
Regards - Ross