Cartoni Focus Vs. Bogen 519 Head ????? Anyone?

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Dj Frat

Member
I have been posting question about tripods for a while now. I have been looking for which one to invest my money on and I can't decide.
It has come down to the Cartoni Focus Head which Jarred made a great review on and the Bogen/Manfrotto 519 Head.

Does anyone have the Cartoni Focus? Do you love it?

Does anyone have the Bogen 519 ? Do you love it? I have played with this one and its amazing but Jarreds review has put my decision making in a little twist.

Can someone help me out here so i can finally make my decision and purchase?
Im working with a DVX100B.

Thank you
Jeremy
 
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Nope. But wish I did...

Can't offer anything, as I haven't personally used either of the heads you're after, although I've heard more than a few good things about the Cartoni.

Ya know, both of them are higher end, good quality heads. You're not going to go wrong with either of 'em... especially if it's just a DVX that these will be carrying.
 
ive used a 519 i REALLLY love it. im in the market for a new high end head. so i in the same boat.
 
Thank you guys for your replies. I appreciate it. I have been trying to find reviews online and I am having trouble doing so. I found a few Cartoni reviews and they all said the Cartoni Focus is a really sweet head and has a lot of higher end features for a really low price. The 519 to me looks like a beefier head but I think I am going to go with the Cartoni. I am a big fan of BH photo especially since there is no tax because I live in CA. Only problem is they are on back order.

When i finally get my tripod, I know there are lots of people who would like to know another opinion on the Cartoni Focus head so I shall review it since I work with a DVX and not a HVX (cant afford it yet)
 
Dj Frat said:
Thank you guys for your replies. I appreciate it. I have been trying to find reviews online and I am having trouble doing so. I found a few Cartoni reviews and they all said the Cartoni Focus is a really sweet head and has a lot of higher end features for a really low price. The 519 to me looks like a beefier head but I think I am going to go with the Cartoni. I am a big fan of BH photo especially since there is no tax because I live in CA. Only problem is they are on back order.

When i finally get my tripod, I know there are lots of people who would like to know another opinion on the Cartoni Focus head so I shall review it since I work with a DVX and not a HVX (cant afford it yet)
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You'll be very happy with it. I bought my Cartoni Focus from Abel Cine Tech in L.A. (Burbank?). I paid sales tax but they gave me a good DVX User discount. I dealt with Jarrod Haarstad. I've been very pleased with it.
 
Just ordered a Cartoni HIDV its a bit lighter than the focus. I am not sure but it looks like the same head as the focus but with a dfferent bowl, the focus has 100mm and the HIDV has 75mm and is about £100 pound cheaper. Will post again when I get it and have tried it out. I will use it with my XH A1
 
So i placed my order and received my tripod. The head is pretty sweet. The legs are only 1 stage but its height is good enough for me and it feels pretty sturdy. I feel that if you can afford a more expensive tripod, then buy one instead of getting a dinky one because the cameras keep changing but a really nice fluid head is gonna last you enough time to get a few different cameras to use it on.
 
Dj Frat said:
So i placed my order and received my tripod. The head is pretty sweet. The legs are only 1 stage but its height is good enough for me and it feels pretty sturdy. I feel that if you can afford a more expensive tripod, then buy one instead of getting a dinky one because the cameras keep changing but a really nice fluid head is gonna last you enough time to get a few different cameras to use it on.
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Are you still happy with your Cartoni ? Anyone else, too? Thanks.
 
I have a focus and mounted it on a gitzo (g1348) legs. Very solid head and love the adjustable drag option. It is a solid head and works well with my setup.
 
I'm currently looking into a Sachtler dutch head myself. But I have a 526 and it's a fine tripod to get you started with the big boys. Make sure you buy a LANC arm from Manfrotto... they're worth it in some situations.
 
I have a Focus 101 (single stage legs) and am very happy with it.

On oddity though - I attempted to remove the head from the bowl so I could use just the bowl on my jib, and discovered that it evidently can't be done. To my horror, when I took the head off, the ball bearing races were exposed and a bunch of them fell out!

I managed to retrieve them all and after sweating the reassembly for a good long while, finally succeeding, I noticed that the panning resistance was much smoother and more easily adjustable if I screwed the head into the bowl *more* (which seemed counterintuitive).

So...now the head is now much silkier feeling and the adjuster ring is easier to turn than it was before. So I inadvertently stumbled on an improvement while doing something that was really a bad idea to begin with. Don't ever try to remove the Focus's bowl! (Unless there's something else about it I don't know.) But you might want to try loosening the allen bolts on the bottom and experimenting with greater (or possibly lesser) tightness in the head/bowl screw (just rotate the head on the bowl to do it). Just don't unscrew to where the ball bearings fall out like I did!

Again - screwing the head on tighter made my Focus much smoother and easier to use. YMMV...
 
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