Best way to store your fluid head - tension loose, counter balance max, locked?

A

analogs

Well-known member
What is the best way to store your fluid head tripod for mid to long term storage or even storage in general?

Do you lock all movements and put the tension to loose or hard, counterbalance max or minimum?
 
Just storing, it doesn't really matter. If traveling / shipping, everything full loose. Pan friction, pan lock, tilt friction, tilt lock- all full OFF.

The idea is that there is less chance of damage from impact if things are all loosey-goosey.
 
JPNola said:
Just storing, it doesn't really matter. If traveling / shipping, everything full loose. Pan friction, pan lock, tilt friction, tilt lock- all full OFF.

The idea is that there is less chance of damage from impact if things are all loosey-goosey.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Need to go re-read my Sachtler manual then. Cause I'm 99% sure that when traveling with it - mfg recommends turning the friction on pan/tilt to it's highest setting "7" (but leaving locks off)
 
On my Vintens I always dial the drag back down and make sure the locks are off. Counterbalance I leave as-is, because it’s a pita to adjust that much. One of my clients has all Sachtler heads and they always transport them in the shipping tubes with everything at zero and locks off. Vinten actually says to leave the drag as-is after shooting, but like JP said, I don’t want it “fighting” something if it gets hung against something or hit during transport. As far as long term storage, I don’t know, but I’d at least dial the counterbalance back to zero. It may not be good for the counterbalance spring/mechanism to remain under constant high tension if it’s not being used. Heck, in a long term storage situation(1yr+), I’d probably just put everything at zero, off or it’s lowest setting.
 
Sachtler says:

3.8 Transport setting of damping, counterbalance and brakes

To ensure smooth operation of the setting rings for the damping over the long life time period of the fluid head, you should turn both setting rings from position “0” to maximum position, before and after the use of the fluid head.Setting during transportation: the most important issue is to open both brakes - horizontal and vertical. Counterbalance and damping should be set to maximum position.
 
Last edited:
^ Thanks Paul - that's what I remember from buying my Sachtler Cine 7+7 head last year. It surprised me - coming up in the ENG world, I was always told to put everything at it's lowest setting with brakes off.
 
Would you apply lock off in general for other heads for example, ball heads with the ball and pan features?
 
relevant thread:

https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/tripod-sticks-heads/250541-tripod-head-loose-locked-transport.html


Personally, I think this is like discussion of how long you should wait to go into the pool after eating. Pretty rare, I would think, that any tripod head suffers damage because of how it was set at the time. Typically the damage would have occurred regardless. I guess a good question here is: If you purchased a tripod new, how was it set by the manufacturer when you received it? Were the pan drag and tilt drag set to max or set to zero? I've only ever bought pre-owned tripods.
 
The generally accepted wisdom I learned was to turn everything off, however a sachtler repair man explained to me why that was wrong and why Paul F's post from Sachtler is correct. Apparently the springs that are used both to set the spring tension and the pan and tilt dampening strength are most compressed at "0". As you raise the numbers they are opened. Hence they will last longer and be under less pressure at what looks like maximum load but in reality is the opposite. I don't know what the actual construction looks like but I'm not going to argue both with my Sachtler authorized repairman and the official Sachtler recommendations. Locks should be off though.
 
I've always opened all locks and turned to max dampening on all of my Sachtler heads I've owned and I'll continue to do so.
 
LennyLevy said:
The generally accepted wisdom I learned was to turn everything off, however a sachtler repair man explained to me why that was wrong and why Paul F's post from Sachtler is correct. Apparently the springs that are used both to set the spring tension and the pan and tilt dampening strength are most compressed at "0". As you raise the numbers they are opened. Hence they will last longer and be under less pressure at what looks like maximum load but in reality is the opposite. I don't know what the actual construction looks like but I'm not going to argue both with my Sachtler authorized repairman and the official Sachtler recommendations. Locks should be off though.
Click to expand...

I was told the same thing by a former Vitec/Sachtler salesman.
 
Exactly. Super loose all over. I know of one case of a Miller tripod where Qantas had obviously piled other heavy baggage on top of the soft padded tripod case and obviously a lot of pressure had been put onto the pan handle. The handle was locked in the downward position parallel to the legs. The pressure was sufficient to snap the rosette part of the metal casting clean out of the top of the tripod head. The owner showed me a pan bar with a jagged bit of metal casting screwed neatly to it. Yes all loose indeed.

Chris Young
 
cyvideo said:
Exactly. Super loose all over. I know of one case of a Miller tripod where Qantas had obviously piled other heavy baggage on top of the soft padded tripod case and obviously a lot of pressure had been put onto the pan handle. The handle was locked in the downward position parallel to the legs. The pressure was sufficient to snap the rosette part of the metal casting clean out of the top of the tripod head. The owner showed me a pan bar with a jagged bit of metal casting screwed neatly to it. Yes all loose indeed.

Chris Young
Click to expand...

The Sachtler sales rep I mentioned above also told me to detach the handle(s) from the video head when transporting the tripod in a bag, which I do.
 
Last edited:
LennyLevy said:
The generally accepted wisdom I learned was to turn everything off, however a sachtler repair man explained to me why that was wrong and why Paul F's post from Sachtler is correct. Apparently the springs that are used both to set the spring tension and the pan and tilt dampening strength are most compressed at "0". As you raise the numbers they are opened. Hence they will last longer and be under less pressure at what looks like maximum load but in reality is the opposite. I don't know what the actual construction looks like but I'm not going to argue both with my Sachtler authorized repairman and the official Sachtler recommendations. Locks should be off though.
Click to expand...

Do you think that depends per manufacturer about how the springs are implemented or is that the general application?

Do you think Benro, would use the same approach on how the counter springs are applied on their S8 or S6 series fluid heads?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top