Cartoni Focus 12 - Opinions?

I think it depends what you do with it - most tripods in this price bracket are more than adequate for normal lenses and medium weight kit. Many heads these days seem to have a counterbalance which has no zero or off position, meaning that your head needs to be a certain weight otherwise the counterbalance will spring back, so just check that your rig is over that minimum. It's only when you start stressing things by using ultra telephotos or macro lenses, or very heavy rigs that the cracks start to appear. Cartoni is decent kit, right up there alongside comparably-priced Sachtlers. Personally I'd always tend to buy something from the next tier of quality secondhand for a similar price.
The Touch and Go 16 is the same as used by Sachtler and others and is very good, solid, easy to use.

Steve
 
steve phillipps said:
I think it depends what you do with it - most tripods in this price bracket are more than adequate for normal lenses and medium weight kit. Many heads these days seem to have a counterbalance which has no zero or off position, meaning that your head needs to be a certain weight otherwise the counterbalance will spring back, so just check that your rig is over that minimum. It's only when you start stressing things by using ultra telephotos or macro lenses, or very heavy rigs that the cracks start to appear. Cartoni is decent kit, right up there alongside comparably-priced Sachtlers. Personally I'd always tend to buy something from the next tier of quality secondhand for a similar price.
The Touch and Go 16 is the same as used by Sachtler and others and is very good, solid, easy to use.

Steve
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Thanks Steve. This range of Cartoni heads has a huge counterbalance weight range: 0-26 Lb. That is one of my draws to it. The Sachtler FSB8 has a large range too, although not quite down to zero. I'd like something that can balance a lightweight dslr setup easily but also take cameras in the FS7, Canon c300, Ursa Mini range ...built out a bit. I definitely don't find myself using lens setups heavier than a canon 70-200, so no worries there. In your opinion, what would be the next tier up that I'd be able to buy used for the same price, that also has a wide counterbalance range?

@Braindead@70 - Yes, I've read multiple reports of the Cartoni Focus HD's plastic levers breaking. That is the main thing that scares me off from this.
 
Cartonis work great. When they work. At a production company I worked at, we had three of them and they were always out of commission and or leaking head fluid. For the money, Sachtler is the best unless you can afford the money and weight for O'Connor.
 
Used Oconnor is a "permanent" solution. I have an Oconnor 1030B I have been using since the late 90s. I also have an Oconnor "DV" (newer versioin of the 515 I think?) I've been using almost as long. Take a look at this guy's site, he may have some refurbished Oconnor heads available: http://novacam2000.com/index.html SInce I have too many heads now, I may be interested in selling one of my DV heads and carbon legs too.
 
ozmorphasis said:
In your opinion, what would be the next tier up that I'd be able to buy used for the same price, that also has a wide counterbalance range?.
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Next tier up in my opinion are the likes of Sachtler Video 18/20 Ronford Baker 2003 Cartoni C20...or as mentioned by others the O'Connor 1030. As always you face the age-old tripod purchasing decision - buy the most expensive that you can afford and the heaviest you don't mind carrying!

Steve
 
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