Hybrid Tripod Head - Is There Such a Thing?

D

dust'n the callipygous

Well-known member
I love shooting video, but I primarily shoot stills (real estate) for work. Right now i'm shooting with a 503HDV and 755 carbon fiber sticks. I love the rapid column for quick leveling and it's lightweight for video, but it sucks lugging that thing around to take photos inside a house.

I'm really looking for something super-compact and light-weight, so I can just strap it to my pack and carry it with me. I need a tripod head that's fluid enough for video, but can also be quickly leveled (not by adjusting the legs). I love the quick leveling adjustment of a ball head for stills, but you couldn't use something worse for video. Most of the compact video tripods don't use a bowl or rapid column (bogen only term?), so the only way to level them is by adjusting the legs with trial and error.

From what I've seen on the market so far, my best bet is probably something like a bogen 701HDV with 190 sticks (probably carbon fiber) and then buy a rapid column to adjust the head. It's just that the rapid column is just about the most expensive component of the setup--and then it doesn't break down quite as small.

Is there a hybrid head on the market for stills and video that I've just overlooked? I honestly don't even know what it would look like, since photo and video heads are for two entirely different purposes. I imagine, with all the DSLRs out there right now, that I'm not the only one with a need for this. Anybody know of anything like this?
 
There are lots of tripods that level with a ball mount. Search 75mm or 100mm ball fluid heads. They are not cheap. They would work fine with a DSLR, but are heavy and not too small. I have a sachtler dv6sb and miller solo legs. Its a decent fluid head with a compact design that can go just about anywhere, and the legs are very flexible - but its no where near as light my DSLR tripod.

More importantly, you will have problems when you want to shoot portrait instead of landscape.


Jason
 
yeah my current tripod has a 75mm ball head that levels, but i'm wondering if there are smaller/lighter/cheaper options. that rapid column for the manfrotto 701hdv and 190 tripod i mentioned is the same thing. i think this might be the smallest/lightest/cheapest solution out there for what i'm looking for.

as far as portrait vs landscape goes, that's not a big concern for me, since i shoot real estate mostly. it's pretty much standard procedure to only shoot landscape for real estate, since just about every advertising method only accepts photos with that orientation.
 
ggrantly said:
dust'n

I have one of these under a 503 on my small tripod rig and it works great if you don't want to go for the ball leveler type head.

Grant

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/554093-REG/Manfrotto_438_438_Compact_Levelling_Head.html
Click to expand...

That's great! Gives me more options for sticks now instead of just the manfrotto 190 series I've been looking at. anybody tried Benro sticks? something like this minus the head? http://linkdelight.com/Benro/Benro-...Detailed-product-flyer.html?keyword=Benro+1M8
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top