O'Connor 2560

S

steve phillipps

Veteran
Just a heads up for those who may not know - the excellent O'Connor 2060 head was discontinued a couple of years ago but has been replaced by the 2560 (i'ts been out for about 12 months or so I think). I've had the 2560 for a while now and it's basically the same as the original 2060, ie heavyweight drag, perfect for field use when you want (need) to save 3.5kg over the 2575.
Lots of us missed the 2060 when it was discontinued so it's nice to have it back - and it's prettier now too :)
Still by some distance my pick of tripods for long lens wildlife use - have used everything from a GH4 to a RED with 50-1000 on it.

Steve
 

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That is a beautiful piece of gear. Did you already have the Sachtler legs or did you buy them with the head because you liked them better than the O'Connor legs? When I was at Film School, they had O'Connor heads, the big old heavy ones, I think they were the 50s? Great stuff.
 
As Sachtler and O'Connor (and Vinten, Manfrotto and others!) are all owned by the same company now there is a fair bit of homogeneity among their products, the legs being one example - the Sachtler and O'Connor CF legs are basically identical. These 2 stage heavy duty CF legs have always made sense with the 2060 / 2560 with the goal of keeping weight to a minimum while still having top-notch support. Having owned and used virtually every serious head out there the 2060 and now 2560 are by far my favourites for the type of work I do. My review of the various heads is hosted on this site http://www.grahamhorder.co.uk/tripod-heads-essential-reading/ Graham's blog is actually a good read too.
Steve
 
Nice. I face challenges in carrying the OConnor 1030HDS and here I see that you are carrying the 2560 which is double its weight. How do you carry? On your shoulder?

VITEC recently acquired wooden camera. Looks like you are using the wooden camera bridge plate?
 
Actually that's a cheap bridge plate (does the trick though) but I've used lots of Wooden Camera items on BBC kits, really good stuff.
I often carry the gear on my shoulder when stalking etc., ready to film, but for hiking I put head in pack and strap legs to the pack (hate carrying stuff in my hands, often need them). I think tripod head is the one place where you can't skimp on weight - something around 6-7kg is about right for me, anything less and I always feel it's a too much of a compromise. I used to have a 1030, and in fact the only reason I sold it is that it was too tempting to use it and make for easier hiking - even thought in my mind I knew I should really have taken the 2060 for best results, just being lazy...and only way to get rid of the temptation was to get rid of the 1030.
Steve
 
puredrifting said:
That is a beautiful piece of gear. Did you already have the Sachtler legs or did you buy them with the head because you liked them better than the O'Connor legs? When I was at Film School, they had O'Connor heads, the big old heavy ones, I think they were the 50s? Great stuff.
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A guy I used to shoot for 'back in the day' had some old O'connor heads that looked like military surplus and WOODEN sticks. Carbon fiber legs were available, then, but he still had two sets of woodies. I know one set got broken, but don't know whatever became of the other set.
 
Run&Gun said:
A guy I used to shoot for 'back in the day' had some old O'connor heads that looked like military surplus and WOODEN sticks. Carbon fiber legs were available, then, but he still had two sets of woodies. I know one set got broken, but don't know whatever became of the other set.
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We had the wooden legs when I was in film school. They look old school, work okay but I will take carbon any day over the wood.
 
Run&Gun said:
A guy I used to shoot for 'back in the day' had some old O'connor heads that looked like military surplus and WOODEN sticks. Carbon fiber legs were available, then, but he still had two sets of woodies. I know one set got broken, but don't know whatever became of the other set.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with the wooden legs, I've had a couple of sets over the years - they're wonderful bits of engineering. In fact because they're wood and easy to work with I have converted a tall set into a tiny baby set in the past - a cheap way to get some 150mm baby legs, all you need to do is disassemble them, saw them to length and reassemble.

Steve
 
steve phillipps said:
Yes, it is really interesting. It's the VITEC factory though, I believe they assemble O'Connor, Sachtler and Manfrotto there, think Vinten is done elsewhere?

Steve
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Ooops! Sorry, made an edit there. Yes, if you look through the article's pictures you will see a Sachtler head getting assembled and some Manfrotto workstations.
 
I was told by a Sachtler rep that most of Vitec's tripods and heads sold in North America are "assembled" in Costa Rica. Components are made world wide, but final assembly is in Costa Rica.
 
nutmegger said:
I was told by a Sachtler rep that most of Vitec's tripods and heads sold in North America are "assembled" in Costa Rica. Components are made world wide, but final assembly is in Costa Rica.
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The article and link above that Mark posted bears this out, you should read it. Pretty interesting article with tons of good photos of the assembly facility.
 
On page 4 "Vitec Videocom Costa Rica makes OConnor, Sachtler, Vinten, and Manfrotto heads and legs."

Made elsewhere and assembled in Costa Rica? Could very well be. In one photo taken at the Costa Rica plant, there's a Sachtler Cine 30 HD head with "Sachtler Germany" emblazoned on it.

I didn't know the history of Vitec so I looked into it. Vitec Group was created by Vinten in 1995, but they kept the Vinten brand name as well. Under the Vitec Group, there are several tripod brands (Vinten, Gitzo, Sachtler, OConnor, Manfrotto, Avenger). Some of the other companies bought up by Vitec are SmallHD, Teredek, Paralinx, Anton/Bauer and Litepanels.

In Vitec's 2015 Annual Report, they say that they have moved a "significant" amount of the work from the facility at Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk to Costa Rica.
 
Makes sense for a global conglomerate. We all love "Made in Germany" products but the bottom line is European workers in many countries are expensive. It's really no different than cars, I would gladly buy a Toyota made here just as much as a Toyota made in Japan. As long as the company making the products keeps up QC and design and keeps their standards high, modern assembly, machining, etc. can be done anywhere. It may lose a little prestige but times change and so do the places where global conglomerates make their products. You probably won't see Arri cameras made elsewhere besides Germany but then again, look at what Arri cameras cost. I feel Sachtler and O'Connor are probably the two best tripod heads you can buy and if they assemble them in Costa Rica and they can demonstrate that they actually now have fewer defects and returns than before, where they are assembled seems like a non issue.
 
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