Sachtler Activ Series Tripods

J

jb.

Veteran
Didn't see a thread for this, but. it looks like Sachtler's replacing the FSB series with the Activs. Newsshooter did a review on the Activ8 and now I kind of want one.

The thing I found the most interesting about the lineup is the Activ8 (FSB8) and Activ10 (FSB10) have the exact same load handling. One's 100mm and the other is 75mm. I'm somewhat interested in getting FSB10 load-handling capability in a 75mm package. Kind of tired of carrying around my 100mm sticks.

Newsshooter review: https://www.newsshooter.com/2020/10/13/sachtler-aktiv-8-fluid-head-review/
Sachtler page: https://www.sachtler.com/en/aktiv

Also, is it really pronounced "SATCH-el-er" and not "SOCKT-ler" or (the correct German accent version) "ZAKT-ler"?
 
jbregar said:
Didn't see a thread for this, but. it looks like Sachtler's replacing the FSB series with the Activs. Newsshooter did a review on the Activ8 and now I kind of want one.

The thing I found the most interesting about the lineup is the Activ8 (FSB8) and Activ10 (FSB10) have the exact same load handling. One's 100mm and the other is 75mm. I'm somewhat interested in getting FSB10 load-handling capability in a 75mm package. Kind of tired of carrying around my 100mm sticks.

Newsshooter review: https://www.newsshooter.com/2020/10/13/sachtler-aktiv-8-fluid-head-review/
Sachtler page: https://www.sachtler.com/en/aktiv

Also, is it really pronounced "SATCH-el-er" and not "SOCKT-ler" or (the correct German accent version) "ZAKT-ler"?
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Matt may be the only person I've heard pronounce it that way. I'm not saying he's right or wrong, but I've always heard "Sock-ler"(a lot of people don't even pronounce the T when saying it).
 
I've always called them SACK-LER (LUR) - definitely not pronouncing the T like R&G mentions - but hearing Matt say it that way makes me think about it.

As far as the tripods, I guess if you need to upgrade or just need a change, they look great. (I barely used a tripod last year; more gimbal and handheld.)
 
It's nice to see that they increased the number of counter balance steps to 15 on all of the Aktiv heads and they bumped up the number of pan and tilt drag steps to 7 on the Aktiv 8 and Aktiv 10 heads as well. The FSB-8 and FSB-10 only had 10 counter balance steps and 5 pan and tilt drag settings. The Aktiv 6 still seems to only have 3 levels of pan and tilt drag, although it does get the full 15 counter balance steps.

Also, the counter balance ranges on these new heads go all the way down to zero, which is helpful for balancing a wider range of loads including very light setups. On most of the previous FSB heads (aside from the FSB-4) the counterbalance is still engaged with minimum payload requirements even at the lowest setting. The FSB-6 has a minimum payload of 3.3 lb. (1.5 kg), FSB-8 minimum is 2.2 lb (1 kg), while the FSB-10 minimum is 8.8 lb (4 kg).

Pricing seems to be about 10% higher for the Aktiv heads compared to the equivalent FSB equivalent, which isn't bad I suppose, especially considering the improvements. The Activ 8 seems to be the best value of the bunch since it has the same payload capacity as the Activ 10 (or FSB-10), but costs $500 less than the 100mm heads.
 
For those who hadn't learned German:

The German consonant “s,” in front of a vowel, is pronounced like an English “z” (as in “zipper”). It is voiced and soft. Following a vowel, the “s” is pronounced like an English “s” (as in “snow”), unvoiced and hard.
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"ch"is not that simple to explain (there are quite a few exceptions with "s" too), but in this case "ch" = h, as in "yacht".
 
I hope these are much better than the FSBs. I rented the FSBs several times and wasn't impressed, my current DV6 SB and my previously owned Video 18 both felt much better.
 
puredrifting said:
I hope these are much better than the FSBs. I rented the FSBs several times and wasn't impressed, my current DV6 SB and my previously owned Video 18 both felt much better.
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That's interesting. My CineDSLR is practically a re-badged FSB6 and I found the build quality and functionality pretty dang awesome. That said, I haven't spent a lot of time with the higher-end Sachtler stuff or anything higher-end than that... so maybe I just don't know what I'm missing.

In any case, I'm excited by getting back to mostly using one tripod that can handle my Canon cinema cameras in both their "bare" and "rigged up" configurations. I've been splitting duties between the CineDSLR/TT75-2 setup for the "bare" camera and a Cartoni Focus HD on Manfrotto 536 sticks for the heavier rig and teleprompter setup.

I think I'll likely still need to use 100mm for the teleprompter setup, but since that doesn't really get panned/tilted live I can probably just snag something like a Kessler Hercules to support that.
 
puredrifting said:
I hope these are much better than the FSBs. I rented the FSBs several times and wasn't impressed, my current DV6 SB and my previously owned Video 18 both felt much better.
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Has anybody been able to do a direct side by side comparison of the Aktiv heads with the older DV or Video series?

My workhorse tripod is a DV6SB on Flowtech 75 sticks, which is a killer setup for light to medium weight camcorders (CX350 and EVA1 in my case), but I'm doing more and more two-camera shoots and have been thinking about getting another rig with similar performance. I am torn between the Aktiv8 or another used DV6SB - I've avoided the whole FSB series because of the known issues. I'd like to know how they compare when tested with the same payload.
 
Greg Smith said:
Has anybody been able to do a direct side by side comparison of the Aktiv heads with the older DV or Video series?

My workhorse tripod is a DV6SB on Flowtech 75 sticks, which is a killer setup for light to medium weight camcorders (CX350 and EVA1 in my case), but I'm doing more and more two-camera shoots and have been thinking about getting another rig with similar performance. I am torn between the Aktiv8 or another used DV6SB - I've avoided the whole FSB series because of the known issues. I'd like to know how they compare when tested with the same payload.
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Would be interesting to see a comparison. I just remark as a long time Sachtler user who owned the Video 18, Video 20, DV6 SB and I have used the DV12 and 15BSs too. I rented an FSB6 for a shoot a few months ago and had it side by side with my DV6 SB and there was no comparison, the DV6 was much smoother and better quality. Also, rented three of the Sacthler ACE M tripods for my shoot in Denver this week. They were junk, really just re-badged Manfrottos, the moves were clunky and even when you cinched down on the tie down, the camera and lens would still creep. And we were shooting really light cameras and rigs (X-T3 with the XF50-140mm f/2.8 OIS) total weight was probably around 3-3.5lbs) It's sad to see a once great brand seeming to become crappy to hit price points. Back when I bought the Video 18 and 20, they were $7k to $9k tripods and they were the best on the market short of O'Connor. Now, the modern Sachtlers aren't impressing me much. Hopefully the Active reverses their trend of more and more plastic parts, not a great feel and questionable build quality compared to the legacy product.
 
Just got notification the Activs are going to start limited shipping in November... a couple of retailers have told me January before they’ll get them.
 
jbregar said:
Just got notification the Activs are going to start limited shipping in November... a couple of retailers have told me January before they’ll get them.
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Fingers crossed. If they are good, really good, not just the new features, I will buy one as my DV6 SB still works great but I it would be nice to add another heavier load contender to the stable for those times when I shoot with a heavier camera.
 
I don’t totally understand the pricing difference between the 100mm and 75mm Flowtech sticks. It’s well over double. I get the 100mm is built heavier (44 vs 66 lbs) but having played with both it’s not that big of a difference.

Probably a “what the market will bear” kind of thing.

The Activ10 also just looks like an Activ8 with a 100mm ball. Everything else looks to be identical.
 
Has anyone gotten an Aktiv head yet? I’m very close to pulling the trigger on this: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...s_ftms_aktiv8_fluid_head_s2068s.html/overview

Everything I’m finding on the web is more an overview of the new technology and not a review on how smooth the head handles...

Seeing that the Aktiv10 has the same payload capacity as the Aktiv8 it seems like there is no purpose in buying the more expensive Flowtech 100 legs with the Aktiv10 head when the Flowtech 75 & Aktiv8 would seem to give you darn near the same experience with a little less weight and a lot less money, no?

My camera fully built out is usually in the 15-17lb range, so I can’t see myself needing more than what the Aktiv head should handle.
 
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