Sachtler Video 15 SB

Joshua Milligan

Joshua Milligan

Well-known member
Has anyone on this forum ever worked with the Sachtler Video 15 SB? I think Sachtler quietly updated it as the B&H information on this tripod isn't the same as it is on Sachtler's website. For instance, Sachtler says this fluid head has 12 steps of counterbalance, supports 37.47 lbs and weighs 7.05 lbs whereas B&H says that this Video 15 SB has 7 steps of counterbalance, supports 35 lbs and weighs 5.9 lbs. Someone is off here haha.

Either way, I'm interested in this fluid head. I have a set of Flowtech 100 sticks with a fairly new FSB 10, but I'm tossing around the idea of stepping up from the FSB 10 to the Video 15 SB for a little beefier of a head. I feel this could help me in my quest to get slightly more stable shots with my 100-400mm lens.

Sachtler did announce this week their new Aktiv line of heads including an Aktiv 10 which is their replacement for the FSB 10. It has some incredible features, but I still feel like the Video 15 SB would give me more stability which is really what I'm after. I'm not interested in the Video 18 S2 head as I have to remain fairly mobile for my projects and that head is over 9 lbs in weight. It would just be a bit too much for what I need.

I'd love to hear thoughts on this head, especially compared to the FSB 10 I currently own. I'm not sure if the jump is enough to warrant the buy, but I am really hoping to find something a little stronger. My FS7II and 100-400 are pretty stripped down and don't weight a lot, and I'm only on counterbalance setting 3 out of 10 right now which shows that I'm nowhere near pushing my FSB 10 too far weight wise. But even when I lightly just touch the tripod the shake is there, so I'm looking for other options. Thanks!
 
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I was also confused by the difference between the DV 12 and the Video 15.

I'll skip here to saying: Get the Video 15. You'll love it compared to the FSB 10.

I own a DV12. Its lightweight is great. But when I go back to my Video 20 the 20 is dreamy by comparison. Like butter. There's no substitute for the benefits of mass in operating. The Video 20 is a bit heavy for running around, the Video 15 is probably a good middle-ground, like the Video 18. If you ever have to mount a prompter or EyeDirect, you'll appreciate the Video 15. Same if you ever use a heavy camera like the Amira, with big glass. Sachtler's "Video" line is their battle-tested ENG line. Built like tanks and requiring almost no servicing.
 
Cheapest option is to become rubber band artist, which can also increase the PQ and save a ton of storage by filming the b-roll at normal speed to achieve smooth and slow shots.

Using stabilized for moving pictures lenses is another alternative.
 
I've never used the 15 but I've owned the 18 and the 20 and now am rocking the DV6 SB which I bought like 25 years ago. The older line Sachtler heads are rock solid, industry standards.
The new Aktiv heads look really interesting but the FSB line they replace, IMHO, were sub par Sachtlers. They work okay but aren't as well built and smooth as the Video and DV lines. More plastic,
less metal. The 15 with the Flowtech 100s would be a dream setup for me.
 
JPNola said:
I was also confused by the difference between the DV 12 and the Video 15.

I'll skip here to saying: Get the Video 15. You'll love it compared to the FSB 10.

I own a DV12. Its lightweight is great. But when I go back to my Video 20 the 20 is dreamy by comparison. Like butter. There's no substitute for the benefits of mass in operating. The Video 20 is a bit heavy for running around, the Video 15 is probably a good middle-ground, like the Video 18. If you ever have to mount a prompter or EyeDirect, you'll appreciate the Video 15. Same if you ever use a heavy camera like the Amira, with big glass. Sachtler's "Video" line is their battle-tested ENG line. Built like tanks and requiring almost no servicing.
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Thanks for the replies everyone. JPNola, I probably will get the Video 15. From what I gather everyone feels the way you do in that Sachtler's Video line is their battle-tested ENG line. That's probably a good career move for me.

puredrifting said:
I've never used the 15 but I've owned the 18 and the 20 and now am rocking the DV6 SB which I bought like 25 years ago. The older line Sachtler heads are rock solid, industry standards.
The new Aktiv heads look really interesting but the FSB line they replace, IMHO, were sub par Sachtlers. They work okay but aren't as well built and smooth as the Video and DV lines. More plastic,
less metal. The 15 with the Flowtech 100s would be a dream setup for me.
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Puredrifting, I've read before where you felt that Sachtler's FSB line wasn't the greatest because of the amount of plastic in them. I'm starting to understand that. The problem I'm having with my FSB10 is the shake in my 100-400mm footage on my Sony FS7II. My entire camera rig is about 13 lbs which is literally half of what the FSB10's rated counterbalance weight is. When on the FSB10, I'm only at counterbalance setting 3 or 4 out of 10, so I don't feel like I'm anywhere near the limits of what my fluid head can handle. In fact the whole reason I bought the FSB10 was because I read where you want a fluid head that can counterbalance at least twice the weight of your heaviest rig and this is exactly that for me.

However, if I even dare touch the pan handle on the fluid head or the focus ring on my 100-400, the shake is pretty awful. I've been working really hard to find out why and what I've noticed is that without a camera on the fluid head, if I lightly tap the pan handle the whole fluid head vibrates. I will for example put my left hand on top of the fluid head lightly to feel for vibrations and then will just barely tap the pan handle and the vibration from that very small tap travels all the way up the fluid head to where my hand can feel it very well. It's pretty significant really. I also noticed this on my FSB8 that I used to own.

This vibration to me is likely what is causing the shake in my footage. When you have vibration like that traveling through the fluid head, it will carry through the camera and into the lens. And at 400mm you can imagine how that vibration will be greatly magnified. To me, this has got to be the problem. My camera rig ins't taxing my fluid head. Not even close. But that vibration is pretty bad.

I'm wondering if this has to do with all the plastic used in the FSB line. Surely metal wouldn't carry vibrations like that. So I'm hoping that the Video 15 SB with its more metal construction (at least I think it has more metal in it) will eliminate or at least greatly reduce this traveling vibration and if so, I'm thinking it will solve my problem. My issue is not there when simply panning or tilting, just when I touch the camera, the pan bar or the focus ring at all, even softly. Hopefully this will fix that. Putting a Video 15 SB on my Flowtech 100 sticks does sound like a nice combination.
 
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I do have the Sachtler 15. And I like it a lot. Rock solid. Use it in combination with the FS7 and canon 100-400 no complains.
I also like the carbon speedlegs.

The fluid head is nice to work with. And yes, the head with the new flowtech is my dream cobination too. But I can't destroy the carbon speedlocks, they are solid. So I have to live with them :-)
 
Publimix said:
I do have the Sachtler 15. And I like it a lot. Rock solid. Use it in combination with the FS7 and canon 100-400 no complains.
I also like the carbon speedlegs.

The fluid head is nice to work with. And yes, the head with the new flowtech is my dream cobination too. But I can't destroy the carbon speedlocks, they are solid. So I have to live with them :-)
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Thanks for chiming in! Do you use the 100-400 without the IS on? And if so, is there no shake in your footage when using this combo on the Sachtler 15?
 
Publimix said:
Good question I will make some clips for you tomorrow to compare. Normally I don't use IS.
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Thanks Publimix. I appreciate you offering some insight on this for me. I can't find a place to rent or test out this fluid head, so asking around like this is the only way I can get information on it without just simply buying it.
 
Hi Joshua,

It is midnight here. You have to wait a few hours.
What I think of is:
- with and without IS
- 400 mm 4k
- 800 mm cropped 2K
- pan, tilt
Is there anything else you want me to test? Any tips or suggestions welcome.
I'll use a 30 year old 25 euro tripod and my beloved Panasonic g7 to capture the whole operation.

Best,

Peter Bosman
 
Man, you really don't have to do all of that! That's incredibly generous and I'd almost feel bad asking you to test all of that.

That being said, if you're up for it, those are the exact things I'd want to know. How does it work with or without IS and what the 4K 400mm and 800mm from cropped 4K would be like. Also, can you adjust focus without it shaking all over the place when IS is turned off at those ranges? Those are the questions I'm trying to answer before dropping $4,600 on a head that may or may not fix this for me.

Thank you so much Peter for being so kind.
 
puredrifting said:
I havr a better idea. https://www.lensrentals.com/rent/sachtler-video-15-ft-ms-flowtech-100-tripod-system Nothing like trying things for yourself.
I'd never buy a $4,600.00 head without laying hands on it and using it with my gear.
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Puredrifting, that’s what I originally wanted to do, but even a one day rental for that head from Lens Rentals is over $400. I’m not paying $400 to rent a fluid head just to see it in person. That’s a big chunk of what that head costs to buy. It’s frustrating to me that I have to spend so much money just to literally feel a product to see if I want it.
 
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Hi Joshua,

I did a little test today. Normally I don't use IS. I think it is OK for photography, not so sure it benefits video. And I don't like the mechanical sound it makes (the Canon 100-400 1)
I am very happy with the tripod, I had Sachtler Ace before, they were OK but only with 75mm bowl. This one is much much better, no plastic, old fashioned metal.
I bought it second hand for about 2100 euro including the speedlocks. I bought a new midspreader.

My opinion on shooting with long lenses: weather is important, rising hot air kills pictures. My country is windy. With wind I don't use the sun hood, it catches wind.
Underground is pretty important too, a rocky bottom is OK but here we have a lot of veenmoeras (peatbog says Google translate). The ground is loose, cars passing shake the ground.
And last but not least, the way the camera is mounted on the tripod.
I think the contact surface of the FS7 is small. That makes the ground plate a weak point.


Now watch my two cent test, including elevator music:
I didn't see much differences.

 
Publimix said:
Hi Joshua,

I did a little test today. Normally I don't use IS. I think it is OK for photography, not so sure it benefits video. And I don't like the mechanical sound it makes (the Canon 100-400 1)
I am very happy with the tripod, I had Sachtler Ace before, they were OK but only with 75mm bowl. This one is much much better, no plastic, old fashioned metal.
I bought it second hand for about 2100 euro including the speedlocks. I bought a new midspreader.

My opinion on shooting with long lenses: weather is important, rising hot air kills pictures. My country is windy. With wind I don't use the sun hood, it catches wind.
Underground is pretty important too, a rocky bottom is OK but here we have a lot of veenmoeras (peatbog says Google translate). The ground is loose, cars passing shake the ground.
And last but not least, the way the camera is mounted on the tripod.
I think the contact surface of the FS7 is small. That makes the ground plate a weak point.


Now watch my two cent test, including elevator music:
I didn't see much differences.

Click to expand...

Thank you so much for doing that! I really appreciate you taking the time to run that test for me. That was very kind.

Your results were actually similar to what I have on my FSB 10 which is that the camera is perfectly steady until you touched the focus, like what you said in your following post. That's the same experience I have. That makes it tough as that's one of the biggest challenges I'm facing; the inability to touch the focus without it shaking all over.

I'm still left a little uncertain about what to do from here since your fluid head was the one I was planning to upgrade to. Hmmm.
 
Hi Joshua,

I think you have to exclude the possibility that it is not the tripod nor the head that makes the image shake, but the lens and camera itself.

Try to 'mount' your camera on something very sturdy like a concrete block and see if the image is shaken when you adjust the focus with an 800 mm lens. I thing that a lot of the movement is from the lens and the camera itself.
 
Bought 15 SB in really nice condition. The drag is soo smooth, design and materials are piece of art... BUT... cannot properly set a CB for a light setup (3-6kg). Everything is ok between ~ -40 to +40 degrees of tilt, but out of this range counterbalance isn't working properly.

Played with the center of gravity from 5 to 40 cm (Ronin RS2), but it's pretty impossible to get a hard stops with no drop/backlash without adding drag to 5-7. The backlash of 1mm looks horrible on >70mm focals. Yes, i can fix this with keeping pressure for a longer time or increasing drag to 5-7, but it's not I've expected of this price range gear.

Haven't seen any example of perfect balancing sachtler heads even on payed youtube channels (Chapman etc.) They always trying to mask backlashes with holding a handle...

Is it real to make hard tilt stops of all degree-range on sachtlers without adding of fluid? Or all I need is change this useless expensive piece of iron for a cartoni/vinten/o'connor? Or maybe the problem in my crooked hands or the fluid head is broken?
 
Continuously adjustable OConnor sinusoidal counterbalance and fluid drag that together give the ultra-smooth characteristic OConnor feel over the largest payload range.
Click to expand...

OConnor and RRS are the only manufacturers with sinusoidal counterbalance that I know of.

2575 is the golden standard, but they added 2560 to the line for lighter set-ups.
 
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