GH4 What high quality tripod head to use with GH4?

S

Steve Benjamin

Active member
I have a miller DS20 carbon tripod which I love but the head is not really suitable for the GH4. What in your opinion would be a really smooth good/high quality head to use the GH4 on with the miller carbon tripod I have?
 
Your system is a little overkill for the GH4, imho. I have the Monfrotto MVH500AH head, great with the Induro LFBC33S tripod. Perfect for the GH4.
 
David W. Jones said:
OConnor 1030 is what I use.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6bUsRPg9-0&list=UUMoDBu86dCa05pec2vxCVYg
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Now that's a proper piece of kit - but proper price too. An alternative super-high quality head would be any old Sachtler - like Video 18 or 20 mki or ii or iii. Can be picked up for reasonable (depending on your idea of reasonable!) price. Even cheaper would be ol Panorama 7x7 - precursor to Video 18, also great, but only 1 counterbalance setting and no sliding balance plate.
Steve
 
It's a must to get the head payload to match the camera weight. If it dosent then the head will not work properly because the counterbalance will be to strong. When tilting the head will spring back to level instead of a nice smooth stop.
 
Erik Naso said:
It's a must to get the head payload to match the camera weight. If it dosent then the head will not work properly because the counterbalance will be to strong. When tilting the head will spring back to level instead of a nice smooth stop.
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That's the beauty of the O'Connors - they go from zero counterbalance to maximum sleplessly.

Steve
 
I have a 1030 thats probably 25 years old and it's solid. Best head I've used but it's a beast. A very smooth beast.
 
VMT said:
Your system is a little overkill for the GH4, imho. I have the Monfrotto MVH500AH head, great with the Induro LFBC33S tripod. Perfect for the GH4.
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I have this head, have you been using it with a rig / cage / matte box? It's fine for the camera alone but with my shoulder rig / matte box / cage it's far too much weight for the counterbalance and is hard to work with. It's very very very smooth though.
 
The Cartoni FocusHD has continuously variable counterbalance that should work for anything from 1 to 26 lbs. Now of course it's not going to perform like an O'Connor, but it's not really in the same price range either.

The Sachtler FSB line is also pretty good. Price range is similar to the Cartoni FocusHD ($1k or so depending on the model and tripod legs carbon vs. aluminum, etc.). Build quality of the Sachtlers is probably a little higher than the Cartoni, but the load capacity is lower (9 lbs. for the FSB-4, 13 lbs. for the FSB-6) and the counterbalance is stepped rather than continuously variable.

Depending on your needs, you might be able to get by with a cheaper tripod and head, but considering that a good tripod will last you through several different camera bodies, it's often worth spending a little extra on a solid set of sticks.
 
ukfilmer said:
I have this head, have you been using it with a rig / cage / matte box? It's fine for the camera alone but with my shoulder rig / matte box / cage it's far too much weight for the counterbalance and is hard to work with. It's very very very smooth though.
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The Monfortto is rated for 11 lbs and is perfect for my GH4 setup, which I make as light as possible. I shed any unnecessary weight that could slow me down. Last thing I need is a heavy tripod and head. The Monfortto head and Induro carbon legs in this setup is very light. I can slide in longer rods and a shoulder pad, and I am good for handheld. I find cages and most rigs outrageously cumbersome. I attach accessories such as an LCD directly to the tripod 1/4" threads when needed, e.g., for talking heads.

GH4-Monfroto-MVH500AH.jpg
 

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Just got my benro s8 kit. Very sturdy, and the video head is big. It is sturdier than my old manfrotto 501hdv/with tripod.

The benro is rated max load of 17lb we shall see.
 
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