Combo tripod head useable for both still and video

[vaphoto]

I currently use a Markins Q3 ballhead it works great for stills, but not video. Is there a good combo head that will work for both?
Thanks
Bob

[Christopher Sanderson]

There are some that can do both quite well but there is always a compromise in some direction.

For travel, both Michael & I are using light weight Traveller tripods kitted out with an Acratech levelling base and a Gitzo fluid head.
The compromises here are stability, lack of easy vertical mode for stills, only 10˚ of levelling and only fair fluid head function for pans & tilts. But given those compromises, the resulting kit is small and versatile.

For video, the need for levelling and smooth pans & tilts requires the use of a proper video head and a tripod with a bowl- complete overkill for stills and lacking the easy adjustment to vertical or portrait mode.

I'd be very interested in others' experience.

[Dan Carter]

Manfrotto will have what you're looking for next year.

[Christopher Sanderson]

I overlooked the fact that the Gitzo fluid head uses a clever square (4 way position) base plate that allows the camera to be easily repositioned 90˚ for portrait mode.

[Dan Carter]

Thank you for the "Acratech levelling base" tip Chris. I've been looking for something like this for some time.

I've been having a love/hate relationship with the Manfrotto 700RC2 fluid head, and would be interested to hear more about the Gitzo. For as long as it has been around there is precious little data on it.

Kind Regards,
Dan

[david_duffin]

I overlooked the fact that the Gitzo fluid head uses a clever square (4 way position) base plate that allows the camera to be easily repositioned 90˚ for portrait mode.

I've been unable to find a small high-quality video head that will do smooth panning and tilting and be suitable for the Panasonic GH2.  The Gitzo with the small, square baseplate is the only one I can find that accomodates mounting the camera with the light path in the same axis as the panning handle.  The Manfrotto head mentioned by Dan doesn't appear to help.

Is there an alternative to the Gitzo?  Many thanks..

Postscript:  A search today yielded an RRS B2 LLR II clamp that should do the job for me, enabling a right-angle mount using a square Arca plate with alternative fluid heads...

David

[NicolasBelokurov]

There are some that can do both quite well but there is always a compromise in some direction.

For travel, both Michael & I are using light weight Traveller tripods kitted out with an Acratech levelling base and a Gitzo fluid head.
The compromises here are stability, lack of easy vertical mode for stills, only 10˚ of levelling and only fair fluid head function for pans & tilts. But given those compromises, the resulting kit is small and versatile.

For video, the need for levelling and smooth pans & tilts requires the use of a proper video head and a tripod with a bowl- complete overkill for stills and lacking the easy adjustment to vertical or portrait mode.

I'd be very interested in others' experience.

Hello Chris, are you using the Gitzo 2380 or the smaller and lighter model?
Thanks

[Morgan_Moore]

Its heavy, but lighter than my big old monfrotto..

I use my miller video sticks and put a manfrotto ballhead on top to get uprights when shooting stills

You could consider a an RRS cage for your (stills) camera that will mount LS or upright

Ultimately video heads dont have a centre pole so will always be annoying to use in terms of subtle adjustment of height

I think chris has a nice solution for small cameras but that would not give the solidity required if you use a larger vid camera or have a penchant for accesorising you DSLR

and yes that fotto solution on Dans blog may work, frotto are not the best video heads but its all a compromise

S