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Starting video head for DSLR - flat base or bowl


Nick Burchell

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Newbie to setting up a rig here. I'm a commercial stills photographer serving advertising, editorial and corporate clients. Up to now I've mostly directed and produced shoots with crew, so haven't needed to setup my own kits. But that's changing, so I'm putting together the beginnings of a kit to shoot smaller - meaning very budget conscious and destined for the web - pieces for clients. I'll be using, for the moment at least, Canon 5D IV and Fuji XT-3 cameras. My subjects will be a bit varied, I shoot everything from people, portraits and lifestyle, to documentary work on food production and interior design. But for this more solo video work I'll be keeping movements simple and clean. As a stills photographer the best skill I have has more to do with composition of a frame rather than in camera movements, so when moving the camera, I feel I need very smooth, simple and clean moves. For this type of work I'll often be shooting from a distance or with wider lenses as an observer rather than in the middle of the action. I'll be shooting on sticks mixed with some slider work.

I just purchased the flat mounting Manfrotto Nitrotech 608 to go on stills tripods I already own, but as I've been looking at videos on setting it up, I've seen a number of people rating the 75 mm bowl E-Image GH06 at this price point over the Manfrotto. From what I've read and seen, the advantage of the GH06 is that at full tension it gives a very smooth pan and tilt, one reviewers claim is far superior to what's achievable with the Manfrotto. That seems quite important to me, especially when shooting interiors and portraits. But if the other main platform for my camera will be a slider, I'm concerned a bowl head will be harder to use, even with an adaptor like the Ikan IK-RSR6 Hi Hat, a 6" riser. It feels to me that using an adaptor like the hi hat makes the entire setup talle and top heavy, introducing unwanted camera sway on a slider. And of course I'd need to purchase a video tripod with a bowl for the GH06 as all my tripods are for stills so flat tops, which adds to the expense on what I need, at the moment, to be a budget conscious starting setup. 

How much of an issue do you think this would be? 

Are there better solutions? I haven't purchased a slider yet and wondering if it might be better to rent a fully motorized one and then simply use a stills tripod head and letting the motorized slider do any panning work or not pan at all on the slider?

Thanks!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi there,

I also come from a photography background, so flat base was important for me in my first fluid head. Since all my existing heads and tripods were flat base Manfrotto products, I prioritized compatibility, with no regrets so far.
Sure, the two solutions rely on different habits when it comes to leveling, but I suppose you already have some similar to mine, so it's not like using a flat-head tripod is currently a problem for you. And even though I'm currently shopping for a bowl tripod, I'm going to continue using my flat base heads (since you can easily adapt flat-to-bowl, which isn't that easy the other way round).

Neither of the models you mention is a bad head, neither will stand in your way of achieving smooth motion (as I'm sure you've already found out during the week you've spent with your 608).

Since you mention that Ikan riser, should I assume that you already own a flat-base slider?  

In time you'll probably start seeing the cases where you would benefit from a bowl setup (probably around the same time that the first annoyances of shooting with small cameras will show up), but for dual-purpose use, I'd still stay with flat bases.
It might be an interesting topic to revisit after some time, when gearing up for a heavier camera or once video work dominates your shooting; for now it seems like you're already set up rather well for what you're going to do with your cameras.

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12 minutes ago, Mark Coger said:

@Satsuki, that’s a very efficient head. I didn’t know such a product like that existed out there in the market.

It’s brand new! Seems like it solves a lot of issues for those who need both flat base mounting for sliders and bowl leveling.

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That Activ8 is a great idea, but I think Tomasz made the right point above. The basic Manfrotto will get me started with the light camera setups I'm using right now and as I invest in heavier cameras and see what direction my work takes, then I can purchase something else that fits those specific needs more. Anything to keep within budget helps right now!

Many thanks! 

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  • 2 months later...
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I know this is an old thread but I just picked up the Benro S6 Pro and it's pretty decent for what it is.

Also I HATE bowl mounts.  Give me a 2575 on real sticks any day of the week.  Even with tiny heads I prefer the flat base and to level with the sticks.

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