A superb product. Beautifully finished and very smooth.

This is a great tripod head! works amazing with my canon 7D and my Sony Ex-1. i believe this would work on any pro video camera, if you want to use it on a cinema camera with mattebox and accesories i would recommend a bigger Manfrotto.The plate system its a little weird if you are used to the old ones that are inserted on the front or back of the hole in the head and its removed the same way when pressing the release button on the side. this one works putting one side of the plate first at the top of the hole in the head. then pressing the button on the side (which is not a button anymore, but a screw with some kind of lever. Yes you have to unscrew it a little bit and then press down) and pushing down the plate, and the same procedure to get it out... call me an idiot but this is the first tripod head i use with this system and took me like an hour to figure this out... LOL.

Cercavo un cavalletto leggero e robusto e ho provato questo. Che dire, soddisfa pienamente le mie aspettative. Certo non è il top di gamma (posseggo un altro Manfrotto di fattura ben diversa) ma è ottimo per camere leggere. Il cavalletto è in alluminio e si estende per tre sezioni. E' possibile alzare anche l'asta centrale e arrivare così a 175cm circa. Abbastanza alto per tutti gli usi. I piedini in gomma non ne permettono lo scivolamento ed è un gran bene. Se devo trovare un difetto, mancano ai piedi le punte di acciaio. Dovendolo utilizzare su "terreno accidentato" potrebbe essere un problema. La testa inclusa nel kit, la MVH500AH, è anch'essa una entry level ma per camere leggere va più che bene. Io ci monto sopra una Canon EOS 6D con 70-200 e va una meraviglia. Pan e Tilt sono fluidi e il sistema a sgancio rapido è il solito Manfrotto. A differenza però delle altre teste Manfrotto, qui la slitta non si estrae facendola scorrere verso di se ma inclinandola su un lato dopo aver sbloccato il fermo laterale. La bolla (ce ne sono due) si fa allentando la sfera della testa, molto comoda in quanto non bisogna stare ad allungare o accorciare le gambe del treppiedi.In conclusione ho trovato il cavalletto molto robusto, solido e qualitativamente buono. La borsa invece non dà l'impressione di robustezza, spero solo che duri (se dovesse cambiare qualcosa aggiornerò questa recensione). Una bella sorpresa trovare le istruzioni in italiano e un adattatore per viti da 1/4 a 3/8, più un perno di bloccaggio per camere che sono provviste del foro.Amazon come al solito impeccabile, imballaggio perfetto e spedizione istantanea.

La rotule est tout simplement parfaite, je met une caméra de 2.5Kg dessus sans problèmes. Le frein est très efficace, rapide à mettre en action. Le fait de pouvoir monter ou descendre la rotule était vraiment l'élément manquant sur d'autres trépieds du genre.

I am an amateur, but serious, home video maker and required a reasonably, professional fairly light weight stable and smooth panning tripod particularly when using a multiplier zoom lens on my Full HD Canon Legria HF M506 camera.The product description says "boxed weight 2.60kg whereas it is actually 3.64kg on my electronic luggage scales. It is approx. 80cm x 16cm packed in its case making it a bit cumbersome to carry around all day and climb mountains but still reasonably light to carry for specific projects. It is much lighter than many tripods of this quality.The fluid cartridges on pan and tilt provide just enough resistance to ensure ultra smooth constant speed pan and tilt. You can lock it in position on both axis. The slide plate allows you to adjust the camera tilt balance so when I fit my heavy zoom lens on the front I can counterbalance by sliding the plate & camera back. Even if you forget to lock the slide plate it will NOT accidentally fall out when the camera is tilted. READ the instructions to ensure the slide plate is in the correct orientation (arrow pointing to the lens) when fitting to plate to the camera and to the head.As mentioned by other reviewers the bubble level is only 1cm diameter and awkwardly located below the slide plate/camera. It helps to tilt the plate fully forward & down so you can see from above that the bubble is over the centre dot. You need 3 hands; one to hold the head level, and one to lock the ball joint and one to hold a small torch to see the bubble!The only plastic pieces are the tripod leg locking mechanisms joint, feet pads and the ball joint socket, but they are substantial and I do not see any long term problems. Note that the 'ball' itself is metal (not plastic as stated by some reviewers).In conclusion, I have had cheap tripods but they are only good for SLR's. For video you should not stint on quality. It may seem expensive at £300 (+extra for postage) but it is much cheaper than many professional quality tripods and is worth every penny. I do not regret buying this excellent tripod which has substantially improved the quality of my filming particularly on zoom when tracking a skier or sailing boat, or just panning a landscape.In the few months since using it I can say it definitely adds a professional quality makes a difference to the movie quality by taking out the wobble common to amateur movies taken by hand and enables steady panning.

La qualité est clairement au rendez-vous avec cette rotule Manfrotto qui apporte une fluidité dans les mouvements de caméra et ne provoque pas de chocs parasites. Evidemment, elle a son poids et est assez impressionnante un foi montée sur un trépied. Je conseille à ce propos d'être très attentif aux indications de charge de votre trépied qui doit tolérer le poids de votre caméra, des accessoires éventuels (micros, lampes, etc)... et de la rotule. Dans le manuel, le constructeur parle d'un ressort de retour pour faciliter le repositionnement de l'appareil en position neutre. Très honnêtement, malgré l'équilibrage de ma Sony de 2,4kg, je ne perçois pas cette aide. Personnellement, cela ne manque pas du tout et au contraire, je suis plutôt heureux de ne pas avoir ma caméra qui "tente" de se repositionner à l'horizontal !!En conclusion, un achat de qualité qui répond parfaitement aux besoins d'un vidéaste amateur !

I have started shooting more video with my 5D and wanted something other than my ball head for video. I already have a Manfrotto 055X carbon fiber tripod and wanted something that would go onto that quickly. What a breeze! Just unscrew the ballhead, screw this one on and away you go. Probably 30 seconds to make the change. What I wanted was something very lightweight and compact. This head fit the bill perfectly. The fluid movements are really wonderful. Perfectly dampened and with springs to help return it to level. Smooth as silk! The sliding baseplate is plenty long enough to balance the camera with a long lens attached. I have the Canon 70-200 and there are no issues balancing. It is not necessary to use the lens mounting option at all. Just slide the camera back with the plate on the camera and balance is quickly achieved. The finishes are very nice and everything seems to lock down properly. It would certainly support a heavier camera. Overall I am very very happy with the purchase. The pan/tilt handle can be locked in most any position and used on the left or right side. This is really a GREAT choice for smooth pans and tilts and you really cannot beat the price for this very high quality head. Buy it and you will not be disappointed!

I rarely give out 5 star ratings because rarely do I come across a product that achieves perfection. So, my 4-star rating on this product says that I am very happy with it. And the price, though it is in the high range, was something that can be justified with the quality of the product.PROS:Very sturdy legs that slide easily in and out when collapsing and expanding them. No problems at all with the locking mechanisms for both the legs and the head. Good height for a tall guy like myself (6' 4") who doesn't like to hunch over for long periods of time while I'm shooting weddings. Excellent fluid head that provides butter-smooth pans and has a very wide range of motion (360 for panning and almost perfectly straight up and down, but not quite). The bag is excellent quality too. I read a lot about bags that barely fit the tripod when the head is on it. This is not a problem with this product, as long as you fully collapse the legs and remove the handle before storing. The hardware for this product appears to be designed well. No issues with pieces not fitting together properly that you get with cheaper products.CONS:Lots of plastic on this unit. More than I thought there would be. The locking mechanisms for the legs are plastic. The ball-head is plastic and the knobs that lock the head in place are plastic as well. Though this isn't an immediate problem, plastic is a cheap material that is suceptible to cracking and breaking after being exposed to weather and wear and tear. I just thought a $350 item wouldn't have to resort to so much plastic, but maybe it was necessary to keep the price point. Not sure. I wasn't very impressed with the bubble-level either. It's not in a very good spot on the tripod and I noticed that when I do 360-degree pans the bubble moves from center to off-center as I am moving around. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I would think that if it was an accurate measure of something being level that it would be stationary as I was panning. So, I DO use the bubble level, but I also have to resort to eye-balling it on my LCD to make sure that I am level.STORE:I do want to touch on the distributor I bought this item through, the Recording Store. For the record, their customer service (or lack thereof) has nothing to do with my 4-star rating. That is based purely on the product itself, but I did want to include them in this review.On Feb 14th I received an email stating that my tripod had shipped and I would get it as early as the 21st and no later than the 24th. The 24th came still with no sign of the product. Interestingly, there was no tracking information available on this order through Amazon. I waited until the early afternoon on the 24th and emailed the Recording Store and they said they were shipping it that afternoon. What? Really? So, I asked about the email I received stating it was being shipped on the 14th and they said that they were GOING to ship it that day, but they realized 2 parts were damaged on it. Ok, so I don't get an email letting me know that it was going to be late? I find it interesting that they were "just getting ready to ship" my item as I was emailing them on the 24th. Quite a coincidence, wouldn't you say? I'm guessing my order fell through the cracks and when I emailed them they started looking for it and found it. Kinda like when the waitress forgets to put your order in and then when you ask where your food is she runs back there and puts it in really quick. Then she makes up some BS story about how the kitchen is running slow. Anyway, I got it eventually, but they didn't seem to be very apologetic about it or even care that it was late. Good thing I didn't have an immediate need for the item. If I did, you can be sure I would have been blowing those people up demanding next day shipping for free.

I'm a film student, and I've owned some pretty modest tripods over the years, generally in the $100-$150 range. For that price you can get some sturdy tripods that work well for still photography, but they don't work well for film. In particular you can't do any sort of smooth panning/tilting sorts of shots. I used some older Manfrotto tripods at school, and definitely saw the value in those, so I bought this as my first real "video tripod".I really really like it! It's not cheap, but it's so easy to do butter-smooth pans. You can even do it with one finger, just smoothly panning. On my first shoot we did two such scenes, and they both worked fabulously.For other static type of shots, the camera performs very well too. It's very sturdy, and goes up pretty high (6'), and the quick release works really well (although it takes a little getting used to). I'm using it with a Canon XA10.The one thing that annoys me about it, is trying to get it level, for a "normal" static shot. The ball-and-socket mechanism is actually a bit awkward to get perfectly straight. It does have a level bubble, but it is in a really awkward place which make it difficult to see, especially in less the bright lighting conditions.Still, this is a brilliant tripod. Some of the other filmmakers that I worked with on this really appreciated it too, and said how much they enjoyed working with it.