503HDV newbie, got any tips?
 

Hi Everyone,
I just purchased the Bogen 745XB Tripod and 503HDV combo from B&H.
1st impressions are pretty good, considering I upgraded from a 25 year old camera tripod.
Do any of you have any tips or sage advice for a 1st time fluid head user?

Thanks,

Scott

Hi Scott..........
 

A couple of tips for a newbie...............

0. Ensure the head is correctly leveled using the leveling bubble.

1. When mounting the camera onto the head, ensure the tilt lock is off and the tilt drag is set to zero.

Slide the mount plate into the throat and lock in place. Check that the camera/ head stay level. Any tendency to drop forward, move the plate back a bit. If it falls back, move the plate further forward. The camera/ head should stay perfectly level when correctly positioned.

If you change the camera config you will find that the perfect balance point will move either forward or back.

2. Once the camera is perfectly balanced, dial in some counterbalance (any setting will do for starters).

With tilt lock off and tilt drag set to zero, tilt the camera forward. Let go the pan arm. If the camera want to keep going all on its own, take it back to level, dial in more counterbalance and try again.

When the camera will hold any set position tilted forward or back, with no drag or lock applied, the counterbalance is correctly set. This can take a bit of doing but again, once set, it should not change unless you change your camera configuration.

If you're in the habit of mounting/ dismounting a microphone, for example, you will find this will throw the counterbalance off.

If you do these two steps correcly, the camera will stay pointed where you last pointed it for ever, till you decide to move it.

3. Set the tilt and pan drag to suit your particular style, degree of zoom (the more zoom, the more drag I use) and shoot away.

4. Practice, practice, practice those pans and tilts till they start evenly, traverse smoothly and stop on a dime.

Thats how it's done.


CS

Cool, thanks for the tips. It's definitely going to take a lot of practice.

Scott