First use of Vinten Vision 3
 

I got it secondhand but its in very good condition. Although I'm not a seasoned operator, this unit is a dream to operate. On top was the Canon 5D MKII with 24-70mm and also the 100-400mm. Its sooooo smooth. Firstly I found it to be lighter than I expected (aluminium legs – single stage). The lock feature on the legs are great – just pull the whole thing up to the height you want and lock it down. Balancing the head is pretty easy too with the lock screw underneath and the light works a treat for that if you are in the dark. I really have been won over by the quality of this unit and I reckon its worth every cent. I've read that people have gone through incremental upgrades in arriving at a product that did the job for them. I can honestly say after using it only once so far, if it fell under a truck I would have no hesitation in shelling out for a new one.

The only thing I found a shortcoming for my operation was maybe a second plate would be handy to have already attached to the second lens to make swapping them quicker. As it is, the 100-400mm lens as you know attaches via the collar. If I could get away with using one lens or more accurately smaller lenses I wouldn't have this requirement. But I was at the rear of the hall and the 400mm reach was a necessity.

Hi Peter..............
 

Glad to hear you're now a Vinten convert.

The V3 is a great little head, what spring are you using for the 5D?

Did you get the manual with it?

I think my mate Peter Harman at Vinten reckoned someone was using a V3 with a 5D using a #1 spring and getting good results.

A second plate can't be an impossible task, just ask.

Keep us posted.


CS

Chris,
Well strictly speaking I'm not a convert but I can't imagine the action being any better than this. Zero backlash. I bet there are other good products out there but I'll probably never get to use them. The other nice feature which I forgot to mention but I know is advertised is the perfect balance. Its pretty simple and quick finding the accurate position for the camera so that whether you have it tilted forward or backward then let it go, it just sits there (doesn't matter what lens is on it)! I have a #1 spring on it. Anyway I could carry on talking about it as its new for me but I will get good use out of it with a couple of projects I'm doing.

Peter.
I might find out about the second plate.