what model of miller is this??

[Dale Guthormsen]

Here a picture of an old miller fluid head and tripod that I received today. It is farely old. It says copyrighted F

I found out a friend has had it in his garage for 20 to 30 years, Hearing I broke my pod he told me he had one I could have for a song.

It has a consistant pan ond vertical movement, very smooth!! It has no rear drag when stopped.

It has severa wing screws on it, two are brakes that work just fine. the vertical break is an outside caliper/disc break.

the sticks are wooden and one of the nicer pair of wood sticks i have seen, and they are in mint condition.

It has a wing bolt on the underside which was super tight so I did not try to break it free. so, I am not sure if it has a bowl or not.

It is going to cost me 150 dollars.

I do not think I got taken.

does anyone know anything about it???

[Dale Guthormsen]

Obviously no one knows this ancient tool!!!

It is a true fluid head. I used it on a job today and it is pretty outstanding!! however ancient it might be!!!

thanks for taking time top look

[Richard Alvarez]

Looks like a Miller D50 to me. Very old, very solid. Might be sitting on a Mitchel plate on top of the sticks, can't tell from the photo, I'm looking at them on my laptop.

You got a great deal at $150. I LOVE miller heads.

Do a google for their website, and email them the pix. They will give you the info on it, and if you can find the serial number, they'll give you the date of manufacture.

EDIT: Definatlely NOT a D50, I enlarged your pix. Not sure of the model number. Are the sticks adjustable in height?

[Christopher Baker]

I have a Miller F4785 Professional Fluid Head sitting on Bogen 3068 tripod system, this looks very similar to mine. I have posted a question that knowone has responded to because I was trying to find out what it is worth...I refininished the one that I had. My dad has a glass bead machine which removed all of the old paint and then I disassembled the entire head and repainted the head and the tripod.

[Christopher Baker]

As my previous post, look on the base support for the camera; on mine it was painted over and hard to read until I glass beaded the entire head...model and serial number should be there

[Dale Guthormsen]

thanks for the feed back.

I wrote Miller and sent them the pictures.

I had it out today and it is dead smooth and works outstanding with my 11 pound xl2 system. I am particularly impressed with the oblique pans!!! When I stop the head i can let go of the handle and it stays in position, no rreturn or anything.

I do not know the value, but its worth a lot just for the performance. Makes me wonder how good the newer technology miller arrows and such are???

I am going to need a second camera tripod down the trail and now i will be thinking more seriously about millers!!!

If I find out what it is i will post it.

[PJ Gallagher]

Wow, that takes me back.

Couldn't tell you a model number, but I used to use those puppies all the time back in the '80's.

The "brakes" on the head can be subject to wear, and not lock off properly after a while. Something you might want to keep an eye on.

With the wooden sticks, I'm assuming they have the metal "ring" thingy to tighten and loosen the stages. You have to watch out that when you loosen them, you don't then try to turn them the wrong way to tighten them, otherwise they cross-thread and become a minor nightmare to put right again.

But you're right, those wooden legs look pristine.

Cheers
Pat

[Dale Guthormsen]

PJ,

the tighteners on the legs are in outstanding condition, but I could easily see overtightening them.
The vertical brake is definitely worn but still works fine. I need to put an adjustable plate on the head to balance it a little finer.
Had it out today, enjoy using it.

[Richard Alvarez]

Oh yeah, Miller heads are GREAT... I really like them.

[Chris Mah]

I have a very similar Miller head that looks a little bigger than yours. Mine also has no model number on it other than Miller F. I use mine with a Sony PD-150. It's very very smooth as you describe.

There is a ball head but it's not quite a standard 75mm. It must be proprietary because it won't fit on my Manfrotto bowl. You should be able to twist the knob on the bottom counter clockwise (pointing the head toward the ground) to break it free. Because the whole ball head unit wouldn't fit on my Manfrotto, I removed the head from the ball head. There are three set screws that you loosen and then the head comes free. I then mounted this on a Manfrotto 351MVB tripod head. I also added a Manfrotto quick release plate so that I could balance my camera better.

I decided not to use the wooden legs because two of the rubber feet will no longer stay on the spiked feet because the rubber "arms" have broken off. The wooden tripod is also heavier than my Manfrotto but it extends much higher.

I took mine in to a Miller dealer that had a qualified repairman and he told me it was in excellent condition. What you need to do periodically is loosen the two wingnuts that control the drag and work the head in a full range of motions. Meaning tilt the head all the way forward and back and pan all the way around. He said this keeps the fluid flowing freely and the head will last for a long long time. I do this before every shoot and I've never had a problem with it.

I actually know the history behind mine. It was used by a CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) cameraman in the 80s with a very large Betacam camera.