(woohoo 1st post)

So I'm purchasing a tricked out (mattebox, rods, follow focus, AB bricks, etc.) HVR-S270 and am looking for a tripod head that will work. Budget for head and sticks is $2200.

Currently I'm considering either the Cartoni Focus F100 or a Manfrotto 526 on Miller VJ sticks.

I've had past experiences with Manfrotto heads and have never been happy with them but I'm worried about the Cartoni not being able to support everything (and I mean everything) that will be on it.

Any experiences or recommendations are appreciated.

Best,
J F McNab

I sold my Miller Arrow 25 and so miss it. It was a bit of a beast though for the S270. I bought and currently use the Manfrotto 526 on a set of 536 carbon fiber sticks. It's ok, but at the end of the zoom range, my pans are crap - I recently had to apologize to a client for not being able to repeat the same precise movement at an awards ceremony. The award winner would walk up a stage at a 30 degree angle as I tracked them, they would then shake hands with the presenter and walk off. This would have been cake with the Arrow, but a challenge with the 526. A happy medium between the two is the new Miller Compass 15. They're tough to find at the moment, but that is what I'd be looking at... I actually have one on order for our showroom. I would go back to the Arrow 25 if I was going to go with an AJA Ki Pro recorder. But the lighter, power friendly Convergent Designs nanoFlash may be getting attached instead.