how do cobra cranes work
 

I'm curious as to how does the Promax Cobra Crane work. I just spoke to a Promax person and he insisted that I use a true fluid head for it. I assumed that for tilts, the tripod head does not play a factor. (It basically supports the crane while a pivot ontop of the head allows the crane to rotate around it?) But he says all tilt and pan actions uses the tripod head mechanism. He is wrong right??

Nope, he is right. The crane attaches to the head of the tripod, and the head allows it to move around (pan/tilt).

I've got one and it is marginal at best.

I mount a PD150 on it and it twists because of the weight of the camera although the crane is 'rated' to handle it. I do have the extension piece so that makes it a bit more flexible.

The way it flexes is with a twist so the camera is not level unless you compensate at the tripod end.

And it blows around in a breeze.

You do need all of the functions of the tripod head ( and it better be a very sturdy tripod and head, too!) to get full use of the crane.

The bent steel 'L' that attaches the crane to the tripod head also bends as it is unsupported.

For quick and dirty and cheap, it isn't bad. For good, buy another product.

Oh, and ProMax doesn't tell you until after you buy that they don't accept returns.

I rate ProMax unacceptable to do business with for that reason.

Look into the SkyCrane instead...

See http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/camsupport/skycrane.php -- hope this helps,

Well this Skycrane looks like the base of the crane mounts onto the tripod head and is fixed, while tilt is done separately from the head. Is that true?

That's right. He recently made an optional motorized remote pan head for it, but the basic package has a cable-driven tilt head built right in.