Can the ball be removed from Sachtler DV 4II or Cartoni Status Pro like the Focus?
 

I am looking for a head to do double duty on 75mm ball sticks and a flat top slider. Miller Tech support responded in less than 60 minutes that it's DS-10 head doesn't separate and suggested Sachtler and Cartoni. Sachtler and Cartoni have been radio silent for days.

The ball on my Focus can be removed. Does anyone know if the Cartoni Status Pro ball can be removed for use on a flat top mount?

The ball on Sachtler heads can be removed as well

Re: Can the ball be removed from Sachtler DV 4II or Cartoni Status Pro like the Focus
 

Epilog:
While there are 3 nice screws appearing to hold the bowl on the Cartoni focus, the bowl is an integral part of the pan mechanism and cannot be removed.

$850 later, I had a Sachtler FSB-4 in my hands and while it has a bunch of screws that make it appear like the bowl is removable, it isn't. This is confirmed from Sachtler support.**So while the DV4 II *may* have a removable bowl, the current FSB version doesn't.

Re: Can the ball be removed from Sachtler DV 4II or Cartoni Status Pro like the Focus
 

The Manfrotto series of heads can easily be removed from the ball part.
The 701 is a good candidate for fitting on a slider.
I've even used the 503, but it all gets too heavy for smooth movement, other than a straight slide, so it's over-kill...

Re: Can the ball be removed from Sachtler DV 4II or Cartoni Status Pro like the Focus
 

Can there be more than one Epilog? :-)

Barbara Jaumann from Vitec group looked into this on my behalf. Turns out that when I asked Sachtler support if the ball can be removed, they answered correctly that it's an integral part of the pan mechanism and can't. However, removing the ball is a specific solution the desire to mount the head on a flat mount slider and travel tripod.

According to Barbara J, if the flat mount thread is no more than 8mm long, the threaded rod of the FSB-4 head is designed to be removed (carefully and with decent umpfff). The design of the bowl is such that is decently flat at the bottom for mounting. She also mentioned some customers have done this.

Just thought I'd pass this on.....kudos to Barbara J. and Sachtler Tech support for fast responses. Amazingly fast actually.