motorised tripod head

[realspeed]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hague-Mot...9?hash=item589dd43e5f:g:6WAAAOSw~OdVcXCA#rwid


Just ordered one of these mainly for my camcorder but powerful enough for a DSLR I didn't want a time lapse one and didn't what one controlled by wifi to an Ipad etc. Some I looked at were charged up via a usb port (useless in the field) this is 4 AA battery powered or mains.
This one although looks a little bulky it pan by itself or by remote attached control unit and can be added to later if needed.

Ok why get one? As I said it is mainly for my camcorder and doing a steady pan,even on a fluid head, I don't find that easy .

Lot of good reports on it ,cheaper ones seem to have moter drive problems and only good for go pro type cameras and all only do time laps.

So will post my thought on it later when i get it

 

[realspeed]

Ok Just got the motorised head and a new tripod for it at the same time.

First impressions

Not too bulky and looks really professional Tried it with my camcorder as it didn't arrive until late this afternoon. So in my back garden (60ft x 60ft approx) even on slow pan it is too fast so needed to reduce pan speed by about 10 % in video editing., then reasonable. The unit I would say is better for landscape work or possibly for tracking as shown. in the advertising video . Will have to try it out tomorrow with my Nikon D800 and 24-70mm lens as that has a variable frame rate when my camera is fixed at around 50 FPS if my memory is correct

 

[realspeed]

Update

I did get a fold up Tripod like the beefree but made buy primaPhoto in China. It was selling for a 1/3 on normal price at around £35 i against normal price of £95 or there abouts.
Just a couple of thins it had a 1/4" thread and a ballhead of 3/8".
So I tried the motorised head on top of the ballhead via a quick release clamp but in truth pretty useless for what I wanted
Next was to get an adapter in brass shown below


Ok now the motorised head can sit straight onto the tripod, but it has very little to balance on. So scratched around in my workshop and came across one of those clamp over taps connectors for outside hoses. Inside an ideal size rubber center about the right thickness. All it needed was the centre hole opening out a bit to slip over the knurled adapter. yep worked but not quite thick enough. So again dived into the workshop and came across 3 plastic tap washers the right size, so superglued them together



job done with enough 3/8 " thread shown and better support around it, and saved a pack of cash as well

so now I can used the ball head or the fixed tripod top. This now makes it a lot easier to get the balance right. The bit I made just slip on/off the knurled adapter