What fluid heads are you guys using?

[haknslash]

I finally got out of the house with some decent weather since I bought the camera. i took my old cheapie tripod along and went to a local park to grab a little bit of footage before heading to the mall to finish up some xmas shopping.

I get home and begin to edit only to find out my tripod sucks major donkey nads. I mean I knew it was cheap and was a xmas gift some years back but this thing is completely useless for video use.

With the weight of the 7D plus the 135L any slight movement adjusting focus was amplified x1000 from the play in the tripod head. Normally I would of never noticed the play but shooting video it's obviously very apparent!

So my question to you guys is what tripod and fluid head combo are you guys using or what would you suggest? There is no local photog store worth a damn to even go test out heads so i'm at the mercy of internet research and opinions.

Here is my horrid video for example http://www.vimeo.com/8301598 :(

[jgrussell]

Until my furnace decided to die this weekend, I was looking at the Manfrotto 501HDV.

[Trey T]

check this article out about fluid head (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=705842&highlight=fluid+head)

[haknslash]

Thanks Trey. I searched but guess I must of overlooked it ;)

[Trey T]

I am currently using 501hdv, 501, and 701hdv, and I find 701hdv to be a very useful w/ 70-200mm. it's smaller and it can balanced the load well w/ the stock plate w/o hitting the battery grip.

w/ the 501hdv, the battery grip hits the head and the pan/tilt arm is at an awkward position when using the canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS.

step up to the 501hdv if you plan to trick out a 5DII or 7d. I'll take some pic of our different rig setup later this week.

[haknslash]

Yes pics when you get a chance would be great. I intend to add follow focus and some sort of rig later on.