On Sun, 16 Jul 2000 23:13:27 GMT, jgcmp9111@my-deja.com wrote:

>I am looking for your experience in using the
>various less expensive fluid heads. With a Sony TRV
>900 I have used the Bogen 3130 and find it pretty
>smooth (for the price) but it still has bounce back
>at the end of a pan. What is the experience with
>their slighly more expensive heads, the 3063 ($100),
>the 501 ($115). Are these any better or am I really
>going to have to pay $700 for a head with no shudder
>or bounce back?

I think "Andys cam" got it right twice...
The problem with cheap and light tripods
($1000 and under) is that they are not
rigid enough and "wind-up" - unfortunately,
until you get to stratospheric prices
(c. $5000) for fancy carbon-fiber video
tripods, decent video tripods are also
VERY heavy. I also prefer to leave the
stabilizers on to damp camera handling and
the somewhat less smooth movements "cheap"
fluid heads provide (try an expensive one
sometime to see how good one can be...;-).
The Bogan 3063 is a decent compromise, but
it is rather stiff in operation, requiring
a rigid tripod or good technique to allow
for the tripod "unwinding" at the end of
the movement (and for the stabilizer
recentering also).