Hello everyone, I need some advise about a power head for my tripod so I can pan and tilt my camera smoothly. What are the recommended brands (low budget price) that are available? Anything in particular I should look for, as in features? Obviously weight is the biggest issue, and my camera set up with shotgun mics and stuff is around 5 pounds. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have a Manfrotto 128RC fluid head. It is good.
This year i will buy the 501 head, it looks more professional.
The 503 is too big for this cam (and not so cheap).

IMHO the 501 is the perfect choice.
Anyone else?

Sorry I'm too lame to remember how to make this URL clickable, but check this out:

http://www.markertek.com/SearchProduct.asp?item=MPH%2D3&off=8&sort=prod



Mike.

I guess being lame is okay. Its clickable and I didn't have to do anything special.

Yes, the system usually can parse URL's all by itself. But unfortunately that link gives me an error message "Sorry, no matches were found." I don't think you can easily link to those items. However we discourage posting links to products from non-sponsors. Please support the DVinfo sponsors who support this site. B&H Photo has an excellent selection.

David, are you looking for some sort of motorized pan/tilt head like this?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=64399&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

Or just a regular tripod/head combination like these?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=NavBar&A=search&Q=&ci=5136

I already own a Manfrotto 3011 tripod with a 3130 fluid head, but even during simple pan shots, there is still a bit of unsteadines. My cousin showed me a video he did with a motorized power pan head and the action was near perfect. I was wondering if anyone out there has used something similar, or has any advise about getting good smooth pan shots.

I don't have any experience with motorized heads, but I'll bet they aren't so great unless you get something very expensive. If you want smooth action then you should probably just get a better fluid head. I used to have one of the inexpensive Manfrotto heads and it was pretty terrible. I upgraded to the Manfrotto 501 and that was better, but still left a lot to be desired. Then I went up to a Miller DS-5 and there was a world of difference.

Your desire for "low budget price" will unfortunately be in conflict with the desire for smooth head action though. There seems to be sort of a "gap" in tripod/head quality vs price. There are a number of options in the $300 range, but then you need to jump up to $800 and more to get much of an improvement.

I'm moving this thread to our camera support forum since it's really about tripod heads instead of GL-2's. Browse through that forum, there's plenty of discussion about tripods and heads in all price ranges. Are you located within a reasonable distance from New York City? If so, then make a trip to B&H Photo. They have a display with tripods of all types that you can play with. That would probably help you form your own opinions about price vs quality. Also, please click on the "controls" link and go to your user profile, then add your City/State/Country. This lets us know where you are and can be helpful when making suggestions.