Vinten Pro-6 or Manfrotto/Bogen 503?

[Jonathan Mark]

Like many others I'm looking for my ideal tripod + head. I searching for a very light tripod (I travel a lot) but that still can handle some weight.

Like many others I thought of the manfrotto/Bogen 503 head with some really light legs. I thought this would be perfect for me.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

Then I thought of the Vinten Pro-6 Head that seems to be a very good deal for the price.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

I'm wondering if the anyone has experience with both this heads and if the Vinten Pro-6 is a much better choice?

If I would chose the Vinten Pro-6 I need some light legs that's pretty cheap and will fit with Vinten head. Can I for example use the

Manfrotte/Bogen Manfrotto 745MF3 Legs with the vinten pro-6 or can anyone recommend some other good light legs? (less than 400$)

[Lew Barger]

I have the Pro 6 system on order, should have it sometime this week. I'll let you know what I think. I have a large Vintin vision 20 that I use with a much larger camera. I've been very pleased with it so I selected the Pro 6 over the Bogen system. I've has some inexpensive bogen's, not impressed. Seems the drag, both pan and tilt, wears out quickly. Perhaps I'm just hard on them.
The Pro 6 comes as a system also from B&H, but any sticks with a 75MM cup should accept the Vinten head. Never quite as good at the mate between the same manuf. though.
Lew

[Jonathan Mark]

Originally Posted by Lew Barger

I have the Pro 6 system on order, should have it sometime this week. I'll let you know what I think. I have a large Vintin vision 20 that I use with a much larger camera. I've been very pleased with it so I selected the Pro 6 over the Bogen system. I've has some inexpensive bogen's, not impressed. Seems the drag, both pan and tilt, wears out quickly. Perhaps I'm just hard on them.
The Pro 6 comes as a system also from B&H, but any sticks with a 75MM cup should accept the Vinten head. Never quite as good at the mate between the same manuf. though.
Lew

Please let me know what you thought about it. :)

[Craig Chartier]

I have 3 of these Pro6 systems. The head is very good for what the unit is able to hold. The legs that come with the system have a lot of twist in them when used at maximum. Also I have had two of the legs repaired under warranty because of the first stage leg locking piece cracking. DO not use any midlevel spreaders. The mounting is cast too thin and the bracket snaps right off. dropping the camera hard on the ground.

I have a hard time understanding why someone will put 8,000 dollars worth of camera gear in the air on 800.00 dollars worth of tripod. However this system does foldup small and travels really well.

[Lew Barger]

Finally got the Pro 6 system, seems like the shipping was very slow, but I've had that problem before with b and h.

After a couple of short shoots with a JVC HD-100U with the AB battery package up top. Haven't weighed the combo, but must be close to the weight limit. Here's my impressions . . .

The head and sticks combo is heavier than I thought it would be. Just looks lighter I suppose because it folds down so small.

Camera mounting is easy and the slide plate gives plenty of room to balance the camera.

The tilt drag seems to work very well, but the pan needs a little extra free hand damping. Haven’t decided if it’s twist in the legs or rebound in the head. It’s not bad, but not what I expect from a Vinten.

Set up is easy and the leveling bubble is well placed and smooth to adjust. I’ve had to adjust to dual stage sticks – first I’ve ever had, but got used to them fairly quickly. I found it’s much easier to bring the tripod to extension before mounting the camera. No problem with the leg locking cams, they are positive and you can feel them lock.

The tilt and pan locks are positive and solid.

All and all, it’s a very usable package. The cary case is nice and I'll probably use it. I wish I could try the Manfroto competition for comparison. Be interesting to know if the Vinten is worth the extra 300 bucks.

[Paul R Johnson]

The vinten and manfrotto heads are the same product - pro-5=501, pro-6=503

I had a pro-5 and today used a 503, with the built in spring. quite a bit better than the non-spring assisted version. I'd agree with the comment about the pan 'feel' being different to the tilt. This does make smooth diagonal movement a little more tricky to do.

[Kundal Saab]

Same problem here guys... I can't seem to decide between the Manfrotto 525mvb / 503 and the vinten pro-6.

At the moment the manfrotto is $13 more expensive than the Vinten at B&H.

I'll have a PD150 / Z1 with a 35mm adaptor slapped on every now and then. Any suggestions?

Are they both pretty much the same?

--
Cheers,
k*

[Kundal Saab]

I've been searching for tripods for the better part of the day...I was wondering if anybody has noticed how some shops are selling 503HDV? They say its an improvement on the 503 (the extra resolution for HDV notices more jerks)

Manfrotto's site doesn't mention anything related to HDV, but then, it doesn't list the 503 at all, unless you search for it and it pulls up something old. Is it a discontinued model?

I'm pretty much sold on the 525/503: its cheaper, goes lower than the pro-6, and takes more wieght. Just gotta sort out this HDV business...

[Adam Gold]

There's a link a couple of threads down that talks about the differences between the 503 and the 503HDV.

B&H is taking orders but does not, I think, have it in stock yet.

[Maksim Yankovskiy]

The status has changed from "Approx. Arrival July" to "Taking Orders" with a note about 14days availability. I think it's too early, because it's not even summer, and the head was said to be "released sometime in the summer 2007". Anyways, when it is there, I am planning to get it, test it "head to head" (lol) with 503 and put one of them on eBay.

Originally Posted by Adam Gold

There's a link a couple of threads down that talks about the differences between the 503 and the 503HDV.

B&H is taking orders but does not, I think, have it in stock yet.

[Caleb Royer]

I am looking into getting the Vinten pro-6 head (see link below) to go with my Velbon EL carmagne 530 legs (see link below) , one thing that does not look right is how the head fits onto my tripod.

Will the Pro-6 fit my tripod legs?

Head:
Vinten | Pro-6 Pan and Tilt Head | V4018-0001 | B&H Photo Video

Legs:
Velbon | EL Carmagne 530A Tripod Legs | ELCARMA530A | B&H Photo

Also, I will be using an XL2.

Thanks,

CJ

[Chris Soucy]

In short - yes and no.

The Velbon is a stills tripod and will only accept a flat based head.

The Pro 6 (a re-badged Manfrotto 503 HDV ) is a 75mm ball base, but I strongly believe that half ball is removeable, as the 503 HDV is in fact, a flat based head.

However, "strongly believeing" is not the same as knowing for sure.

My recomendation?

Don't use a stills tripod for video, life's too hard as it is without throwing that into the mix.


CS

[Mike Beckett]

Prefixing this with "I could be wrong, so check first"! Maybe someone else could confirm?

I don't think the Pro-6 HDV that I had was *exactly* the same as a Manfrotto 503HDV.

It didn't seem to be two part with a removable ball (I did try!). Also, the Pro-6HDV had a side-load plate (very nice), but I think the Manfrotto just has a regular plate. In other words, it's the same mechanics as the Manfrotto 503HDV, with some minor tweaks to make it a bit better.

Check out the maintenance manual for this on Vinten.com. You need to have a login to view it:

Vinten | Pro-6HDV Pan and Tilt Head | www.vinten.com

Looking at that, I can't tell if it actually *is* removable easily in the same way as a 503HDV!

[Peter Harman]

Morning/evening/afternoon all

Can i clarify a couple of points here and then i will go away.

1. The original Pro-6 was the same as the original Manfrotto 503. It had a removable 75mm spherical base. The problem with a removable base is that it can work loose and affect the movement quality.
2. The new Manfrotto 503HDV and new Pro-6HDV, although based on the same engineering (both companies are part of the Vitec Group Plc.), are not the same heads. They do share the same balance and drag systems, but thats where the similarity stops. The Pro-6HDV body castings are different, it also has the new "Sideload" camera attachment system and the 75mm spherical base is permanently attached (see 1 above).
3. The new Vinten Pro-6HDV is supplied with a standard Vinten Pozi-Loc tripod. This isnt a cost reduced tripod, its the same as youd get if you were to purchase a Vision 100 system for example. You can either have a ground spreader (standard Vision spec.) or the new Protouch mid-level spreader. The entire system comes with a multi-language operator guide and is supplied in a customised Petrol case.
4. The Pro-6HDV can be registered on the Vinten web site in order to gain a second year warranty.

Thats it.