Velbon QHD-53D Tripod Digital Camera

Ok product

This is a cracking little head. I come from the traditional ballhead school of tripod heads having owned very expensive RRS ballheads such as the BH-55 and the BH-40 but I got tired of having to re-level the horizon every time I wanted to tilt the camera up or down. It became a bugbear of mine. So I thought I'd try out a pan & tilt head instead.Wow. This thing is SMOOTH. I cannot believe the quality you get for the price (I paid £30!). The single-handed operation of pan and tilt is quite clever. You tighten it a little to lock the tilt and a little more to lock the pan. I'm not sure how well this would work (in terms of just locking the tilt) with a really heavy lens though. I'm guessing not so well and you'd have to lock it tight, but with a 17-40 and a filter system on my 5D Mk II it works beautifully.One thing I didn't like is the proprietary Velbon QR plate because I have an Arca Swiss compatible RRS L-bracket on my camera which makes moving between tripods and portrait / landscape a piece of cake, and I didn't particularly want to swap that in favour of the Velbon way so instead I bought an Arca Swiss compatible plate from eBay for around £6 (see photos) and now I couldn't be happier!I put this on my little RRS tripod (see photo) and it works beautifully.NOTE: The supplied head came with a 1/4" fitting only and my tripods are all 3/8" I don't know if it was just missing from my box or whether it doesn't come with one, but luckily I had a 3/8" adapter kicking around so unscrewed the 1/4" and replaced it with the 3/8". That's something you should bear in mind if your tripod has a 3/8" fitting - you may want to order that little thread adaptor whilst you're at it.To sum up, it's incredibly well built, has a very fluid motion and is a bargain at that price. No more having to re-level the horizon when adjusting the tilt! Hurrah!

Having decided to dip my toe in the water and get a Rexi - L tripod to complement my EM-1 camera (having never owned a 'serious' tripod before), I figured that I should lok to match it with a suitable 'pro' style head. I went to Which? and various review sites, and stumbled across this head somewhat accidentally whilst googling for Velbon items. The pictures on the majority of sites (including this one) were fairly poxy and small, but I figured that it would answer my purpose, looked rugged enough, was significantly discounted via Camera King on Amazon (I checked!), and that, if worse came to worse, I could return it if not suitable.I needn't have worried.The head is solidly built, and allows for rotational, portrait to landscape and up/down (tilt) movement with minimal fuss. The locks,once applied, are secure, and there are three spirit levels to help you achieve a perfectly perpendicular or horizontal shot with minimal fuss. The head comes with a detachable quick-release plate to screw to your camera, which makes clipping and unclipping the EM-1 to the head a breeze. The plate then holds the camera to the head and tripod very securely - I have no worries that the camera might accidentally disattach itself from the plate without my intervention, meaning that I am happy to lug my camera around with the tripod while it is still attached.The quick-release plate is satisfyingly solid: it does however partially cover the battery cover of the EM-1 though when used on the same axis as the camera, which is a minor pain when it comes to changing batteries. It also has a separately stowed key for tightening the screw into the tripod mount of the camera itself which rather cleverly fits around the screw head itself beneath the quick-release plate. It is marked 'Push' and 'Lift', which is what you do to ease it off the screw itself and to turn it into the turn-key. I do have a mild concern that this might fall away from the screw head when I am using my camera with the plate attached but the camera not attached to the tripod, but to date it has shown no sign of doing this. The sole plate of the 3-Way head matches perfectly with that of the tripod head, which should come as no surprise as they both come from the same stable.The screw in arms are well engineered and pleasingly rugged. The hand grips are rugged and chunky, the tilt control one being of fixed length and foam protected, while the stubbier side control (landscape/portrait) can be used on either side of the head - useful if you are left handed, like myself. It also extends about 1" when pulled open. The smaller screw-in arm control (the stubbier one that telescopes) can be unscrewed and screwed into the tilt-control handle for stowage, and rather pleasingly, both the tripod and the attached 3-Way Head can fit with little hassle into the carry bag supplied with the tripod.I like this rather a lot. So why 4 stars, and not 5?As seems typical with the company, the Velbon came with no accompanying instructions, even though the item is relatively intuitive. Tis is my key cavil, and why the item drops a star.The bubbles on the spirit levels are useful but small and with the black guide lines marked on the levels almost at the limits of the levels themselves. A bubble of the same dimensions, to fit exactly between the lines, would have made them more user friendly in my opinion. However, this is hardly a deal breaker, as the EM-1 (and most modern DSLRs I suspect) come with built-in composition aids if you choose to use them. There are two screw holes, on the tripod base fixing plate (not on the 3-Way Head plate itself) presumably for inserting grub screws from below to further secure the 3-Way head from below, but I have not used these as the head seems secure enough without any further faffing. I would also have liked an extra quick-release clip-in base to the one supplied, as the spare could be kept on an alternative camera.To conclude; this appears to be a well made head that I would anticipate will give me many years of use , and I am enjoying using it greatly. I am very pleased with it,and do not think that I would swap it for another make ot model at the price point (c. £75). A lot of the gradation markings are superfluous to my usual use, but I suppose they add a certain 'pro' je-ne-sais-pas cachet, and they could be useful if doing some technical rather than creative work. It is a robust bit of photographic kit, balanced and not over-heavy in use; I would recommend it as a good match for a pro set-up.

I first came across this type of head on a Velbon tripod around 40 years ago and was impressed then, just as now. Having bought a Velbon Sherpa 600 tripod a few months ago which came equipped with a PH-157Q head, I decided to add one to my monopod to standardise the quick release fittings across the two. If there is one criticism of this head, it is that it has a uniquely sized QR plate which until recently have been a little pricey at around £15 each. However, the price of both the head AND extra QR plates have fallen recently, making them a very attractive option.The head itself cannot be faulted - it does everything that you'd expect, and does it well. The single action twist lock for pan and tilt is a revelation! In addition, the QR platform can be adjusted through a little over 90 degrees and the overall range of movement is more than adequate for most users. Construction is primarily metal, with plastic used only for the twist grip - a REALLY nice change from those bad fitting, easily broken, plastic look-a-likes! The quick release mechanism is superb, providing a self-locking action when the plate is pressed in. I recently 'loaded' a Canon 600d with battery grip and a 1000mm mirror lens onto this head using only one hand (NOT recommended - but a good test!). The head held the combination without effort and with no 'play' or 'slop' in the QR mech or the head itself. Now being sold at something like £25 for the head with 1 plate, and around £8 for each additional plate, this is a real 'steal'. Oh.. and it comes with interchangeable thread fittings for both 1/4" and 3/8" so it fits virtually all tri/mono pods with a head mounting screw.

I thought I could get away with a cheap fluid head because I'm mounting a very light camera (an LX7 - which comes close to a hacked GH2 in video quality btw.) But the 358 I received wasn't really useful for a camera of any weight, because it was so stiff (yes, I loosened the screws!) that turning it smoothly was almost impossible - the opposite problem, but worse, to a head with no fluid cartridge. (I don't think the 358 does have a fluid cartridge btw, but is a crude friction system. Mine's returned so I can't check.) It was far beneath any level I considered useful - fast panning was impossible, even slow pans could be ruined by jerks, the thing was literally painful to use. And I'd a 220lb man who works out with kettlebells - my girlfriend could turn the thing, but it was at a "Do 3 sets of 8 reps and you're done for the day level" and there was no chance of smoothness.So as mean as I am, I returned it and spent twice as much on a Manfroto RC2.I'm pretty sure that my 358 was worse than usual, but -- This thing uses friction, not a fluid cartridge- There doesn't seem to be any way of adjusting the friction or taking the head to lube it..So I can't see any the 358 providing a smooth motion in the long term.(I've given the 358 two stars not one because it does support a camera and provide a pan and tilt head, and can get smooth panning shots some of the time, as long as you don't need too much control and aren't unlucky.)

Got a chance to give one of these heads a test-drive in a camera shop. (Unfortunately they didn't stock the head alone, so I took my business here.) I'm very happy with this product. The head works as alternate head for my Slik AMT tripod, it comes with a 1/3" thread, with a removable 1/4" thread adapter. What this means is that I can remove my Slik tripod head, and replace it with the Velbon using the 1/3" thread, or I can put the 1/4" adapter on and screw the Velbon head directly onto an existing tripod head. (This second method isn't very stable as it tends to unscrew itself if you pan quickly but handy in a pinch.)The Velbon construction is light with a mostly plastic build. Though very sturdy and reliable in operation, i'd take extra care packing the tripod head away after a shoot to prevent damage. The variable drag resistance is a great feature and very effective, though the knobs are awkward to reach where they are located (a minor annoyance). There is also a locking nut which will hold the tripod head in one position.Another minor drawback is there's no level on the head so I have to rely on the camera's internal level.The unit is quite small but takes the weight of a Canon 7D + zoom lens (apprx 1.5 kg) with no complaints, one word of warning is that if the drag is set to low, the unit will happily pitch the camera forward, i'm adding some counterweights to the handle to balance it out.All that aside I highly recommend this item. The fluid motion is very smooth, allowing for fast and slow pans and tilts and a great range of motion. It doesn't hold a candle to the professional Manfrotto fluid drag heads, but at a fraction of the cost it's usability and performance are a win