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David Turner photo
Zimbabwe, Harare
1 Level
739 Review
55 Karma

Review on Black Manfrotto MVH400AHUS Be Free Live Fluid Video Head - Lightweight & Travel Friendly by David Turner

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Splendor inspired by YouTube!

I saw a YouTube video of Hudson Henry explaining why he uses fluid heads for photography. I was inspired by myself to get one. I considered the Manfrotto 502AH but it looked too heavy and bulky for travel. I saw Manfrotto introduce the Befree range of tripods and was glad the head was sold separately as I already own a Manfrotto 190CF. I originally planned to buy a 3-way head as it is flexible, accurate and easily switchable from horizontal to horizontal. Portrait (I like to photograph both landscapes and people). Fluid heads rotate and tilt smoothly, but can't switch from landscape to portrait without additional hardware. The great thing about the 190 series is that the center column is adjustable 90 degrees so I had a built in solution. I've made two other additions: I've added a $50 leveler between the tripod and the fluid head that makes it easy to level the horizon for perfect panoramic shots, and I've added a quick-release adapter. The fluid head comes with a sliding plate which I found difficult to manually adjust my lens. The QR adapter makes my life so much easier. When it comes to travel, the fluid head grip adjusts downward quickly and easily (as seen in the photo). By weight, the equalizer added more than just hydraulic head. I am very happy with the configuration and the increased flexibility to quickly track things in the wild (birds etc.) with fewer adjustments. The quality of the hydraulic head, the smoothness of its movement, the terms of delivery - all this greatly appreciates this deal.

Pros
  • Smoother motion with Fluid Drag
Cons
  • Some minor things

Comments (2)

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April 10, 2023
Not bad but a few issues
December 18, 2022
very nice and one of the lightweight ones.