Vidpro MH-430 Motorized Pan & Tilt Gimbal Head - Complete Set Includes Joystick Cables Adapter and Carrying Case - Remote Control Pan Tilt and Rotate DLSR Camcorder Video Equipment Compatible

I purchased this device for use in a 3-camera live webcast production of minor league hockey games. Some small venues make it hard to place a camera high at center ice without having to shoot through protective netting. As a work-around, my crew mounted the VidPro MH-430 onto an 8 ft jib crane and located it at ice level, inside the scorekeeper's box. This enabled us to raise the camera above the glass to get a good view of the action as it went up and down the ice. The Vidpro MH-430 motor was fast enough to track the high speed hockey action. Our camera operator used the VidPro MH-430 joystick remote, a LANC zoom remote, and a 16 inch monitor to operate the Canon XA35 camera that was mounted onto the pan/tilt gimbal from the base of the tripod on which the jib crane was mounted. The results were excellent. The pan/tilt gimbal and camera can get a bit heavy, so make sure your jib crane is up to the task. The VidPro MH-430 is made mostly of metal and is easy to assemble and break-down. It comes with a case, but we opted to use a sturdier Pelican case instead because we travel extensively for games. Note: Our crew also tested a Bescor pan/tilt gimbal. Although half the price of the VidPro, the Bescor was neither fast enough nor durable enough (mostly plastic) for our needs.

Its well built from sturdy metal but doesn't Weigh Too much plus it's has a good finish and packs away easily into a protective zip up case. I've tested it on a tripod with a Panasonic HCX1 (about 2.5Kg) and it quietly and steadily got on with the job-so far I'm well pleased! NOTE Although the maximum rated voltage is 240 in the UK it can surge with a light grid load to 253 (from 2002 the supply is now 230V +/- 10%) so surge protection might be required.

I was looking for a motorized pan/tilt mount for a while, and wasn't ready to drop $15k for a "professional" solution. All I needed is a simple system to move my camera remotely to take birds pictures outdoors. I'm using it with a 300/2.8 II + 2x + EOS R. About 7-8lbs total weight. Everything works no problem. The only concern is the 90deg arm which is a little flimsy. When the camera moves - it slightly wobbles due to some inertia, and it's a little titled because of the weight of my equipment. I moved the camera closer to the hinge so the tilt is less noticeable. Tried the head with a "normal size" lens - no issues whatsoever. Great product, and hopefully the manufacturer will make the arm more solid in the next / updated version.

This was a very good purchase. I make small budget YouTube productions and the freedom this adds to each video is wonderful. I've added it to my ProAm 8' crane system. The gears on this maybe jerky at the lowest speeds, but I still dare you to find as better cheaper item. My thumbs are up for this.

This is a well made device. All parts fit well. The articulation bearings operate smoothly.I have only a couple of complaints:1) The motors do not stop instantly, the residual momentum carries the movement, on either axis, further than desired, no matter if the motor spins at a slow rate or at a high rate. The effect is that I can't move accurately to where I want it to go. Once stopped, I can't move it manually back because of the gearing within the motor. Sort of defeating the purpose of a remote control gimbal head. A set of stepper motors to drive the axes may be better for this design.2) The attachment posts for the motors need a retaining screw at the end of each post so that the motors would not fall off if the motor mounts are loosened for adjustment.

I love it, I had to buy an extra long remote cables I control the camera from 100fts away and it works good

Excelente producto. Fácil de ensamblar y usar. Responde muy bien. Sumamente satisfecho con mi inversión.

I own one of these, which I use with an AG-CX350. I also own a Bescor MP-1E, which I use with an old Canon XH-A1, along with four NDI-HX PTZ cameras. Each has advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage of this over PTZ cameras is that you can use a higher-quality camera with a larger sensor. The main disadvantage is that you can't store positions and restore them. The main advantage over the Bescor is that this is much, much faster. This gimbal can pan quickly enough to handle just about anything reasonable, while the Bescor struggles to stay ahead of a person walking at 20-ish feet.One downside to this gimbal is that it is has a lot of play — particularly in the vertical tilt direction. I haven't had time to analyze why this is the case, but it's very obvious that you can make the front of the camera move an inch or more without moving the motors at all. Fortunately, this hasn't been a major problem for me in practice, because the camera is always pushing in one direction because of gravity, but in some environments, it might be.Another big downside of this gimbal is that the control box is kind of primitive. It uses on-off switches for the joystick in each direction, combined with a separate knob to control the speed of motion. That means that each direction is either moving or isn't, and both directions must move at the same speed. One-handed operation is impossible unless you don't care about graceful movement (ramp-up/ramp-down) at all.That limitation was enough of a pain that the very first thing I did was build a new control box that gives me fully independent speed control in both directions by adjusting how far I push the stick. I later grafted in variable-speed zoom control via LANC for even more control. With that custom control box, this gimbal is pretty easy to work with.If you're comfortable doing some really basic soldering and want to build your own custom control box, all you need is an Arduino, an analog joystick, a Pololu Dual MC33926 motor shield, a bunch of jumper wires, and appropriate DC connectors for the motor control portion, plus a roughly 2x2 breadboard, half a dozen low-cost components, an 1/8" stereo jack, an 1/8" audio cable, and a stereo mini to stereo submini adapter for the LANC side. You can download the source code (along with a link to the LANC hardware schematic) by searching for "arduino_ptz" on github.I'm currently working on an updated version using a Raspberry Pi, combined with custom encoder hardware, which should eventually let me fully store and restore positions. I'll be sure to put a pointer to that project into the arduino_ptz README if and when I get it working.Edit: The Raspberry-Pi-based VISCA controller is almost 80% done. I'm still waiting for the gears to arrive to find out whether my 3D-printed replacement for the motor mount and 3D-printed encoder mount that attaches to it are going to actually work as-is or will have to be modified, and I haven't tested any of the recall functionality yet with actual hardware because I don't have the gears, but you can find that project by searching for VISCAPTZ on GitHub. I'll update the project documentation as it progresses.