Tilt Head

[Jim Coulter]

Hi- I've been researching the practicality and necessity of having a TITL HEAD. I want to purchase one for my Zephyr. Where can I buy one and what is the cost? I looked at Tiffen's site but I could not find one and the search engine comes back with 'no results'

Last question: is it easy to attach to the post? Many thanks!

Edited October 17, 2012 by Jim Coulter

[Ryan Brooks]

Someone may correct me here, but I don't think the Zephyr is beefy enough to be able to handle a tilt head. I could be wrong but I think it has been discussed on the forum before. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

[Brian Freesh]

Tiffen Tilt heads are integrated, it either comes with the rig or it doesn't. There is no tilt head for the Zephyr.

[Victor Lazaro]

...and this is one of the reasons why I want to buy a bigger rig than the zephyr (meanwhile I still work on zephyr and love it but already start do funy its limitations. )

[Alan Rencher]

I asked Betz if they planned on making a tilt head for the Zephyr, and they said no. At the Zephyr's price point, I am neither surprised or disappointed.

Edited October 17, 2012 by Alan Rencher

[Jim Coulter]

Thanks everyone for the information. I spoke with Derek over at Tiffen this morning and he said the same thing. The reason i wanted one is to help maintain dynamic balance. I started noticing after I had perfect dynamic balance and needed to tilt my rig up or down to accomodate a persons' height- that it was throwing my rig out of dynamic balance. There is a work around for me which I do use- i just lower the whole rig with the Iso-arm or raise it depending on the height needed. This doesn't affect my dynamic balance. I saw a video on You Tube by a well respected operator and he demonstrated how a tilt head will keep the rig in balance even when you tilt. Oh well... I guess I'll one day need to move up to a bigger rig but for now the Zephyr is an awesome piece of gear and I really have no complaints.

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Thanks everyone for the information. I spoke with Derek over at Tiffen this morning and he said the same thing. The reason i wanted one is to help maintain dynamic balance. I started noticing after I had perfect dynamic balance and needed to tilt my rig up or down to accomodate a persons' height- that it was throwing my rig out of dynamic balance. There is a work around for me which I do use- i just lower the whole rig with the Iso-arm or raise it depending on the height needed. This doesn't affect my dynamic balance. I saw a video on You Tube by a well respected operator and he demonstrated how a tilt head will keep the rig in balance even when you tilt. Oh well... I guess I'll one day need to move up to a bigger rig but for now the Zephyr is an awesome piece of gear and I really have no complaints.

 

 

Four things.

 

1) what sort of work are you doing that you need to be dynamically balanced while tilted. Dynamic balance is a HUGLY overrated term here. Few shots require dynamic balance

 

2) if you are adjusting the arms float point for headroom you are incorrectly setting up your arm

 

3) use a longer arm post to correctly change your neutral height.

 

4) tilt isn't for headroom boom height is for headroom

[Jim Coulter]

Thanks Eric. I appreciate your advice on proper technique. Please let me know if I have your answer understood correctly... Should I extend the length of the post to in effect 'raise the camera or lower it? I would have to 'offset' the weight on the bottom by adding more (if I raise the post) to keep my drop time and take away weight if I collapse the post? Is that correct? Again thanks for your help!

[Brian Freesh]

Nah, he's talking about arm posts, another item that isn't made for the Zephyr. (Though maybe I'm wrong, I vaguely recall hearing rumor of such a thing a while ago. Or maybe I'm making that up, i dunno)

 

I had arm posts custom made years ago for my Flyer. They'd fit your Zephyr, but I'm not selling! You could have a machinist make some pretty cheap, they're great.

 

Regardless of arm posts, Eric's point was to not adjust the float point of your arm for headroom. Keep the arm floating in the middle of it's range and boom down for the shot if needed. There is no ride control (iso) on the Zephyr arm (again, unless I'm out of touch and they've added it) so the only control you have is the lift. You certainly can adjust that so your arm floats lower or higher, but the arm performs best floating in the middle of it's boom range and takes little effort to simply boom to where you need it.

 

Eric, I think I've made true claims of what you said, please correct if not.

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Should I extend the length of the post to in effect 'raise the camera or lower it? I would have to 'offset' the weight on the bottom by adding more (if I raise the post) to keep my drop time and take away weight if I collapse the post? Is that correct?

 

 

Arm Post, not center post. The arm post is what your gimbal's live yoke rides on

[Osvaldo Silvera SOC]

15 years now, no tilt head, doing well. I also have a Super post in the closet just for giggles cause I've had the need to use it once. Don't get me wrong, I would like to use the superpost more, I just don't have the call for it. Tilting stage on the other hand, I learned without it, don't know if I'd use it myself. It's just another tool to use on very certain shots. If your doing a long shot that has both tilted shots and straight on shots, you'd be screwed using a tilt plate, unless the big majority of the scene was done using the post straight and the top stage tilted.

Just my .02

[Thomas English]

Horses for courses. I own a Betz tilt plate which is great but lives in a cupboard. When the next generation Alexa comes along the size of an epic i might put it back on. Its been off for 5 years.

 

I totally agree with Eric however dynamic balance is more important the lighter the setup. So always check you still have it and don't neglect. But as Eric says...you don't need it when tilting down. Unless your whole career is shooting adult povs of children.

[Jim Coulter]

Thanks guys! All great responses and it makes me feel better about not having to spend the money!

I really love how this forum provides me with so many things I would never have thought about or considered.

[Mark Schlicher]

I believe that it is correct that Tiffen offers extended arm posts for the Zephyr (that's what I was told), however it is not a quick-change like big rig arm posts so not so useful on set.

 

I have a set of the "Freesh Extenders " and have found use for them from time to time.

[Brian Freesh]

"Freesh Extenders "

 

No no no, that's a completely different product, not appropriate for this forum.