Manfrotto MVK500C Lightweight Fluid Video System with Carbon Fiber Legs (Black)

I rarely give out 5 star ratings because rarely do I come across a product that achieves perfection. So, my 4-star rating on this product says that I am very happy with it. And the price, though it is in the high range, was something that can be justified with the quality of the product.PROS:Very sturdy legs that slide easily in and out when collapsing and expanding them. No problems at all with the locking mechanisms for both the legs and the head. Good height for a tall guy like myself (6' 4") who doesn't like to hunch over for long periods of time while I'm shooting weddings. Excellent fluid head that provides butter-smooth pans and has a very wide range of motion (360 for panning and almost perfectly straight up and down, but not quite). The bag is excellent quality too. I read a lot about bags that barely fit the tripod when the head is on it. This is not a problem with this product, as long as you fully collapse the legs and remove the handle before storing. The hardware for this product appears to be designed well. No issues with pieces not fitting together properly that you get with cheaper products.CONS:Lots of plastic on this unit. More than I thought there would be. The locking mechanisms for the legs are plastic. The ball-head is plastic and the knobs that lock the head in place are plastic as well. Though this isn't an immediate problem, plastic is a cheap material that is suceptible to cracking and breaking after being exposed to weather and wear and tear. I just thought a $350 item wouldn't have to resort to so much plastic, but maybe it was necessary to keep the price point. Not sure. I wasn't very impressed with the bubble-level either. It's not in a very good spot on the tripod and I noticed that when I do 360-degree pans the bubble moves from center to off-center as I am moving around. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I would think that if it was an accurate measure of something being level that it would be stationary as I was panning. So, I DO use the bubble level, but I also have to resort to eye-balling it on my LCD to make sure that I am level.STORE:I do want to touch on the distributor I bought this item through, the Recording Store. For the record, their customer service (or lack thereof) has nothing to do with my 4-star rating. That is based purely on the product itself, but I did want to include them in this review.On Feb 14th I received an email stating that my tripod had shipped and I would get it as early as the 21st and no later than the 24th. The 24th came still with no sign of the product. Interestingly, there was no tracking information available on this order through Amazon. I waited until the early afternoon on the 24th and emailed the Recording Store and they said they were shipping it that afternoon. What? Really? So, I asked about the email I received stating it was being shipped on the 14th and they said that they were GOING to ship it that day, but they realized 2 parts were damaged on it. Ok, so I don't get an email letting me know that it was going to be late? I find it interesting that they were "just getting ready to ship" my item as I was emailing them on the 24th. Quite a coincidence, wouldn't you say? I'm guessing my order fell through the cracks and when I emailed them they started looking for it and found it. Kinda like when the waitress forgets to put your order in and then when you ask where your food is she runs back there and puts it in really quick. Then she makes up some BS story about how the kitchen is running slow. Anyway, I got it eventually, but they didn't seem to be very apologetic about it or even care that it was late. Good thing I didn't have an immediate need for the item. If I did, you can be sure I would have been blowing those people up demanding next day shipping for free.

I'm a film student, and I've owned some pretty modest tripods over the years, generally in the $100-$150 range. For that price you can get some sturdy tripods that work well for still photography, but they don't work well for film. In particular you can't do any sort of smooth panning/tilting sorts of shots. I used some older Manfrotto tripods at school, and definitely saw the value in those, so I bought this as my first real "video tripod".I really really like it! It's not cheap, but it's so easy to do butter-smooth pans. You can even do it with one finger, just smoothly panning. On my first shoot we did two such scenes, and they both worked fabulously.For other static type of shots, the camera performs very well too. It's very sturdy, and goes up pretty high (6'), and the quick release works really well (although it takes a little getting used to). I'm using it with a Canon XA10.The one thing that annoys me about it, is trying to get it level, for a "normal" static shot. The ball-and-socket mechanism is actually a bit awkward to get perfectly straight. It does have a level bubble, but it is in a really awkward place which make it difficult to see, especially in less the bright lighting conditions.Still, this is a brilliant tripod. Some of the other filmmakers that I worked with on this really appreciated it too, and said how much they enjoyed working with it.

I've owned one before for 5 years and used the heck out of it. The previous one I had didn't come with the stap or the case. I wish it had because it would have lasted much longer . Eventually the spreaders wore out and it was useless by that point. I love this case! Will make it so much easier to haul around with my hands full of gear. Hoping this one can carry me through until I can make the jump into hyerspeed.

I've had this for two years now mostly shooting birds and other wildlife. The weight is tolerable and the fluid head is just adequate although a bit sticky for long zoom panning, and a lot more sticky on the tilt. Unfortunately the head has a nonstandard 60mm bowl which is practically untransferable to any other tripod. And transfer it I would like. The problem is the spreader. It's attached to the legs with a loosey-goosey plasticky joint that provides no rigidity, it just keeps the legs from spreading further. Should say used to keep. The first joint broke when the tripod got knocked over. The other two broke of old age. Currently the spreader is held to the legs with bits of coat hanger wire. The loose spreader design also necessitates the rubber band to hold the legs together when moving the tripod. Yes, every time I pick up the tripod and move to another spot I have to snap the rubber band around the legs. And that rubber band would fall off immediately if I hadn't wired one end to a leg. Add that you cannot buy spike feet for this model, which I really would prefer out in nature, and that's why my 3-star review actually feels generous. If I were doing studio work this would probably be a good deal but for out in the field this was a mistaken choice. Live, pay, and learn.

Very nice and sturdy tripod used it for a mini projector has excellent multi positioning

I am an amateur, but serious, home video maker and required a reasonably, professional fairly light weight stable and smooth panning tripod particularly when using a multiplier zoom lens on my Full HD Canon Legria HF M506 camera.The product description says "boxed weight 2.60kg whereas it is actually 3.64kg on my electronic luggage scales. It is approx. 80cm x 16cm packed in its case making it a bit cumbersome to carry around all day and climb mountains but still reasonably light to carry for specific projects. It is much lighter than many tripods of this quality.The fluid cartridges on pan and tilt provide just enough resistance to ensure ultra smooth constant speed pan and tilt. You can lock it in position on both axis. The slide plate allows you to adjust the camera tilt balance so when I fit my heavy zoom lens on the front I can counterbalance by sliding the plate & camera back. Even if you forget to lock the slide plate it will NOT accidentally fall out when the camera is tilted. READ the instructions to ensure the slide plate is in the correct orientation (arrow pointing to the lens) when fitting to plate to the camera and to the head.As mentioned by other reviewers the bubble level is only 1cm diameter and awkwardly located below the slide plate/camera. It helps to tilt the plate fully forward & down so you can see from above that the bubble is over the centre dot. You need 3 hands; one to hold the head level, and one to lock the ball joint and one to hold a small torch to see the bubble!The only plastic pieces are the tripod leg locking mechanisms joint, feet pads and the ball joint socket, but they are substantial and I do not see any long term problems. Note that the 'ball' itself is metal (not plastic as stated by some reviewers).In conclusion, I have had cheap tripods but they are only good for SLR's. For video you should not stint on quality. It may seem expensive at £300 (+extra for postage) but it is much cheaper than many professional quality tripods and is worth every penny. I do not regret buying this excellent tripod which has substantially improved the quality of my filming particularly on zoom when tracking a skier or sailing boat, or just panning a landscape.In the few months since using it I can say it definitely adds a professional quality makes a difference to the movie quality by taking out the wobble common to amateur movies taken by hand and enables steady panning.

My first semi pro tripod and very impressed so far. Sturdy feel to it in every way. The fluid head is smoothe in operation. Setting the weight for the head movement is very easy. All the fasteners a made from durable materials and do not feel light and or brittle like cheaper brands. All comes with a lovely case. Once packed away in the case it slings over your should with ease. I have a lowepro sling style bag so with that and the tripod on the other shoulder its no bother. Its not too heavy to carry long distances I find but if weight is a critical point for you then spend the extra and go Carbon. Can't complain at this stage. Its going to Iceland soon so this review will be updated. At present the only improvement would be for the case to have some extra loops on it so that attaching it to a rucksack would be a little easier and more secure. Point being so that you don't have to pay extra for check in luggage as a separate item since it obviously won't go in hand luggage. NB: I like proper tripods on holiday and not the travel style.

This tripod is excellent and just what I needed to support my current video set up and lens choice. The fluid video head allows for smooth pans and tilts. Whilst I rate the overall product 5/5 the pricing of the product, is as expected, expensive. You know what you're getting with a Manfrotto tripod and this hasn't let me down at all. I bought it when it was on sale, and have no regrets on my purchase.

Excellent tripod. Big improvement on earlier model now with an elevating central column which is great for fast height adjustment. Not sure about the plate arrangement: another case of change for change's sake? Takes a while to get used to compared to the 'slide-in' type. Or is it just me?