Magnus VPH-20 Video Pan & Tilt Fluid Head

I would describe this as a bargain entry level fluid head. I actually had the piece that holds in the plate unscrew and come apart, so I had to figure out how to screw it all back together with the springs inside that flew out. So watch out for that as you place and remove the baseplate - don't let that latch or whatever it's called unscrew on you. Pans ok - definitely nowhere near as good as real fluid heads, but plenty good enough for the price. I bought this specifically for travel and to take backpacking because it 1) doesn't weigh a lot and 2) it's practically disposable if I destroy the thing.

I needed a simple fluid head to go on a photo tripod. My goal: Low-brow pans and tilts for simple video making with cell phones. Verdict: The Magnus VPH-20 is not up for even this task. Every single element is shaky, jiggly, and unreliable. Ease in and out almost impossible, the video plate (that's the thingy on top that can pop out and screws to the camera) is the cheapest of the cheap, almost an insult. Handle arm cannot be fixated in a fashion that it does not come loose. There is a lot of play in each part, no precision at all. The head is suitable for still photography. As soon as one needs even the slightest movement, this tripod head is not it. I guess, one gets what one pays for.I would not buy it again.

This is Fabulous! Great Price for quality product, very smooth tilt function!

Let me start by saying that It looks pretty good and the price is not too bad. The fluidity of the pan and tilt is not too bad, but ultimately for my purposes, it just won't do. Cons: This head is made almost entirely of plastic. Not super rigid hardened plastic. Just regular plastic. We're talking like 95% plastic. The description says that it will handle up to 11 lbs., but I found that to not be accurate. My rig as is, weighs in around 9-10 lbs, and I found the head unable to keep it stead, and could easily be manipulated when making adjustments on the camera. Pros: Really just one. For the money, you get a fairly decent fluid video head for a small camcorder or a small camera.

It's not the best fluit head, but already good enough for this price.

This head has good features - independent lock and drag controls for both pan and tilt – but the one I got had a fatal flaw. The pan had a rough section. It was about 90º of the pan, and the resistance was greater and bumpier when you panned through that part of the arc. The head has 3 major functions: smooth panning, smooth tilting, and locking in place. It failed at one out of three, and that's not acceptable, so I returned the item. I can't tell if this was solely a problem with head I received or something about the design, I didn't try a replacement. I was surprised to see that the mechanism was largely plastic, big plastic ribs in the tilt hinge, did not give me confidence for getting a better one on replacement. I give it two stars instead of one because I may have just gotten one defective one.

I bought this for travel to shoot video rather than taking my much more expensive and heavier head and it worked great for the price. Only drawback I have found is that the angle lock has to be kept really tight when not using the camera.

Was going to return it until I misplaced my plate for my other head. A real crappy product, doesn't pan smooth like it advertises; the tension knobs don't really work; and the tilting is rough and choppy. I bought this for architecture filmography and didn't suit my needs at all. It didn't look broken, and maybe worked the first few seconds; but really doesn't even keep level. Real peice of crap. Do not buy. You get what you pay for: only buy for children who will break crap anyway and don't know what they are doing (think 5 year olds.)

I am sure this product is good, unfortunately the royal mail let us down by losing the package in transit.

Difficult to get enough tension on panning and tilting, but good for the price.