Sirui va-5 Head - Horizontal pan lock (1 Viewer)

[Gzoladz74]

Morning,

I got the tripod head above...very happy with it. However, when I lock the horizontal pan knob, the head does not get fully locked. It applies sufficient resistance for the head not to move horizontally, but if I applied a little bit of pressure, I can move it.

Does anybody with the same head know if there is an adjustment somewhere that can be done, or it is a "feature" of the head?

For those interested, I use it with a Sirui ST-125 carbon tripod. tripod and head: 1.8kg, Scope: 2.0kg. Weight and size was an important consideration and when it is windy I hang the backpack of the hook of the tripod. So far, so good.

 

[William Lewis]

Hi Gzoladz

I have the va-5. The pan lock on mine can be tightened enough to make an anticlockwise pan loosen the head from the tripod, plenty enough for me. The other item of note with that function on the va-5 is that because it gets in the way of pointing the scope at zenith I always run the scope the wrong way round, i.e with the pan adjustment lever on the telescopes objective side.

I've been viewing lesser kestrels, peregrines and black kites soaring high over Seville this week at good ranges with my monarch 82 scope on my gitzo gt1545t with the 20-60 zoom and the head has performed faultlessly. The only problem I have had with the head is that the pan handle when tightened still wobbles a little which at hight magnification is not a good thing at all, I don't tend to use a pan handle anyway but it was something I noted when first trying out the head.

Will

 

[Gzoladz74]

tHANKS

Hi Gzoladz

I have the va-5. The pan lock on mine can be tightened enough to make an anticlockwise pan loosen the head from the tripod, plenty enough for me. The other item of note with that function on the va-5 is that because it gets in the way of pointing the scope at zenith I always run the scope the wrong way round, i.e with the pan adjustment lever on the telescopes objective side.

I've been viewing lesser kestrels, peregrines and black kites soaring high over Seville this week at good ranges with my monarch 82 scope on my gitzo gt1545t with the 20-60 zoom and the head has performed faultlessly. The only problem I have had with the head is that the pan handle when tightened still wobbles a little which at hight magnification is not a good thing at all, I don't tend to use a pan handle anyway but it was something I noted when first trying out the head.

Will

Thanks Will, mine definitely tights much less than that...there must be a way to fix that that I need to check. Not a big issue though.

The pan handle of mine is actually rock solid...

 

[Gzoladz74]

Late update in case it helps others...I noticed that there are 2 ways to apply the pan lock: clockwise and anti-clockwise.
If you apply it clockwise, the head will fully lock and not pan (good for transport); if you apply it anti-clockwise, the head will be tight but not as much and you can still pan it if you push it a bit...locking it anti-clockwise when using it allows you to be more accurate to achieve the right level of pan resistance you want for each situation, similar concept to scopes that have 2 focus wheels, one for speed and one for accuracy.

I assume this is a design feature and if so, a very nice one.