Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head
Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head
Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head
Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head
Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head
Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head
Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head
Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head
Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head
Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head
Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head
Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head
Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head
Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head

Leofoto BV-15 Video Fluid Head

Regular price R 4,999.00
/
Tax included.
1 in stock

The Leofoto BV-15 is a medium fluid video head designed for use with cameras or optics and has a balanced load rating of 3kg and a general load rating of 10kg. The balanced rating is the amount of weight the head can handle while still providing smooth movement dampening at the extreme range of movement. As the balanced rating is exceeded, the fluid dampening will not perform perfectly, especially at extreme tilt angles.  

This head features adjustable fluid dampening on the tilt axis as well as the panning axis (the BV-15 is the first head in the range with a fluid panning axis). The BV-15 has both 1/4" and 3/8" accessory ports, includes a 30cm handle and connects to any tripod with a 3/8" mounting stud. This head has a standard arca-swiss clamp and includes a 100mm quick release plate.

The BV-15 features two bright leveling bubbles - one on the clamp and one on a protruding flange at the base of the head.

This head is machined from an aircraft grade 6061-T6 aluminium and incorporates other premium materials such as stainless steel and brass in various components. 

Specifications 

  • Weight - 1300g
  • Height - 130mm
  • Balanced Load Rating - 3kg
  • General Load Rating - 10kg
  • Base Diameter - 70mm
  • Connection - 3/8" Brass
  • Clamp - Arca-swiss

 

More About Fluid Heads

A fluid head dampens the sudden movements that are unavoidable in human operation to ensure smooth pan/tilt motion in video. They are also very popular for use with spotting scopes, binoculars and telescopes, whether used for birding, stargazing or target shooting. Fluid heads come in an endless variety of shapes and sizes, from R1000 plastic crap, up to R500k heads used in the cinema industry. Features and load capability obviously increase with price, so it is critical to familiarise yourself with Leofoto's range to understand what each model can or cannot do. When it comes to fluid heads, bigger is always better, especially if you might upgrade your camera gear in the future. 

  • If you want a lightweight head to hike with, you are looking at the wrong type of head. Consider the VH-30 or LH Ballheads.
  • Fluid heads do not have roll (they cannot tilt side-to-side) and should always be perfectly level when panning, which is why you should always pair a fluid head with a leveling base like the LB-60N or YB-75LP.

Leofoto Fluid Head Range

  1. BV-1 – Very small fluid head, meant for very light gear like compact cameras and light spotting scopes or binoculars.
  2. BV-5 – Small fluid head meant for small video cameras (MFT/crop sensor) or spotting scopes up to 2kg.
  3. BV-10 – Medium fluid head meant for small cameras (crop sensor - full frame) with mid-size telephoto lenses like 70-200 f/4 or spotting scopes up to 2.5kg.
  4. BV-15 – Medium fluid head that can handle video rigs of up 3kg e.g. full frame body + medium sized lenses (e.g 70-200mm f/2.8).
  5. BV-20 – Large fluid head for heavy mirrorless/compact video rigs like Sony A7s3/FX-3/BMPCC 6k or R3/Z9 with telephoto lenses. Balanced load rating up to 5kg (The Leofoto BV-20 is still in the pre-release phase at the time of writing this and the exact specs have not been released yet – Jan 2023)
  6. BV-30 – Small Cinema Fluid Head that can handle balanced loads of up to 8kg. Ideal for video use with XL wildlife setups like Canon R3/Nikon Z9 + 400mm f/2.8/600mm f/4.

    Do you have the item in stock? 

    Products are either in stock, out of stock (sold out) or special order. 

    • In stock: We have stock at our local warehouse. You can see how many we have in stock, add these products to your cart and check out. 
    • Sold out: We usually carry stock of this item but it has sold out. Please get in touch to get an ETA and reserve and incoming product. Or use the "Email me when available" button to get an email when new stock arrives. 
    • Special order: We don't carry local stock of this item. Get in touch to confirm stock availability and ETA to place an order. 

    Delivery options and what they cost

    We pride ourselves on lightning fast shipping, FREE on all orders over R1000. For orders under R1000 a courier fee of R120 will apply. Apart from large f-stop gear orders and large tripods, most of our items ship overnight and the daily cutoff is 13:00. You can read more on the deliveries page

    Can I collect my parcel? 

    Yes, you can collect your order from our warehouse in Saxenburg Park, Blackheath (08:00 - 14:00). Just choose the collection option at checkout- we'll follow up with the specifics. Please note that we are very strict about payment if collecting. We will not release any goods if we are not 100% comfortable about payment. We accept the following as payment confirmation in order to release the goods. 

    • Payfast Card Payment (any customers, new or returning)
    • EFT from FNB to FNB, pending fund clearance (any customers, new or returning)
    • Normal EFT from other banks to FNB (return customers only)
    • Instant EFT from other banks to FNB, pending fund clearance (Any customers, new or returning) 
    • Cash (any customers, new or returning)

    What payment options are available?  

    • EFT
    • EFT via Payfast
    • Credit card: VISA & Mastercard
    • Payflex
    • Float

    What is your policy on returns and or exchanges?

    We are more than happy to exchange any product for something else or a full refund* if you feel that the item you chose isn’t quite right for you. See our Return Policy page for more. 

    *If paying with any card, 4.5% of the transaction value goes to the credit card payment facilitation company. "Full Refund" means that we will return the full amount we received after the credit card service fees. If you are at all unsure that what you're buying is ideal for you, rather opt for EFT payment to be safe. 

    Where is my order? How can I track my order?

    You will receive an email with your tracking number once your order has been collected by our couriers. You can also find tracking number for your orders under "My account" 

    You can also shop NiSi Filters at the following retailers & dealers. 
    Orms Cape Town
    Shop 5 Roeland Square, Cnr Roeland and, Upper Canterbury St, Cape Town
    0214653573
    Orms Bellville
    Victorian Towers, 2 Palm St, Bellville, Cape Town
    Fritz, 0219101380
    FilmFlow (Cinema Specialist)
    Boskruin, Randburg
    Deon Truter, 0823148308
    Kameraz
    Rosebank Mall, 50 Bath Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg
    Martin Wright, 0118802885
    Photoquip
    28 Pearce St, Berea, East London
    043 726 2200
    Lime Photo
    Kloof, Durban
    Emil, 0844849959
     
    You can also shop Leofoto Tripods at the following retailers & dealers. 
    Orms Cape Town
    Shop 5 Roeland Square, Cnr Roeland and, Upper Canterbury St, Cape Town
    0214653573
    Orms Bellville
    Victorian Towers, 2 Palm St, Bellville, Cape Town
    Fritz, 021 910 1380
    Lime Photo
    Kloof, Durban
    Emil, 0844849959
    3% Tactical
    Durbanville
    Bernard Kotze - 0727156743
    Ivan Fourie - 0825290593
    Pretoria Arms
    1032 Silvergrass St, Montana, Pretoria, 0182
    Wayne Lesch – 0798834407

    Damien Bradshaw 
    Eastern Cape (Hunting Products Only)
    0835749134

    Approved Arms
    Pretoria
    Dirk Pio  – 0730556726
     

    We have a no-nonsense approach. If a product breaks due to a manufacturer defect, we will replace it without asking any questions. If we have any reason to believe that the product was put through unreasonably heavy usage, we will have to follow the manufacturer's standard warranty procedure. 

    Find more info on proper care and use for each brand below. 

    NiSi Care & Use

    F-stop Care & Use

    Leofoto

    The manufacturer offers a 10-year limited warranty on all products and we extend that warranty to our customers. Please read the below very carefully, so you understand your position when something breaks or doesn’t work ideally anymore.

    It is critical to understand that this warranty only applies to factory faults and not to standard wear and tear. Tripods are subject to a lot of gray areas in this regard as tripods used outdoors, particularly in sand and sea water, are subjected to extreme wear and tear. We will e.g. replace the affected part of your tripod if a carbon tube snaps or cracks without much pressure applied to it or if the apex breaks. We will not replace your tripod or the affected part if e.g. a joint locks up due to sand or salt build up or if a hinge becomes corroded or stiff/floppy and unserviceable due to corrosion or salt build up. 

In sum, if we see that you took good care of your tripod and something went wrong, we will go out of our way to fix or replace it for you. If we see that you dragged it through the mud (literally or metaphorically), then we are unlikely to fix/replace it for you. How you handle your tripod and take care of it, is all the difference between 3- or 20 years of service. 

The best of tripods will not last longer than 2/3 years if used regularly in the sea, INCORRECTLY, and never serviced. Always make sure to extend the lowest leg section first, so you keep the joints out of the water/sand. Always rinse with freshwater after use in the sea, wipe down with a wet cloth, leave extended to dry and ENSURE YOU KEEP THE HEAD AND APEX DRY. If your tripod’s joints start feeling sandy/gritty, open them up, give them a proper clean and lubrication and fine-tune the tension on the joints.

    If travelling on dirt roads, ensure that your tripod is in its carry-bag when not in use.

    Your tripod will not take care of itself – it is up to you to do so. All our tripods ship with an info-sheet on taking care of your tripod. We also offer a full tripod disassembly and service for R1000, including shipping both ways.

    CHOOSING LEOFOTO

    Leofoto Tripods

    Take a few minutes to educate yourself on what is available, so you can make an informed decision when choosing a tripod suited to your needs.

    Want to see and feel the range before buying? Visit our office in Stellenbosch by contacting us.

    Model naming

    Leofoto tripods come in a diverse range of styles, sizes and lengths. Understanding the naming convention for each of the models is probably the easiest way to understand what each one does.

    Leofoto Tripod Range

    Ranger (LS)

    The Leofoto Ranger series is at the forefront of modern tripod design. Removing the center column of a tripod reduces weight, folded size and cost, while improving stifness rigidity and lifespan. 



    Unless you're addicted to a center column or you need a very large tripod, the Ranger models are our #1 recommendation.

    Summit (LM)

    Building on the best designs in the tripod industry, Leofoto’s Summit tripods combine precision manufacturing with the very best materials to offer a large systematic style support system for large cameras and lenses.

    CHOOSING LEOFOTO

    Ranger (LS)

    More and more consumers and manufacturers are waking up to the fact that a center-column is a major compromise in design and function. Leofoto is one of just a few manufacturers who have jumped to make column-less tripods their core range.

    Leofoto Ranger

    THE FUTURE

    Column-Less

    No-Compromise Apex

    Machined aluminium, stainless steel hinge shafts, brass washers, self-returning angle selectors. Feel free to compare this with other manufacturers - there is only one other that uses this level of quality and their tripods cost about 4x times that of Leofoto.

    Toray 10x Carbon Fiber

    Toray Inc. is a Japanese company and one of the world's largest and most reputable carbon fiber manufacturers. 
They produce 10x layer cross-weave carbon fiber tubing for Leofoto - a critical component in premium tripods.

    Premium Joints and Feet

    Fat joints with deep ribbing provide excellent torque and grip, requiring less than half a turn to lock and unlock a leg. Single-piece shims make maintenance much easier. 



    Leofoto's feet have a solid aluminium internal frame and a beveled face that corresponds with the leg angles.

    UNBEATABLE VALUE

    Ranger LS-323/324/325 kits from R7 999

    These 3 models have quickly become our best-selling all-rounders. Now priced at R8 499, R8 999 and R9 499 (June 2024), these kits offer unparalleled value for money.

    *Includes LS-323, 324 or 325 tripod legs & LH-40 ballhead.

    Shop Ranger LS-32 kits

    Kits

    Kits If you need a head, then kits offer better value than buying components individually.

    Pricing starts at R4 999 for the LS-225C + LH-25. The very best value you will find is the LS-323/324/325 + LH-40 kits at R7 999 or R8 999. Our competing brands' equivalent models sell for about 2x - 2.5x times as much.

    Legs Only

    For those who already have a head, we offer all of the legs individually.

    Pricing ranges from R3 999 for the tiny LS-225C legs to R7 499 for the massive LS-365C legs. This is on average about 40-50% of what our competing brands charge for similar models.

    Levelling Legs (CEX)

    The CEX models are an absolute dream for panorama and video shooters. These models have a levelling half-ball built into the apex. This option is lighter, more compact and has a lower center of gravity than any modular option. 



    Click here to view levelling tripods

    SCARED OF LIFE BEYOND THE CENTER COLUMN?

    Column Included

    CHOOSING LEOFOTO

    Summit (LM)

    Building on the best designs in the tripod industry, Leofoto’s Summit tripods combine precision manufacturing with the very best materials to offer a large systematic style support system for large cameras and lenses.

    Leofoto Summit

    Summit Features

    Premium Apex

    As with the rangers, Summit models feature a no-compromise apex machined from a single piece of aircraft grade aluminium. It features stainless steel hinge shafts, brass washers, self-returning angle selectors, weight hook, 3/8" accessory port and a bright yellow spirit level.

    Modular Accessories

    Large modular center columns are available for summit models in both standard and geared versions. 


    View center columns

    Rifle Sports

    Leofoto offers a Picatinny to Arca-Swiss dovetail adapter as well as a large universal rifle clamp. These are best paired with the YB-75LC leveling base as a pseudo head or the LH-55 low profile head.

    View Rifle Sports products

    In-Apex Leveling Base

    This accessory is an absolute must-have for panorama addicts. It allows you to level your tripod in seconds.



    *Free bowl adapter included with all Summit tripods.

    View Accessories

    SERIOUS SUPPORT

    Invest in Quality

    If you've spent R500k on cameras and lenses, the worst thing you can do is to put it on a cheap tripod. Make sure that you have the same quality product supporting your valuable camera gear.

    The Summit range is designed for large telephoto systems.

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