The Leofoto BV-5 is a compact fluid video head designed for use with light cameras or optics and has a balanced load rating of 1.5kg and a general load rating of 4kg. 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 and a standard non-fluid panning axis. The BV-5 also has a 1/4" accessory port, includes a 30cm handle and connects to any tripod with a 3/8" mounting stud. It has a classic arca-swiss quick release clamp and includes a NP-60 quick release plate.
The BV-5 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 - 528g
- Height - 88mm
- Balanced Load Rating - 1.5kg
- General Load Rating - 4kg
- Base Diameter - 50mm
- 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
- BV-1 – Very small fluid head, meant for very light gear like compact cameras and light spotting scopes or binoculars.
- BV-5 – Small fluid head meant for small video cameras (MFT/crop sensor) or spotting scopes up to 2kg.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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)
- 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?
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"
Shop 5 Roeland Square, Cnr Roeland and, Upper Canterbury St, Cape Town
0214653573
Victorian Towers, 2 Palm St, Bellville, Cape Town
Fritz, 0219101380
Boskruin, Randburg
Deon Truter, 0823148308
Stonemill Office Park, Greenstone House
300 Acacia Rd, Johannesburg
Wilhelmus Möller, 0118802885
28 Pearce St, Berea, East London
043 726 2200
Kloof, Durban
Emil, 0844849959
Shop 5 Roeland Square, Cnr Roeland and, Upper Canterbury St, Cape Town
0214653573
Victorian Towers, 2 Palm St, Bellville, Cape Town
Fritz, 021 910 1380
Kloof, Durban
Emil, 0844849959
Durbanville
Bernard Kotze - 0727156743
Ivan Fourie - 0825290593
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.
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.
