Looking for comments on the Varizoom CinemaPro remote head system

[Jack Lam]

My good friend, who runs a rental house in Beijing China, is asking me to recommend a good 2-axis remote head system.

We are looking at the Varizoom CinemaPro JR. It seems to have all the features we need at a relatively good price. But I can't find much talk about this product on the Internet. All I can find are promotional materials from Varizoom themselves. Does anyone have first-hand experience to share?

Is it a good choice in today's market? Is there any good alternative product to consider?


I'm especially interested in the gyro-enabled feature called "back pan". It helps the head maintain its heading even when the jib swings around. Originally, the "back pan" feature is only available in the standard-sized CinemaPro head and not available in the JR version. Recently, Varizoom engineers are cool enough to come up with a way to add this feature to their JR head upon my inquiry.

I am also very interested in the motion control feature. How does it perform as a motion control head?

thanks a lot,

Jack Lam

 

[Cliff Hokanson]

I have the pro one with wheels ITS GREAT !!!!!

 

[Jack Lam]

Hey Cliff. Have you tried it on a jimmy jib? My friend has the standard-sized model, and he said he saw quite a bit of vibration when used on the jimmy jib. It was very tricky to keep the shot levelled too. I suspect that the L-bracket on his head (one that supports the camera) may be sightly off from 90-degree. I tested his head yesterday, and the head would suddenly stop at a certain pan angle and requires a power cycle. The head just came back from factory inspection around 6 months ago and was said to be problem-free.

Have you experienced any reliability issue?