IFOOTAGE K5S Video Head, Fluid Head for Camera Tripod, Aluminum Pan Tilt Head Panoramic Ball Head with Arca Swiss Quick Release Plate, Payload 5KG/11LB

I needed a rather portable video head for occasional and portable use. I did my due diligence and came out with the decision to try IFottage’s K5S. The improved version of the K5. I never owned the K5, so all I can tell you about is the K5S. This is a rather basic video head. No fancy bells or whistles. It feels well made and the pan/tilt features do the job for my rigged our Canon R6MK2. There are tension knobs for both pan and tilt. No counterbalance adjustment though. The plate system is a type of Manfrotto 500 series. I additionally tried alternative plates by SMALLRIG (3158B) and Neewer (501PL), both of which work on this video head. So if you need spares… Testing my R6 MK2 on this head, I find both tilt and pan to be smooth. I recently filmed a children’s soccer game using the K5S and found nothing lacking. I set the tensions for both pan and tilt and they pretty much remained that way for the couple of hours I had it in use. With some light action going back and forth I never found myself thinking about the video head in that it was restricted or limiting my desired movement. Upon review of the video I shot, it was smooth and appeared as good as one would expect. I could easily see this passing basic broadcast requirements as nothing stood out such as jitter, sharp movements or the like. That’s not bad for a video head in this price range. I wish this head did have more features like adjustable counterbalance and an illuminating spirit level however, I’m being grossly greedy as for the price and its intended use, it works just fine. I’m not using this in any professional or high end setting. It’s solely for friends/family home movies and having the portability to stuff it in my backpack without taking up half of the entire space for all my equipment, is what I wanted. And this just does that. In fact the whole set which included the K5S, a Sirui AM-284 tripod which remained attached to the video head and the pan arm (removed for transport) fit nicely into my Vanguard Alta Action 70 Tripod Bag. But I tried fitting the K5S into my Think Tank Firstlight 35 backpack and it went in no problem too. Essentially, once you remove the pan arm for transport, which only takes 20 seconds, the video head takes up little to no extra room compared to a decent Ballhead. This hit the mark, transport is easy here. Not something my Sachtler Ace XL Mk2 can do comparatively. My only real gripe here is I wish the pan handle was telescopic. I do fiddle with the length at times on my video heads and making it shorter is helpful for transport as well. So not bad overall. Definitely recommended.

Did a lot of research before buying this. Have been testing for a few days and blown away by how good this thing is. It’s built like a tank and is out performing my Miller DS-5 tripod head for pan/tilt performance. It’s compact, silky smooth and absolutely packs a punch. Very happy.

This is well made and has a smooth enough pan and tilt for most work, much better than the older model, this does weight more and is a little bigger too, the pan is a little tight for my liking but nothing I can't work with, overall a very good fluid head that will deliver smooth shots.

Despite the description this is not arca swiss compatible! Having found an adapter I think it very good. More compact than a gimbal.

It’s still too early to tell if the item will be good or not, but the postage & handling was abysmal. Rather then putting the item in a postage satchel, the mailing label was simply slapped onto the front of the box – which was open, mind you – & now the label won’t come off. I realise that postage is “free” but I’ve never had such a poor experience with an Amazon delivery before.