Fixing the Leofoto VH-30

[@stevenwaldstein2249]

Saw your video and other comments and decided to take the plunge and bought a Leofoto VH-30 head. In November of 2024, mine, new in he box, did have blue Lock tight adhesive holding the clamp and base together after the screw was removed. So to remove it I did use a hair dryer to heat the pieces up and that aided in breaking the seal holding them together. After then replaced the clamp with the LeoFoto LHC-60 you suggested. I bought it along with it and it fit perfectly in either direction. Saved me $300 over the Acratech Panaramic head which is worth the money in the long run but just don’t have that much right now. Willing to try this out to see if shooting with this style of head will work for me. After all, got this far over the last 35 years with only high end ball heads, fluid heads, and gimbals but this tweaked my interest. Thank you and take care.

[@AlexMakuch]

Killer! I hope it works for you. I've had mine for a while now and it's held up quite well

[@stevenwaldstein2249]

@@AlexMakuch FYI - SunwayFoto makes a DT-03 where the clamp easily detaches and only cost $79 on Amazon. about the same build quality. Take care.

[@craigozancin]

The vh-30lr has a lever release clamp that can be rotated.

[@mrjonesmusic5770]

Thank you for your post here. I also own the Leofoto VH-30 and my solution was a little different. Wneh using wider lenses, I mount the camera on a 200mm nodal rail, which not only solves the problem, but also gives me options for very precise panos. When using a longer lens of 200mm or more I attach a 100mm arca-swiss type lens plate to the lens mount/foot, which can be locked in nicely with the nodal point in play.

[@emgee44]

Thanks for posting, like you I too watched the Thomas Heaton video, and like you was bowled over by the price of the head. This little hack is good to know, however I went with a ball head with a dual pan option for now, I’ll see how that pans out ! Edit: Did some further research and realised the other simple method to fix this is to use a Nodal rail, which will switch the camera body round the right way. Thereby leaving the head for when you want to use your longer lens and lens mount.

[@garyrowe58]

Its the right way round for the foot of a long lens, or a nodal rail. But i love your solution, so am going to that other-way plate too ;)

[@AlexMakuch]

That is true! But sometimes you need both :)

[@jasonlamarking]

Just to let people know I bough one one of these heads in May 2023 and the clamp now has the cross built into it. So it's easy to reorient it, no need to buy anything.

[@AlexMakuch]

Nice! That's dope

[@didimoser778]

What do you mean? I just bought one and tried to use it last night for astrophotography and ran into this issue. I unscrewed the bolt in the middle but don’t think the plate would even come off (maybe because I was too scared to pull too hard). Is there a built in Fix for this now?

[@jasonlamarking]

@@didimoser778 the plate is on pretty tight.

[@didimoser778]

@@jasonlamarking , trying again and seriously afraid I might break it. It is not budging at all!

[@pascalhibon7928]

This still is an issue when you try using long lenses with a tripod collar. The head would be in the other direction again. It is better to buy the Leofoto VH-30R. With that version you simply rotate the top plate as needed in the field. I own the VH-30R since several years now and love it; no more ball heads for me.

[@WildSotaPhoto]

Be interested to know if your VH30 is still operational. I have heard others say the non stainless steel bearing washers oxidize/rust and causes it to lockup? Sometimes going the cheaper route doesn't always pan out. I am contemplating the new lever release version.

[@AlexMakuch]

Mine is a-ok so far. I'm not gentle with it, but I do live in Southern California, so it doesn't get as wet as someone else's might.

[@faruambient]

thanks for this video! I dont understand why they designed it like this? Also which plate do you recommend that fits?

[@billz4795]

What is the leofoto panning replacement model number that you mentioned as an alternate. NOTE - an option that I'm trying is keeping the included QR plate and mount a 90d Haoge. You can now use a L bracket AND balance the rig. Take the QR off AND mount a Long lens.

[@AlexMakuch]

They make several, but the RH-2L was the one I was thinking of

[@jasonlamarking]

Clutch info right here. Thanks.

[@stenhasselquist8996]

What's a landscape people?

[@AlexMakuch]

Either like, the dude that mows your lawn or someone who takes pictures of big rocks like a weirdo, but I'm not sure which one I meant anymore

[@desmetcompositor]

Thank you, that's useful.

[@AlexMakuch]

I'm glad!

[@kurteatonphotography]

Question: I noticed the VH-30 (which I just bought on eBay) comes with a 10cm long extended camera mounting plate. Do you happen to know if that plate will fit on the VH-60 head? or will I have to find a new one? thanks...

[@Gman1044]

The plate is arca Swiss compatible so if your 60 is that you should be ok

[@alokebhattacharyya664]

This top part does not come out even after removing the screw. Seems to be stuck

[@AlexMakuch]

On mine, I just had to use some elbow grease and pop it off. It's possible there are some manufacturing variances though

[@itachi_shakur893]

how does the different orientation matter? if you would care to explain..im looking at buying this

[@AlexMakuch]

When you mount a tripod plate to a stills camera, you usually mount it parallel to the sensor plane. This particular tripod head, in its default orientation, makes that very awkward because the movent of the tripod head results in a roll of the camera, not a change in the pitch of the camera. Being able to switch the orientation of the actual clamp allows for more intuitive movement of the camera

[@itachi_shakur893]

@@AlexMakuch ahhhh isee, especially if you have an L bracket. Going to be running an rb67 on it but should I throw my digital on there then I'll have this for reference, thanks.

[@chrismassa5891]

If your are going to use a head like that for panos, go the rest of the way and get a nodal rail.

[@d1m18]

Awesome. Thank you

[@mguerramd]

Or uh, put your plate on your camera the other way….

[@owenjones-wells9395]

Can't do that if you have an L bracket on the camera.