Position Your Camera With Precision - K&F Concept Geared Tripod Head Review

[@iamjeromedupont]

Thanks for sharing! btw which Tripod are you using?

[@MrRay645]

love my two sets of K&F magnetic ND filters and the BH 36L is real solid for the price but lots can go wrong with a geared head. Just pricey enough I cant bring myself to roll the dice, would be interesting to see how it holds up to a year of rain, sand, dirt, sea air. geared head would be fantastic for my small 645/6x6 waist level finder MF cameras. thanks for the vid, nice seeing it in use

[@kentfaithwendyzeng]

This was a really helpful review of the Kentfaith gear tripod head, and it's good to get first-hand experience of how it performs.

[@JasonFriendPhotography]

I’m pleased you liked it

[@BigBadLoneWolf]

I have used a Benro Gearhead for a few years now and will never go back to a ball head. Composition is so much easier and accurate. BTW I was using it when I met you at Sycamore Gap a couple of years ago

[@JasonFriendPhotography]

I remember that day well… last time I ever went to sycamore gap 😢 Yep… geared heads are great and definitely do make composition easier (I only started using a ball head fairly recently tbh)

[@PaulFeinberg]

Great review.....I also use the A7c and K&F reached out to me about doing a review on this unit. I am shocked I currently use the benro and this looks very promising! I think I am going to take them up on the offer. Thank you!

[@HangingpixelsPhotoArt]

Hi Jason, I just purchased this gear head after watching the video. Just a question, when you use the large adjustment knob, move it, let go, it does hold position but if you jiggle it, it will move slightly until it "click" in place. Same with using large movement know then let go and start using small adjustment knob, it doesn't move straight away until it sorta "click in" to position, then it will start moving with smaller movement knob. Does this happen to you?

[@JasonFriendPhotography]

With the large knob that happens… but then you just refine with the small fine tuning knobs. I use the large knob just to roughly get it in place. Does that help?

[@HangingpixelsPhotoArt]

Certainly does. If it’s the norm then that’s okay. I just thought it would lock it, hold and stay, then you can fine turn. This just mean that I need to turn the fine turn knob more times.

[@stephensmithphotography]

Great review Jason 👍

[@davidcassoday5932]

The nobs are great for fine tuning, but what if you need to make large adjustments? Do you still have to use the nobs? Can the dampening be adjusted so a turn goes farther?

[@JasonFriendPhotography]

There’s a larger nob that you turn which disengages the gear so it moves freely and then fine tune from there… I don’t think you can adjust the dampening though

[@sophietucker1255]

I’ve had it with geared heads. Of the two I’ve owned both died within a year. The Benro was the worst as it was very difficult to get it to hold in the set position. It would always settle after it was set. The K&F just flat out broke. You can turn the knobs all you want but after the first yr it just stopped. And no I didn’t over load it. If myHasselblad 503 with a 100mm lens or my Nikon D750 with the 80-200 or 300mm lens is beyond its limits, well. I’ve gone back to my Manfrotto 3 way heads and won’t be going back anytime soon. And I modified my Manfrotto heads to use the Arca Swiss plates.

[@StefanusWijayanto-w1e]

Have 2 tripod from knf, all got many issues, no way buy again. I pick manfrotto at the end, better, no issues, heavy duty. No knf again ever

[@JasonFriendPhotography]

I’ve never used their tripods so can only really comment on the geared head and the magnetic filters which are all excellent. However I have used Manfrotto tripods for years… and they’ve never let me down (apart from the one which I managed to get badly corroded by constantly putting it in the sea!)

[@lensman5762]

Gear-heads were never meant to be used for light SLR or DSLR for landscape photography or otherwise. They were used extensively with heavy Studio Monorails 4X5 or 8X10 in the good old days, for product photography where precise positioning of the camera before applying tilt for perspective correction was absolutely paramount. I use my Manforto gera-head with my 4X5 field cameras, Hasselblads and Pentax 67, but TBH I can't remember the last time that I use it. I am not too sure that even the use of a tripod is really necessary with all these mirrorless cameras of today and their 7 stops of compensation IBIS. Perhaps if you are into long exposure photography, there is a use. In any case, For some reason this K&F seems to be retailing at a much higher price than a Benro ( an almost exact copy ).

[@JasonFriendPhotography]

I always used to use a geared head with my Canon 5Ds & 24mm Tilt-Shift lens (that was the manfrotto geared head I used then)... later used a Benro one with my Fujifilm GFX 50S... I think use of tripod is totally a personal decision... I still prefer to use one even when I could get away with just handholding - just so I can nail my composition whilst waiting for the light. As for the price, the Benro one has been around for a few years so the price is lower than what I paid for it on release. But, just looking at their website.. The Benro is £220 and the K&F is £190. But I have seen the Benro on other online sellers for £160... so at the moment I think you could find a Benro one for cheaper (in the UK at least).

[@lensman5762]

@@JasonFriendPhotography Absolutely it is a personal choice. For me though, a lighter set up is always preferable to a heavy one now that I am on the wrong side of the 60s. The days that I used to carry a full 4X5 set up with a heavy Gitzo tripod all over the Peak District are long gone, so for me lighter is better. BTW, you can buy an Benro for around £155.00 if you just Google it. Have a great day.

[@JasonFriendPhotography]

Yep... fully get your weight comment (and to be honest I will still probably continue to prefer a minimal camera setup with my smaller Gitzo tripod and head) but some folks like to work from a car and then the weight isnt an issue. Thanks for the comment!

[@joekelly9369]

Im still using a benbo trekker no 2 , its beastly

[@lensman5762]

@@joekelly9369 Yes, I still have the original from the mid 80s and also the giant one that I bought used a few years ago. Absolutely no use to me but it was cheap so I bought it for fun. Tripod Fetish one might call it. I used to mount everything from my Nikon FE up to Hasselblad and 4X5 field camera on the MK1 Benbo. Genius of a design, but like most good British engineering neither the public nor the sellers appreciated it.

[@joekelly9369]

My filters are like church windows