MP101 Video Motorized Pan Head

So here was my dilemma... I use my Canon 60D to film my son's basketball games continuous video using Magic Lantern. I set it on my 6' tripod on the bleachers or in some corner to capture the entire court... hence my problem... people walk by or worse yet STAND in front of the camera constantly. I needed a tripod that is higher than most, able to get ABOVE people standing around... So I bought the PBL Pro Heavy Duty Air Cushioned 10ft Light Stand to act as a tripod... it gets my camera up to 10 ft in the air! With the camera so high, I needed a way to adjust the view from my height... and this is where the Bescor Remote Controlled Motorized Pan/Tilt Head is the perfect solution... I put this on top of the stand... put the camera on top of that... and with the fully articulated screen on my 60D pointed to me on the floor, I can adjust the pan and tilt of the camera from 6ft using the remote control, while the camera sits on it's perch 8-10 ft high! The whole setup is plenty strong enough to hold the Bescor AND 60D with absolutely no fear of falling. (I use a common 18-135mm lens, so nothing too long and out of balance, all the weight is straight down the stand) I adjust the Pan and/or Tilt for the perfect view, and set it and forget it. The Bescor weighs about 3 lbs... and camera about 3 lbs... and the stand supports up to 15lbs, so I feel very comfortable with this setup. The camera attaches directly to the top of the Bescor with the screw head and sits high and tight on top... Once at full height, I adjust my view of the basketball court, left, right, up, down... all from my height of 6ft when my camera is 10 ft high! I'm thinking about going wireless with the whole setup using the CamRanger PT hub... but there are some battery limitations with the hub and router that only last 1-2 hours... and I use this for hours at a time sometimes... but this setup is working perfectly for what I need and the design is perfect for me right now... for weekend use... a lightweight... strong... camera tripod setup... getting my camera OVER the heads of fans for clear video... using the remote controlled motorized Pan Head for minor adjustments... perfect.

Yes, movement is as smooth as reported by other reviewers, as long as you take care of leaving space for the cables to move. On some uses, we found the control cable generated some jerkiness, but corrected it by leaving enough for rotation and movement. Also, we did confirm what other reviewers say about the slowest setting being a little too fast... at least when you're zoomed in. It gets better (slower) the more weight you add, so that's what we did and it was acceptable for our purposes, but there are certain really slow movement shots we were expecting to do that are not possible. We've used it screwed to a base on top of a table for product shots and it does a fantastic job. We've used it on a tripod and it opens up tons of possibilities for very careful, planned shots without having to go handheld or over the shoulder. Soon we will mount it on a crane (we got the cable extension and ACDC bundle, quite recommended) and will report on results with that, but based on this recent limited experience, it will get us some awesome footage. Just wish it was lighter (quite a hefty little bugger) and offered some sort of wireless control, but for this price it's just me whining. That's why it still gets 5 stars. A definite must-have on most of our shoots.

Big, bulky, somewhat heavy, with a solid build, the Bescor MP-101 executes smoother pans and tilts (or a combination of both) than I can accomplish with my fluid head - keeping in mind that my fluid head is not an expensive one. To perform pans, the Bescor has a rather large circular "turntable" base onto which your tripod head attaches by way of the standard-sized screw. Once secured, the Bescor and your camera now turn together entirely as one unit - that is, when the bottom "turntable" base starts turning, everything above it - the Bescor's upper case (body) with your camera attached - turn to create the pan. Up to 180 degrees pans can be made either manually with the remote control or with the Bescor's auto setting. The remote features separate direction and speed controls on a 3 feet cable. Performing tilts - With the Bescor's base secured to your tripod head, the Bescor acts as an extension of your tripod's head. The Bescor's top portion provides a standard-sized screw and pin in which to engage your camera. This is the upper-most area of the Bescor, and it tilts independently of the Bescor's case. I gave the Bescor a 4 star rating because of its limited tilting range which can be inconvenient in some scenarios. Other than that, for its price, it can make an astounding difference in the look and feel of amateur videos. It's capable of transforming a simple handycam's output into a production seemingly created by much more expensive equipment. The Bescor MP-101 is made in China (so, what else is new?), and has a 90 day warranty. Catch my real-world demonstration videos, "The Bescor MP-101 Motorized Pan Head - In Hollywood" on YouTube. Type in "thehwdykedemos" to find them quickly.

Unlike what is listed in the product description, the unit I received has a 340 degree panning range (or +/- 170Y to use the notation in the product description). In auto panning mode (which is of no use to me except for testing the unit), the stops are 0, 45, 90, and 340 (meaning respectively: stop-at-maximum-left, +/- 27Y, +/- 45Y, and +/- 170Y). Not mentioned in the product description, but visible (barely) in the customer image, there is a pan angle indicator at the bottom of the unit, graded from 0 to 340 degrees. Also, I had been expecting some slight jerkiness in low speed (from other reviews), but I cannot notice any.. On the other hand, the slowest speed is a bit faster than I thought it would be, and I did not experiment with a heavy camera. The instruction sheet that came with the unit lists the maximum tilt and pan speeds as respectively 2.4 degrees per second and 8 degrees per second. I measured the pan speeds as 8.1 max and 3.7 min. Contrary to what the instruction sheet says, auto pan does not require the "remote control switch" to be attached (removing it just results in the highest speed).

Do not deal with this company. The pic on their site is not the same item they ship. The item they shipped worked couple months then failed to work. I tried to get another but could not. They would not even respond to me. I had bought a total of 4 in past. They all have stopped functioning. They don't last long. The last one I purchased lasted only couple month. So I will not be buying from them any longer.

I needed a pan and tilt. Servo City was $650. This was in a package at Adorama for $140. It works great but the pan speed is not fast enough for my 13 year old soccer game; it's fine for the 8 year old. I tried increasing the power supply to 9.0 v at 1.2A and timed a full rotation 29 seconds versus 31 seconds for the 7.5vDC power supply. I increased the power to 12V at 1.2A and still no appreciable improvement. Here is a test clip: [...] goto youtube and insert: watch?v=S3j14sn1ZZ4 updatej May 13-2015. My first one worked great since day one. then it was stolen out of my trunk. I ordered another one from Kellard but this one arrived without working (even though the green light was on). So I'm sending the second one back and ordering a third one. Hopefully this third one will work. One thing I noticed was that my first one had a 7.5VDC 0.7A adapter whereas this second one has a 6VDC 1.5A adapter.

I have had this pan head for about 2.5 years, but it has only seen light use (probably under 20 total uses). For the price, I was very pleased with the product - it was perfect for using on a crane (I bought the extension cable for the remote) and took my videos to a new level of smoothness. It is definitely a legitimate complaint about the speed - too slow for many applications, though I learned to live with it. The remote does feel much cheaper than the rest of the product, and I suspect that it is what has failed on me today, causing me to write this review as a cautionary measure to those who might purchase this product. While functioning, I would rate it a 4-star product, maybe even a 4.5 (cheap remote and slow speed keeping it from 5-star rating), but based on my limited number of uses and extreme care when using it (have kept it in packaging), I have to ding it to a 3. I am not sure if it is the unit or remote that has failed (it no longer moves up or down, left-right is fine), but for either one to fail with the limited use I gave this product, I am not terribly pleased. I suspect the remote as the culprit for 2 reasons: #1, it IS a very cheap piece of plastic, very lightweight and not on par with the head. #2, it can be yours for the low price of forty bucks. If it was ten bucks, you could buy it and keep on smiling, but for it to be forty bucks means that they know that you will need to replace it and are trying to make money off of a bad product. That is a bit unethical to me (I don't use that word lightly), and I really would like to rate it a 1 or 2 for that alone, but because it has been a very useful product for me at a VERY good price point, I feel comfortable with a 3 rating. If I had used this thing hard for a week or 2 and it gave out (which could be very possible for someone, hence my warning), it would definitely be a 1-star product. The remote (whether or not it is faulty - which remains to be seen as I probably grudgingly order one) should not be over a third of the cost of the product.

I just received the Bescor MP101, and was excited to try it out. I got 4 AA batteries and installed them as shown, and switched it on. Nothing. There is a small green LED light that is supposed to illuminate when the device is on, but it didn't light. I reread the instructions, thinking I might have missed something. Then I installed 4 brand new batteries from an unopened package. still nothing. So obviously the device I was shipped was defective. Unfortunately, I can't comment on an actual functioning product, as I decided to return the device. But I made a few observations on the defective one. First, it's strange that a power adaptor is not included with the MP101, especially since the product instructions state that a power adaptor will yield the best results. If you want one, that's going to cost you additional money. In addition, while the head itself seemed solidly built, the remote was very flimsy. Finally, though I didn't get a chance to test it, 5 pounds seems a little limiting for a maximum weight capacity. It would be fine for HDSLRs with a medium size lens, but try to add a matte box, larger lens, or use a prosumer size HD camera, and it might not hold up. I don't normally write reviews for products that I didn't even have a chance to use, but I was so disappointed that I couldn't even get the Bescor MP101 to power on, that I wanted to save other customers from similar grief.