Mitchell or 150mm ball?

[David Mutchler]

Which is the best set-up to go with O'Connor HD Tripod & 2060 HD fluid head, Mitchell or 150mm ball? I will be renting it out with my RED.

[Nick Gardner]

What market are you renting in? Feature film, and commercial people will be fine with mitchell, and it's more stable, and universal if you are working off a dolly, but people with a video back ground might consider it heavy, and hard to level.

Nick

[David Mutchler]

Mostly Feature films & shorts.

[Florian Stadler]

If you like to shoot off a dolly

Mitchell

[Jens Jakob Thorsen]

In europe balls are more common ;-) I cant count the number of shooting hrs I have lost in my carreer, waiting for the guys to level a Mitchell.
If you are on sticks or hardmount on a pickup or camera car and the road slants while you are moving/shooting you can level in 2 secs, where as with a Mitchell mount you have to loosen the straps and have your grip help you level, or fix it in post.
Another ting is when you want to do levelling by eye, because the true level looks wrong for some reason. Then you have to do a little trial and error to find what looks best, and that takes five times longer and is much less intuitive with a Mitchell.
I also cant count the number of times that the ball slipped out of level...A Mitchell mount is rocksteady
So its also about taste and whether you like to level your self sometimes.
I prefer balls when we move fast, but Micthell if Im on a dolly

best JJ

[Phan Tran]

I got my Oconnor 2575 with the 150mm ball head. I also got Oconnor's Mitchell mount adapter. Easy to convert in the field.

Most of the time, productions stick with the ball head because it is fast to level, but if for any reason they need to go to Mitchell, they can do so quickly and easily.

Phan

[Mark Pedersen]

Just went through this.

For tripod and hi hat work, the ball lets you level quickly.
But for dolly, or other rigs, mitchell is best.

First I got a 2060 with a ball head, and mitchell adapter.
Problem is, you need to remove the four allen sets at the base of the ball and then attach the mitchell each time to change it in the field. Pain in the A.

Get the head in mitchell plate, but get the ball adapter, and the integrated tie downs. When you need the ball, you just attach it to the mitchell base with one tiedown, then use a second tiedown to secure it to the bottom of the tripod or hi hat. Much faster and easier. Just call Oconner and they can point you to the right stuff.

M

[StephenMurphy]

Mitchell all the way.

[David Mutchler]

Thanks for all the advice guys.