Hello, I'm Walter Pfisterer from the arca-shop.
Today I would like to introduce the high-end heads of arca swiss and compare them with each other.
I am often asked on the phone which tripod head I recommend for which camera.
The question probably comes from the fact that at some point a tripod manufacturer has started to specify camera weights for tripods. For arca swiss, this question is actually negligible.
The heads of arca swiss are high-end products and basically you can take the smallest head and the largest head for almost any camera.
Much more important is the question of what do you need your head for, what do you photograph and how do you take pictures? This gives you the answer as to which head we recommend.
Important purchase decision is very often the price. I won't give you a final price in this video because the prices change from time to time anyway. I'll give you the relation.
The cheapest is the D4m, which costs about half of the cube.
The D4 costs about one and a half times as much as the D4m.
The price difference between the two main competitors D4 and Cube is approximately 1.3 times higher.
As you can see, we already have a relatively small difference between the two main competitors.
Next we come to the weight.
The D4m is the lightweight and weighs 750 gram , no - 752 gram.
The D4 986 gram.
And now the cube. Visually, it always appears to be the heavyweight. You will be surprised: 1040 grams.
Again we have a very small difference between the D4 and the cube.
Incidentally, I was briefly on the Internet during my research. The main competitor of the cube is three times the cube's weight, about 3kg and has half the payload.
Now we come to the essential difference between the two heads.
The essential difference is in the movement sequences between the two heads and to show it well I have prepared a spirit level with our Snap lettering.
First of all, I put it here in the D4.
Here's the axle. So we have a center distance of about 10cm in the middle of the lens.
And if you follow the movement now, you can see that even with a small movement we move the lens relatively strongly.
In contrast to this, the movement on the cube: With the cube, the movement takes place from the middle of the head and if you follow the snap lettering now, you will see that the snap lettering is much less moved, which means that even when you adjust the settings, you have a slight change in the image section. This makes the work much easier.
If you ask me about my personal conclusion:
If you are looking for a small, lightweight and inexpensive 3-way panhead, take the D4m. They separated the movements neatly and he really weighs only 800 grams. It also costs half the price of the cube.
Arguments in favour of the D4: If you take a lot of photos upside down, you have the advantage that the dragonfly below quickly shows you a result without having to climb up the ladder. Or if you do macro photography, for example, you will quickly find yourself at the point where you can start fine adjustment.
With the cube, of course, you start fine tuning from the very beginning.
Otherwise, my personal opinion is that the weight difference between the two heads and the price difference is really too small for me personally to always plead for the cube.
Thank you very much for listening, see you next time. Walter Pfisterer from the arca-shop. And goodbye.