Sunwayfoto LB-90L Leveling Base Review: Heavy Duty & Affordable What do you need to know about leveling bases?

Today we are looking at the type of accessory that is not often discussed but when it is needed it can be truly essential, the Leveling base. We will discuss some of the different designs and take a closer look at the Sunwayfoto LB-90L we have used in the studio for the past several months.

Background – why do you need a leveling base?

While dedicated video tripods usually come with a 75mm or a 100mm half ball connector that allows for quick leveling of a video head, there are plenty of situations where you want to level your video head on a different base such as a slider, jib or even more common stills tripod legs.

To solve this problem, you can use a leveling base. These sorts of accessories have been around for decades and they attach between your head and the base that you want to connect it to and allow the user to make sure the head is leveled even when working on uneven ground without having to play with the legs of the tripod (which can be a hassle).

Better compared to other leveling bases we tested

Sunwayfoto-LB-90L

Different types of leveling bases: pros & cons

There are many different leveling base designs created by different manufacturers over the years. Some leveling heads provide only 5 degrees of adjustment while others can go up to 40 degrees.

Some have higher profiles while others have low profiles and hence allow you to keep your setup relatively low.

Other important differences include carrying capacity, with some of the more basic units rated at 10 kg or less but higher-end ones having an official load of over 40 kg.

A huge difference between leveling bases has to do with the actual mechanism of opening and locking the head. There are all sorts of systems including ones with a single wing side screw, ones with dual wing center lock, ones with a star lock on the side, and even strange designs with three round screws that are designed to be accurate but are very heavy and cumbersome and slow.

Sunwayfoto LB-90L

We own well over a dozen tripods for video and stills of different shapes and sizes and even more accessories such as sliders and jibs that can benefit from a leveling base.

We also used several leveling bases from well-known brands like Manfrotto to no-name ones that you can get on eBay for under $30.

Here are some of the things that we liked about the Sunwayfoto version:

  • The unit is both low (48mm/under 2”) and wide (9cm or under 3.5” in diameter) which means that it will not increase the minimum height of our rig by too much when we are shooting low to the ground but it is also wide enough so it will be able to accommodate nicely even a very wide base head.
  • The LB-90L has up to 15 degrees of tilt. That is well more than enough for anything we need in the studio but should be enough for a lot of outdoor work as well.
  • To us, one of the biggest selling points of this head is the locking mechanism how robust is this head on the one hand, and how simple it is to open and lock. The mechanism is a twist design but unlike some cheaper models we tested, when it is locked, something that requires almost no force is the way, it will not sag or move at all even with higher loads or front-heavy setups.

High-quality locking mechanism

Sunwayfoto-LB-90L

  • Talking about load. The LB-90L has an official load capacity of 25kg (55LBS), way beyond anything that we are going to subject it to directly, however when you consider rigs that are very front-heavy heavy having such a high capacity is very important.
  • The unit has a side bubble level which is a nice addon and possibly more visible compared to that on some heads.

The only two drawbacks of the LB-90L are the lack of head locking screws to prevent spinning which is important to us especially when using fluid heads in pan mode and the fact that for some strange reason, the screw on the head is a ¼” and not the standard 3/8”, but ¼” to 3/8” adapters are easy to find.

Useful bubble level 

Sunwayfoto-LB-90L

Conclusion

After working with it in the studio for over six months, the Sunwayfoto LB-90L became our go-to leveling base and we use it primarily on our precious Cambo salon stand, which certainly says a lot.

Highly recommend leveling base

Sunwayfoto-LB-90L

Pricing

The Sunwayfoto LB-90L Leveling base sells for just under $100. For those who are interested, there is an LB-90R version of the head with a 360-degree panoramic rotator that sells for only $110.

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Iddo Genuth
Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.

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