Cartoni Lambda 15 Introduced – Compact Nodal Head, 15kg Payload, Encoder Ready

by Alexandra ThompsonSeptember 14^th, 2026

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Cartoni has added a smaller model to its Lambda nodal head range, the Lambda 15, rated for 15kg (33lb) and weighing 6kg (13.2 lbs) itself. We spoke to Elisabetta Cartoni at the IBC 2026 booth about the head, its encoder provision, and the broadcast work the company expects it to do.

Cartoni has been building nodal heads for around 30 years. The range runs from the 50kg (110 lb) Lambda 50 down through the Lambda 25, below which sat an older, tube-based Lambda 10. That history has been unusually visible at the other end of the range this year. Cartoni’s Magnum head carried the IMAX camera on Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and Elisabetta noted that the attention it drew runs counter to almost every request the company receives, which is to make things smaller and lighter. The Lambda 15 is the answer to those requests. Cameras have shrunk, and what Cartoni kept being asked for was a nodal head light enough to travel and small enough to sit on a compact jib or a slider rather than requiring a full-size support.

What a nodal head does here

The defining characteristic is that the rotation planes for pan and tilt both pass through the optical center of the lens, which is what allows a shot to pan or tilt without parallax between foreground and background. That’s the basis for stitched panoramas, for plate photography, and increasingly for virtual production, where the camera’s movement has to correspond exactly to a rendered environment.

A quick release plate 30cm (11.8in) long gives enough travel to center the camera properly, which Elisabetta noted matters with long lenses.

Cartoni’s own patented fluid modules, the same principle used across heads like the Maxima 5.0 and Master 25, handle the drag, with three settings on each axis plus a free movement option, so the head can be used as a conventional fluid head when the nodal precision isn’t needed.

Underslung, and where it gets used

The head can be mounted upside down, which is the feature that widens its application beyond a tripod. Underslung, it suits jib arms, cranes, scaffolding, and sliders, and it’s that configuration Elisabetta expects to see on television productions.

The core customers are rental houses and owner-operators, the latter being people who keep the head in the car because they don’t know in advance whether a job will call for it. The primary market is cinema and episodic work, with broadcast as the growth area.

On that point Elisabetta made an argument worth recording. She sees no meaningful border left between broadcast and cinema: cinema has traditionally been where new ideas and the most demanding products originate, but broadcast is where they get extensive use, and the picture quality associated with cinema shooting is increasingly expected on television. Live production now carries the same quality requirement, and the same lenses, large format sensors, and real-time visual effects have followed it there.

Encoders now, motors later

The Lambda 15 is a manual head with two axes, and a third axis is in design. What matters for its future is what Cartoni has left room for inside it.

The head is built with space for position encoders, using the same precision encoders fitted to the company’s larger heads rather than a reduced version, which would let it report its position for tracking and virtual production work. The same housing could also take a motor, which opens the possibility of a remote controlled Lambda later.

Cartoni states that the encoder upgrade can be retrofitted, so a head bought now can gain position tracking later rather than being replaced, which matters most to rental houses building inventory. The motor remains a possibility the design allows for rather than an announced product.

Bases and weight

Mounting options cover a flat base as well as 100mm and 150mm ball fittings, so the head can go onto most existing supports without an adapter.

Total weight is 6kg (13.2 lbs), which for a head carrying 15kg (33 lbs) is the figure that makes the travel case argument work.

Price and availability

The Lambda 15 is €6,000, with availability expected in around three weeks. Cartoni has a first batch of 100 units coming out of its factory in Rome.

For more information, please visit the Cartoni website.

A nodal head at 6kg that takes 15kg and is ready for encoders. Would you put one on a jib for live work? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!