recommend me a good quality tripod Please!!!
 

Hello

Im looking out for a new tripod and was just wondering if anyone here could recommend me a good quality solid tripod for the FX1/Z1?

Thanks

Miller Sachtler Bogen Manfrotto
 

Check the sites mentioned above and get the sticks and head that match your weight. Spring loaded is best. Manfrotto/Bogen 510 has a wonderful set of springs and great fluid motion. The price goes up from there ...

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...t=31151&page=2
This thread from Marc Schotland (Manfrotto Product Manager) is one of the most helpful ones for understanding the differences in Bogan Fluid heads. Basically, the 503 (street price $260) is the first fluid head in their lineup that is a true fluid head.

Having spent time on a lot of tripods, Bogen/Manfrotto does have a great bang-for-for-the-buck(Euro?) line of tripod heads and sticks. Personally, Vinten gets my top nod, followed closely by Sachtler. But they are a lot more money. If at all possible, either through a video store or nearby camera buddies, try any tripods you can get your hands on for yourself. Get a feel for how they move, if you like their drag and how much you can adjust the drag, etc. A tripods success is more dependent on how you physically interact with it than just about any other piece of gear!! Not only whether you can move it smoothly, but whether you can stop and start it smoothly as well. Anyway, just some ramblings, good luck!

Manfrotto makes great tripods. I've found that there are two things that are absolutely necessary in a tripod:

1. A head you can level. Having to adjust each leg to get the head perfectly level is a huge waste of time.

2. A drag control dial. Setting the pan/tilt friction with the pan/tilt locks doesn't work very well, especially if you have to repeatedly lock off shots and then start moving later.

I'm buying a tripod as soon as I can afford one and those will be two things I am sure to look for.

You might check out Gitzo. You can get one with carbon fiber legs for under $1500. They come with a nice padded bag and strap too. I have a Gitzo 1338 system, with the 22 pound spring. I bought it for use with a fairly light DSR250, which probably weighs something close to the Z1, within a pound or two either way. It's perfect for that camera. However, sometimes I use it with a DSR500 too, and it is great for that camera as well, except that it has a 75mm ball and for a camera that big it really should have the 100mm.

The only thing I don't like about the Gitzo is that they use the same type of legs they've used for the past 40 years or so--with the twist lock things. In fact, the Gitzo mic boom pole looks just like one of their tripod legs. I think that's the way they keep their costs reasonable. The legs are fine and very solid and the twist lock things lock tight with very little pressure. What I don't like is that when you change the height, it's a little more of a hassle than the lever system of other tripods. My normal tripod is an O'Connor 50 (which I've had forever), and you can loosen all the legs, raise the camera and reach around and tighten them down again in seconds. With the Gitzo, the bottom portion of the legs don't slide down by themselves. You have to pull the bottom sections down. The heavier metal legs probably do go down better.

On the other hand, what I do like about the legs is that they are designed so there's no need for a spreader, which contributes to the light weight of the system.

I bought a Vinten Pro 5 a while back. It cost about £250, but it came with a bowl-type head that had a fluid style pan/tilt. After a couple of jobs, the head suffered from a severe jolting problem - turned out that I needed to tighten a couple of bolts every so often.

It has travelled the world with me as hold baggage, and although it needs the occasional tighten with an allen key, it shoots lower and higher than a Sachtler V4 with 1 stage legs, it's a quarter of the price, and it has a certain heft that means no wobbles on long shots.

However, I wish I could afford a Sachtler - a colleague has one, and it is undeniably a better tripod and a better head - at four times the price, and without the 6" extra height. I don't think my clients would see the difference, but I feel happier behind it.

I would go for the libec 55dv
 

libec make pretty good tripods for the price, ive used manfrottos and as much as i like them i have no budget for a good set up. the libec 22dv or libec 55dv are good. the 22dv can hold upto 4kgs and the 55dv can hold upto 5kgs but the 55dv is a better deal because they have more options on the head like the 2nd drag control for the tilt and the sliding plate.
my hd100 was too heavy for the counter balance on this so i bought the
ls-55br which can hold upto 10kgs, but the counter balance is too strong.
but its a good set up, i reckon the libec ls-55dv thats your best bet, you can get them for under US$400

Hello and thanks for the advice


I now have a good tripod which seems to be steady and is good to pan with, but does anyone have any ideas if I can buy some wheels for it or how to make some? I want to be able to move forward and back with the camera and want to do some nice and smooth shots.

Thanks for any help on this

Go to B&H or Markertek and look under "tripod dolly" for a set of wheels to do what you want.

I love my Vinten sticks with the Vision 3 head. For the smaller DV cams, I think this is one of the best. Sachtler is great, but for bigger cameras. I don't like their smaller heads. Miller also has some good stuff.

For bigger cameras: O'Connor, Sachtler, Vinten, Miller.

Bogen has great sticks, but the heads are not quite right.

are these uk shops?

Jim, no they aren't. You might try and find the equivalent in the U.K. B&H Photo is one of the largest photo/video retailers in the U.S. Markertek is a large video retailer geared towards pros and broadcast. Markertek has some stuff that B&H might not.

Tripod choice
 

I have a Sachtler Video 20 II tripod head. It's great.

You could probably get a smaller Satchler, like a DV-1 or a DV-2

I also have a Bogen 519 for my smaller DV cameras, it's less expensive, but not quite as good as the Satchler. Still works quite well.

Or, try Cartoni.

My advice would be to go to a place that sells ENG/EFP gear and to just put your camera on each of the tripod heads, and find the one with the best action that suits you.

Thanks for all the help and advice