A friends is looking for a tripod for his DSR 300, 100m bowl, price range £500/£550 at the most.

Any Ideas. Thanks.

Anthony,

The DSR-300 is what, 6kg before accessories? (I think - I got that from a Sony brochure).

Hmm. The only vaguely suitable Manfrotto is the 519/525, and it's £700-ish before VAT, and has a 75mm bowl.

The £400-ish Libec LS-38 is also 75mm, but has a max capacity of approx. 8kg. The next Libec up is £700-ish again, the LS-60 - with a 100mm bowl. It's the closest I can find to your requirements. Sachtlers and Vintens don't come for that sort of money. Maybe a Secced Ares 3 (cheaper Sachtler imitation) for around £700 again - but I have no experience of that brand.

It would be a challenge finding a tripod at that low cost that would support a camera as big as the DSR-300. Certainly it would overwhelm a regular cheap Manfrotto kit

So if £500/550 is a hard limit, then the Libec LS-38 is just about the only thing suitable, but it's not 100mm.

If you don't want the head, just the legs, then I'm sure you could get the legs from the Libec LS-60 for under £500.

Try before you buy if possible. Except for viewers in Northern Ireland!

I used 525 legs with a 516 head for a JVC5000 with Hytron 120 batteries, wireless receiver and ultralight and it worked fine. The rig weighed in about 17 or 18 lbs. The legs were about $700 USD and the head was about $600 USD when I bought them.
There are other rigs out there but get the best you can afford or you'll be buying it again later on and then you'll have spendt more than necessary.

Thanks Mike & Don,

I'll pass all that very useful information on to my friend.

Thanks again.

I used a Gitzo with a DSR500, which is a little heavier. However, I now have a Libec and I can recommend them very highly. Mine is a 38 for a lighter camera. They make a 55 and much bigger ones too, all reasonably priced. I think you'd need at least the 55 an maybe a step up from that for the DSR300. The Libecs are high quality construction with smooth heads. I got mine from Tapeworks Texas and they were cheaper than B&H and you get the bonus of real old fashioned personal customer service.

Just a follow up, my friend bought the Libec LS-60, a bit more than he wanted to spend but he said he loves it.
So, thanks all for the advice.