Boyd Ostroff |
August 1st, 2003 10:08 PM |
I have one of these... or at least I think it's what you're talking about. It just says "SLIK", with no other identification or model number. I got it about 5 years ago to use with a still camera. I never made a lot of use of it though, I much prefer a real tripod. I tried it with my video camera a few months back, and again found it less than useful. I guess it may be better than no support at all, but in no way can it replace a tripod.
And the spring release is really pretty nasty. I don't get the whole idea I guess. It's easy to accidently hit the button and then it flies open with a BANG.... depending on what's in its path, it could be very painful ;-) It even carries a warnimg sticker "Caution, when pressing release button, point it towards the ground". The spring action only provides about a 6" extension total, so what's the point? The leg consists of 4 regular snap locks for the telescoping section. Now if you open all those locks first, then hit the spring release, the whole thing will fly open, possibly poking out somebody's eye, but it looks kind of cool. You could also just let gravity do the job. Of course you still need to manually lock each snap. Like I said, I just don't get the whole idea of the spring loaded 6" section...
It seems pretty well made, although it looks a bit like some sort of strange high tech weapon when carried around with its strap... might raise a few eyebrows these days.
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