I have a Miller DS20 for my EX3. Outstanding unit, Australian too.

How about the Manfrotto HDV 503 and the 535 MPro? What is the actual downside to having this sort of "junk" compared to other brands? Is it that they can't hold 35mm adapters or?

A good tripod will last you your entire career, so it's worth investing in a decent one. Things to looks for are height adjustability, a good leveling bowl, adjustable drag on tilt and pan, smooth tilt and pan, easy lock offs, suitable tilt spring rate to match your camera weight, strength and build quality, not being too light, a good range of accessories such as spreaders, wheels, dollies. These things you just don't get with cheaper models.

There are 2 main differences; firstly the counterbalance on pro heads tends to work much better, and secondly it's the movement, as the expensive heads use proper fluid modules whereas the cheaper ones are just fine silicon grease (so in fact they are not "fluid" heads at all but friction heads, they used to be called "fluid-effect" heads). If you compare a Ronford Baker to a Manfrotto you'd know immediately!
Steve

Best tripod for the EX3 - What do you use?
 

We are about to buy 2 Tripods for our 2 EX3 Camera's.

Obviously there are many options out there.

we are looking at the Sachtler FSB – 6 MD

in your opinion is this large enough or should we go slightly larger?

any help and suggestions of other options would be of great help.

Thank you.

i am very happy with my miller ds20 on 2 stage cf solo legs. very quick & easy to setup, close & carry around. balances well with my oversized ex3 camera.

We're using the Sachtler DV12 head with the ENG 2 CF legs.

miller ds20 on 2 stage cf solo legs

Hi Guys,

I'm about to take the plunge as well :)

So you think a Satchler DV 6 isn't heavy enough? I'm hoping to load mine with a matte box, ST-7 shoulder mount and an Anton Bauer battery...

J

I've been using the Gitzo 1380 head with Sachtler 75 sticks. Very,very smooth head, not too heavy. It comes with 6 interchangable springs so I have used it with a 25lb cam in a pinch. The pan and tilt locks are the only weakness. They work, but you really have to crank them down sometimes.

I would suggest trying out as many as you can. Some of the lighter weights just can not pan or tilt smoothly. The Miller Solo is also a good choice.

I've got the Sachtler FSB-6 with carbon legs and it is truly the best tripod I've used with my EX1. Fabulous construction, lightweight and an incredibly smooth pan & tilt. You won't be disappointed.

As much as i love my miller tripods, the DS10/20 have issues with the EX3 and its mounting plate. I've found it impossible to mount an EX3 to a miller DS10/20 tripod and it being secure. There ends up being so much play in the connection that anything but a wide shot is very tricky to achieve. When on the long end of the lens its impossible to keep anything still unless your not touching the camera.

This is definitely not the tripod manufactures fault, its a sony issue that we all know about. It just gets exaggerated with the miller DS heads.

No issues with EX1s however.

DM-Accessories - EX3-PLATE Reinforcement Plate for EX3 Camcorders plus DS20 for me. Had the DS20 for 10 years, solid unit.

I love my Miller Arrow 55 System.

Ofer
Back on topic, I think the original head that the Varizoom Zero Gravity is sorta kinda patterned after would be your best bet.

I believe what you're looking for is the Ronford Baker Fluid 7. They're obviously not made any more and so would be harder to find these days, but the one main advantage that the F7 has over the rest is that it had proper nodal mounting capability, which I'm not sure that the ZG head has.

In other words, with the F7 it's possible to put the center of rotation of the X, Y and Z axes slap bang in the middle of your "film" plane, at the exact center point of your gate/sensor array.

As you know, most heads have their pivot points way below the camera body. This means that as you tilt up and down, your film plane moves backwards and forwards on an arc. i.e. you have to pull focus when in closeup.

Now on the long end of a tele set at infinity that may not mean a thing, but if that tele has a closeup diopter on it and it's tracking a caterpillar in huge macro, then it's easy to see that if you have your camera set up on its focus node and the caterpillar is climbing pretty much perpendicular to your film plane, then you don't have to pull focus as you tilt to follow.

This may all be academic nowadays, especially in the autofocus age, and who shoots that critically any more anyway?

Well, for those who do, this matters, and for those who don't, not.

The VZG is set up differently. Here it's not the focus node that's being set, it's the CG, the center of gravity that's being pinned to the center of rotation. Which means long lenses can be used without the thing swinging one way or another and having to use springs or weights to compensate, and, theoretically, less backlash and all that other stuff that comes with having a camera that's mounted with its CG above the center of rotation.

Having said that, it might also be most possible to set the ZG up for focal node as well, but probably just the lowering of the CG of the camera would bring the focal node a lot closer to the pivot center as well, so you'd get most (if not practically all) of the focal node benefits as well, especially at longer subject to camera distances.

HTH
JM2c, FWIW.
Cheers!
Chris

Thank you for the great input Chris. I have already got the Miller Arrow 25 which does the work for me. I mostly use very long lenses so I needed a head which will give me smooth motion - the Arrow 25 does the trick.

Cheers,

Ofer

Ofer
Awesome head. Have one for my Red setup.
Cheers!
Chris

Chris have you used the ZG? I'd be interested on hearing a review..

I am of the opinion that O'Connor makes the smoothest heads in the industry...

Varizoom Zero Gravity Head first look Review...
 

Hi Michael

Yes, I have one set up in my living room as I type this.

I'll be putting up a full review of it as I (maybe) use it as my A head under an EX1/Letus Elite rig for a feature film, a couple of commercials, two music videos and some short films.

First blush:

I've had the head for a few weeks now, which means that this one must have been one of the first production runs available.

Out of the case it seems like a solid piece, very well built and finished, markings clear.

I'd have liked a larger spirit level though, this one's tiny and un-illuminated.

Also, even though the head boasts a hybrid 75mm/100mm split bowl fitting which works as advertised, I have it on a 75mm Bogen tripod and there really isn't a lot of room down there for your hand to get in under to level the head.

So I'm going to switch mine out for a 100mm bowl tripod soon, and if you're stuck with a 75mm head then I'd consider getting one of those longer, Bogen or Gitzo style leveling clamps with the long tightening handle/grip, it would make life a lot easier. The regular shaped stubby tightening handle that comes with the unit would probably lead to skinned knuckles on a run-and-gun shoot.

So here's the deal. I don't want to be unfair to a new product, but I did buy this head myself, it's not a review unit, and frankly there are a few points about this unit that are left to be desired.

Tom McKay of Varizoom has graciously consented to advise me on them just as soon as his week at NAB becomes less frenetic, so please take what I write below with a grain of salt until he can weigh in and address an issue or two with the unit I now have.

In a nutshell, here's two quick points that you may want to know, for now:

a) this is a fluid-feel friction head. Not a true fluid head. (And of course, at this price point, how would it be?)

Which I'm down with. I don't care if it's a cardboard head, as long as it give me smooth, repeatable moves from creeps to whips without backlash or other complaints from the head, no matter what I throw at it.

Thing is, this unit (and Tom's already said that they've improved on it since the first release) had a definite sticky feel at the start and stop of pans. Not a good thing at all, and something that will need to be addressed first thing before I do any serious shooting with it.

b) there's plenty of camera positioning controls, more than most people are used to, and they're solid and well positioned. I was able to simulate 270 degree or more tilts with relative ease with my full HD camera rig, and that was cool - but there's only one control knob per axis, i.e. two knobs total, one for tilt and one for pan.

Yes, the pan/tilt drag control is the same knob as the lock off knob. You tighten to lock, then un-tighten to release, loosen more to lessen drag. One knob for pan, one knob for tilt.

For people who need to have a constantly repeatable drag setting in between takes (like, for instance, anybody doing serious commercial work, or macro work), this is going to be a pain in the proverbials, for want of a better phrase.

Like one of those do-everything shower control handles, you're going to have to remember how much you turned which control from its drag setting to full lock so that you can turn it back to "almost nearly quite" the setting you had before, if you ever need to lock off between takes, etc..

Since all the other camera positioning locks and knobs were double in each axis, this omission seems very strange to me, and something I'm going to have to discuss with Tom and the folks at Varizoom before bringing a final comment to bear.

So that's it for now. Construction excellent, design excellent, camera mounting and degree of positioning freedom excellent. Tom has said that they've fixed the stickiness I've had it my unit, so I'm okay with that and will get back to you on my updated model after NAB.

I've already been practicing compound moves and quick setup changes on the head in preparation for going into a shoot. Apart from the stickiness, the head feels like a professional piece of kit, very slick and sturdy. I'll be writing about the various applications on the shoots as I go, so stand by in the coming weeks for that.

So far it's very cool, working out new moves I can do that required much more expensive rigs to pull off before. For instance, it's a really cool dutch angle head if you mount the camera on the underside of the L plate and then reset it so it's not shaped like an L but a 7, if you get my drift (pictures to follow). And worked off a mini-jib it should be nothing short of awesome.

But that single control per axis... well, I leave that up to you, but for the price I'm practicing in my shower to get that single handle set just so...

HTH
JM2c
YMMV etc

Cheers
Chris

ps/ Hi Charles, and yes, what you said. I still have my O'Connors and will *not* part with them, ever!

Update - exchanging heads
 

Hi all

Well, NAB's over and Tom McKay replied very quickly that the unit I have is probably one of the earliest ones and to send it in for a current model head.

So thank you Tom and the folks of Varizoom for supporting their products so completely!

More as it happens.

EX3 solution
 

I recently bought a Sony EX3 and quickly realized my Sachtler wasn't big enough to handle it. To save a few bucks I bought a Miller DS 20 with the SOLO sticks. It sucked, big time. All you had to do was blow on it and your shot would wabble. I sent it back to B&H (they were terrific about taking it back) and ordered the Sachtler FSB8 with quick release carbon fiber legs. It's awesome! And Sachtler gives you an extra screw for the mounting plate... which is great, since the EX3 has two 1/4" screw holes. Steady as a rock, and smooth as butter.

I was a Sachtler fan before. I should have trusted my gut and got the Sachtler again this time. But I tried to save a couple hundred bucks. Man, Am I glad I caught my mistake in time.

Hi Charles.........
 

Absolutely no suprises in that story for me, been telling bods not to do it (Solo's + HD video) since I was knee high to a grasshopper, er, ok, last year, er, or was it 07?

Glad to have it proved so convincingly by a "real world" test.

Even more glad you managed to undo the mistake without it costing big bickies.

Thanks for the feedback, Charles.


CS

Thanks from me too - I was recently considering Miller DS20 and Solo sticks for my EX3 but put that purchase on hold due to other concerns over this tripod.

O'Connor 1030 would be my choice, not sure how the prices compare, but for quality I think it would be leauges ahead of the Sachtlers especially with long lenses.
Steve

Bowl size ?
 

What bowl size would be suitable for the EX3 and support rails, using 35mm lenses - is 75mm adequate or should it be 100mm ?

Thanks

Need help EX3 Tripod Question?
 

Hello all..

I own the EX3 and I am using my (left over from my Betacam days) Sachtler Video 20 head, which is really too big for the EX3.
So, I want to get a tripod that really fits the camera, as I would like to stay with a Sachtler product....so any suggestions out there?

thanks

If you're using long lenses then the bigger the better.
If you stick with 100mm tripods you're in the realms of much more serious heads, only the amateur models use 75mm.
Steve

Why is the Video 20 too big? If you have it already I'd carry on using it, unless you're trying to save lots of weight. The problem when you go down to smaller heads is you tend to get into the leagues of amateurish heads, and if you're used to a quality one like the Video 20 you may be disappointed!
Steve

I have owned a Sachtler Hipod tripod for years.... Yes, it is big & heavy, but my camera pans & moves are like silk, and it is worth it to tote this heavy tripod around.

I love the Miller Solo for EX3, it is light and very smooth. I have the Carbon legs, they are padded and very light easy to lug around.

I load the Cam down with Mattebox IDX batteries on cam lights 7" monitor and even Teleprompter sometimes and the Solo handles it really well.

I have used the heads in -10 ℉ below and heads are still really smooth.

I really like the Miller Solo sticks and head, 75mm bowl is fine.

The Miller Solo 75mm bowl is way better than a Bogen 507 100mm and lighter too. I have owned both. I sometimes really load the camera up mattebox, wide angle lens even teleprompter sometimes, and the Solo hold up fine.

Go to a showroom and try some different setups. It is not just a question of bowl size, it is the quality of the head.

OK...I do love my Video 20, but I come up short when I have to rent out another tripod when the Betacam is out on a rental...so I was wanting to:

1. get a back up for the EX3
2. when I travel and take the EX3, a small tripod for it that I could take apart and put it in one of my Pelican cases...as to save on bags when I travel my air..( a producer that I work with wants me to cut down on the bags to save some bucks, a sign of the times)

I know what you mean as I dont want a small "consumer" grade tripod....but one small enough to do the job.

thanks

What's it like for panning...is there any kick back?

Sachtler FSB4 or FSB6 head with Quick Lock legs. I have the 4 using with EX1. You might want the 6 for the EX3.

I agree.
Although I use an O'Connor 1030B or Sachtler Caddy with my EX cameras, I looked at the FSB6 at NAB back when I was thinking about getting something smaller for travel. I thought it looked pretty good for the price. If I was going to buy a new tripod/head I think that's what I'd get for the EX cameras.

Since I got my miller DS20 and carbon legs for use with my EX3 I rarely if ever use my Vinten 10 its too heavy to carry around, miller is great and light and is still usable with my Letus ultimate and nikon lenses. I love it! Check it out on philip blooms website.

Does this suffer from 'wind up’ and ‘snap back’ or head 'drift back'when panning at all ?

Read my review here:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/tripod-st...0-solo-cf.html

I have direct experience with the Miller in the field and have been able to directly compare it to the Sachtler system.

Others have suggested Gitzo 1380 head and CF legs as a better alternative to the Miller.

I strongly suggest that the Miller DV20 Solo system not be purchased as the only and primary system for any HD camera. It has its uses in akward setups, but that's all IMHO.

Tripod for EX-3
 

i have a few jobs coming up that require a telescoping type tripod to eleveate the camera @ 7 feet or more. i looked and the Sachler "Soom tripod" which would be perfect but, i have not hit the national lottery yet to afford it. anybody have any suggestions for this type of tripod with a telescoping shaft?

Thanks in advance,

Dano