Tripod Recomendations
 

Can anyone can give me a good recomendation on a these tripod. I'm on a budget, but I've been looking on other sites and I've seen a couple in my price range, I don't want to spend over $380. This is what I've seen:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...od_System.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ipod_with.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...m_2_Stage.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...od_System.html

I guess these are the low end prosumer tripods which fine with me, my main concern is durability and weight support for my A1. And all of these range from 9lbs-17lbs in support therefore I'm good. But anyways, tell me what you all think and if you have used any of these? Thank you everyone. :)

For the money, Libec. I use the TH-M20 too.

I also have that Davis and Sanford. It's not too good.

I have this tripod:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...od_System.html

It's looks like it's the next step up from the Manfrotto you had picked out. This kit comes with a bag, and let me tell you, YOU WILL WANT A BAG. I wouldn't go anywhere without a bag for my A1, and I wouldn't go anywhere without a bag for my tripod.

The 3221 Tripod is awesome, and then you put the 501HDV head on it and youv'e got the best tripod under $500 for only $409.

One quick question. Do you do most of your filming indoors or outdoors. If indoors then you might want a tripod with a ground spreader like the Libec. If you do most of your filming outdoors then the Manfrotto will be great.

Really, cool. Yeah the Davis & Sanford looks good but looks are a different story when you try it. Thanks Eric, I notice the TH-M20 is less than the LS-22, hmmmm... saves me a little but still a good tripod, cool. Thanks again. I'll get a couple more recomendation then I'll grab one of them. :)

Yeah, I saw that one too Kevin, good look man. Yeah I do want a bag, as far as my A1 I bought the 1510 Pelican case for it, so I'm covered regarding the A1. Yes I will be doing inside and outside shooting, mostly interviews, music videos & short skits for my cable access-show. But I will start doing some small films too, but that's to come because I'm still new at all this but I'm learning fast. So thanks for the recomendation. :)

I bought the LS-22 from B&H a couple of weeks ago. So far I have been very happy with it. The ball head is great because it makes leveling it so easy. I would not buy a tripod without the ball head now.

Overall the quality on the Libec seems really great, I dont have fears about it falling apart. The included accessories didnt really factor into my purchase but in hindsight the included bag was a great feature. The free zoom controller is also pretty good and works much better than using the on camera zoom switch.

I wish it had some adjustments for the pan and tilt frictions. It just has locks for them, but the even without adjustable friction, the default settings are pretty smooth. It does have some nice counterbalance settings which allowed me to get the camera to balance perfectly on the head even if the camera is pretty front heavy when I attach accessories to it.

I had a chance to look at the Davis and Sanford one in person at B&H and I have to say I wasnt to impressed with it. The design of it seemed pretty poor in that the pan locks kept rubbing against other parts of the tripod and gouging the plastic up; it was basically grinding itself to pieces..

Wow, cool Brian. Thanks for sharing, yeah the LS-22 looks pretty good. :)

How does the Libec LS-22 compare to the Manfrotto 503 or Vinten Pro 6?

I put my Manfrotto on ebay a while back and bought the Libec LS 38 instead.
First impressions were that the build qality was not as good and the legs were a bit plasticky, while the bag it came in is cheap and nasty compared to the Manfrotto.
3 months later i can tell you that in spite of the observations above the Libec is far superior in the most important respect. The head is silky smooth and feels like a £1000 plus bit of kit. Pans and tilts are fabulous with this head, while tilting pans are effortless. Its also significantly lighter than the Manfrotto.
Of course i wish i'd hung onto the old bag.

Hi Dom, was it the 503HD version or just the regular 503?

I got the Libec LS22 because of it's light weight, and because it folds down pretty short. It's better built than I expected, and the head is perfectly smooth for both tilt and pan. There is no tension adjustment, though there is a lever that increases tilt tension a bit.

While the motion is smooth, like any of the cheap heads, you can't just pan to a spot and let go of the handle and expect it to stay there, as the better heads do. There's always a little bounceback at the end of a pan, so you have to pay attention and develop a bit of steadiness. Not a problem once you get accustomed to it, but as with almost all things, the cheaper it is, the less user-friendly it is.

I got mine from Zotz Digital and was very pleased with their service. I ordered the one with the center spreader, but the warehouse shipped it with ground spreader. The guy at Zotz was apologetic, called the distributor,and within 3 days I had he center spreader, with a note that said keep the ground spreader too, no charge.

Thats great information, as I was considering the LS-22. Do others who own the LS-38 have similar issues with the "Bounce-Back"? and is there tension adjustment on the 38?

Thanks again for the info Bill..

This review might answer some of your questions about the LS-38:
http://www.dvuser.co.uk/content.php?CID=150

He calls it "drift back" instead of bounce back, and that's probably a better description. I'm amazed too that the 38 does not do it. Unless you want the smaller and lighter 22, I'd go for the 38.

What I normally do on a pan where I'm zoomed in quite a bit is, when I reach the end, push on the lock lever at the end of the move. That solves the problem. On a wider shot you can usually hold it steady enough so it's not noticeable.