Assia Tripod Anybody?

John Froton

John Froton

Well-known member
I have just purchased this tripod on ebay -- so I guess this question is kind of irrelevant at this point but .. in case anyone is interested (they keep putting more up for sale) ...

has anybody had any experience with an Assia Professional Heavy Duty Tripod?

I just couldn't pass it up for the price and was able to purchase it for $124. It supports up to 27 lbs, looks decent and equivelant to higher priced sticks and has, as advertised, a true fluid drag head that provides smooth pans and tilts with smooth starts and stops as well. I figured that it would almost have to be worth more than the purchase price if it is anything close to what is stated. The emphasis on true fluid drag head and highly stable support for heavier cameras pretty much sold me considering the price.

If anything, I will at least try to give a report on it after I try it out. Right now I am using two tripods that are not the greatest performers with an HVX, mattebox and follow focus attached.

I am certainly not expecting Sachtler DV6 SB II or Cartoni Focus quality out of something like this but am hoping for good results nonetheless :)
 
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Let us know how it is. I am soon going to be looking for a tripod too, one mostly for stationary shots and occasionaly pan, nothing more. A tripod like the one you bought and a Cinesaddle seems like it might be suffice for me.
APGL3_01.jpg

cine%20mini%20low%20res.jpg

Hopefully the tripod is at least decent. When are you getting it? Take some pics of it with the HVX200 when you test it out.
 
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there is no way that ganky looking little head (if its the one pictured above) is going to carry 27lbs. and thats a photo head not a video head
 
wgzn said:
there is no way that ganky looking little head (if its the one pictured above) is going to carry 27lbs. and thats a photo head not a video head
Click to expand...

No -- that's not the tripod...

... this is the tripod

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AVTP_003.jpg


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I was notified that it shipped out today.

I will give a report on it and let you know if it was $124 well spent.
 
Ya ... it looks identical.

So ... does Davis and Sanford FM18 suck or what? I mean it looks like it should perform above and beyond a $124 price tag. (keeping fingers crossed)
 
The D&S head costs about 117 USD. With legs about 200 USD. No, they don't suck. It's not a bad head at all for the money. I'd even go so far as to say it's a good head for the money. I've got one.

I recently upgraded to the Bogen 503 and it's definitely smoother but the FM18 will make good footage, provided you're very steady. If you're hardcore about getting great pans you'll be upgrading in a year or less. It's hard to describe the action of a "good" tripod head vs a "great" tripod head, but I there's a certain amount of forgiveness that comes with a better head, as well as a solidity and consistency. The 503 isn't all that, either, lol so I can't say I've ever even used a "great" head .

Legs are super important, as well. You can have the best head made on cheap sticks it won't begin to make up for the legs.
 
Well it sure looks like the FM18 head on there. Funny how they claim that it supports up to 27 lbs when the FM18 supports under 15 I think.

hmmm .... well we shall see.

Thanks for the info Ming. Hopefully this will do better for me than the Slik 504QF II I am currently using.
 
I hope it works for you, but I don't understand why you would spend all that money on the HVX, FF, mattebox and then put it on $125 sticks...
 
BennisHahn said:
I hope it works for you, but I don't understand why you would spend all that money on the HVX, FF, mattebox and then put it on $125 sticks...
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I eventually plan on getting either a Sachtler DV-6 SB II on Miller Solo legs or a Cartoni Focus.

I just don't have the funds to make that purchase now. So I am compromising to get acceptable performance :)
 
I've never used the 501, but there's a notable difference between the fm18 and the 503. Namely the FM18 is more rubbery than the 503 and lacks the counter spring. The pro vista legs that came with my FM18 are pretty solid. The FM18 is rumored to get sloppy after a year or so of use. Check out this thread.

I ended up buying this, as the people at DVcreators have awesome customer service and impeccable shipping speed. I've ordered a lot from them and they've never let me down. Everything they sell is discussed a length on their message boards, and much of their merchandise has demo movies. Guy picks the best stuff from each quality range, with the intention of giving people the best value so they don't end up with crap. Sorry for the infomercial, lol, I've just had such great experiences over there I enjoy supporting them.
 
I just got the tripod today. I have not mounted the gear to it yet but so far I am very impressed. It seems very nice.

I will give a review on it shortly. I need to run it through a few trials with full gear on it.
 
I am very pleased with this Assia heavy duty tripod. It is much more stable than my other low end tripods. Everything is made of aluminum and what seems to be textured alluminum alloy on all of the darker gray components. It seems to be a rock solid support for the 10 or 11 lbs I have on it. Much better than my lower end Slik tripod that will wobble if I forced it to.

AssiaTripod1.jpg


As far as panning and tilting, I think this is of a quality that would parallel tripods in the over $500 range. The panning is not flawless but the tilting seems to be. As far as panning, I can get smooth starts and stops and easily controllable movement in between if I tweak the tension just right to my liking. If I loosen it up a little, the panning can lack some ease into getting the start to move consistantly without a lot of control. But if I tighten it a lot (requiring more force than what I would usually feel comfortable with) I get pretty impressive results. The movement stays smooth and consistant, just requiring more force. The tilting is great. I can loosen it to where the tilting is effortless and still the camera will stay in position wherever I leave it. If the panning was as consistantly smooth as the tilting is, I would say this would have to be rated as an outstanding tripod for the money.

AssiaTripod2.jpg


As it is now, I would highly recommend it for a low priced tripod with mid priced features
 
Looks better than I thought. So in essense,

Great Tilting and Ok-Good Panning
Solid Legs, Stable, Rock Solid even with 10-11lbs of stuff on it
$125


Oh ya, and looks sexy....
 
EDIT-XTREEM said:
Can you post some panning footage?

Thx...
Click to expand...

Here is some panning footage (zooming in for panning on the long end of the lens)

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/data/1/Panningtest.wmv


and here is a more detailed review of the Assia's panning capabilities:

The video shows that when zooming long on the lens (more difficult to get a smooth looking pan) there are flaws. The only really significant flaw for me is that the start into the pan can stick and jerk subtly. Of course this is not too much of a problem on wider shots where I might ease up on the tension. I spent most of the day trying many panning shots and was basically very satisfied with all but the most telephoto (zoomed in) shots that really test just how good a tripod can pan. With the tension set just right however, I found that, other than a typical jerky start, the panning was usually pretty decent. The only thing was that I needed to up the tension on the zoomed in shots to make the pan stay smooth at a slow pace with very slight movement and as a result, it made for a difficult smooth start. It is not easy to get a completely steady speed going on this tripod with the lens zoomed all the way. I have never owned a tripod where it would be easy, so I may not be the best judge to say where this tripod fits in with higher end tripods.

I would really like to know just how good a high end Sachtler, Cartoni or Vinten can do compared to this. I am sure much better :) ... but I've got to say that this Assia is great for the price. I can get good shots for most everything, with the difficulties lying in the extreme telephoto pans.

Still highly recommended if you can get ahold of one.

EDIT - There is a bit of a wobble on the tilt axis on the footage above. This was because I had the tilt rather loose during this particular shot. My bad.
 
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