C-Stands

Steve Laramie

Steve Laramie

Veteran
What's the best place to buy C stands. Best as in price... I wont be using them all the time so quality isn't very important right now but pricing is.
 
I am the opposite Ryan. I love my Norms C-stands (I have 14 of them) I am not crazy about the Matthews. We do agree that the best is American though. Not cheap.

Dan
 
Those of you who used multiple brands, care to elaborate on why you like certain ones better than others? Thanks.
 
I like the knobs on American stands and the way the rocky mountain legs don't hang up on each other (some older ones do). With that said, I'm very used to Matthews and seem to get along with them the best. It's what i was taught on in film school, so it's a bias. I have little complaints about them.

Norms, i just dislike. Might have been the particular stands I was exposed to were junk (any stand, no matter how good can have the allens misaligned, be rusty, or bent).

From my memory, aren't they (norms) just copies of another brand? I think the guy who started Norms was related to another manufacturer and went his own way to make stands. I don't have that much experience with them, but from that experience, it was less impressive then the others.
 
I bought mine off craigslist.

The 'Erotic Services' section was inexplicably missing, so I went for the next best thing: production equipment.
 
min lee said:
Those of you who used multiple brands, care to elaborate on why you like certain ones better than others? Thanks.
Click to expand...

1. Norms - I used to like the tie down knobs a lot, I like the way that they feel when tightening down. The stands are built extremely well, I have had about two tons of Norms C-stands, high rollers, three risers, sandbags, etc. for about ten years.

2. Matthews - They build good products, but there have been several things that have annoyed the hell out of me about them. Not sure if all of them have them, but the spring loaded legs on C-stands are the most horrible feature known to man. You then have to turn the stand upside down to spread or unspread the legs, rather than just loosening the legs on the Norms and flipping them into place when you are done. I am not fond of the shape of their tie down knobs on their C-stands. As far as lighti stands and other grip gear, Matthews are great.

3. American - By far the best tie down knobs on the market, better than Norms or Matthews. The rest of their gear is all top notch. I have few pieces of American and I love them. Ask any grip in Hollywood what they prefer and most will say American. Great stuff but not cheap either

4. Amvona - crap for hobbiests

5. Impact - crap for hobbiests

6. Manfrotto - They have some good pieces although I don't like their C-stands particularly. Not as heavy duty as the pro stuff but better than the Amvona/Impact junk.

That's my .02 worth. I own mostly Norms, a few pieces of Matthews and American.

Dan
 
puredrifting said:
1. Norms - I used to like the tie down knobs a lot, I like the way that they feel when tightening down. The stands are built extremely well, I have had about two tons of Norms C-stands, high rollers, three risers, sandbags, etc. for about ten years.

2. Matthews - They build good products, but there have been several things that have annoyed the hell out of me about them. Not sure if all of them have them, but the spring loaded legs on C-stands are the most horrible feature known to man. You then have to turn the stand upside down to spread or unspread the legs, rather than just loosening the legs on the Norms and flipping them into place when you are done. I am not fond of the shape of their tie down knobs on their C-stands. As far as lighti stands and other grip gear, Matthews are great.

3. American - By far the best tie down knobs on the market, better than Norms or Matthews. The rest of their gear is all top notch. I have few pieces of American and I love them. Ask any grip in Hollywood what they prefer and most will say American. Great stuff but not cheap either

4. Amvona - crap for hobbiests

5. Impact - crap for hobbiests

6. Manfrotto - They have some good pieces although I don't like their C-stands particularly. Not as heavy duty as the pro stuff but better than the Amvona/Impact junk.

That's my .02 worth. I own mostly Norms, a few pieces of Matthews and American.

Dan
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Thanks a ton dan. That helps me (and others I am sure). I am just wondering where to buy used. I can't find many on ebay to be honest. Anybody have suggestions? I heard that calling around to rental houses is good because they might be selling old, functional gear.


I've got a question. In what circumstances would a stand other than a c-stand be used (assuming that there was no shortage of c-stands and the other stand was a choice). In other words, why are there other types of stands? Are there a few specific types someone could list off for us along with their benefits and uses? I am just not seeng why you would use something other than a c-stand. I guess it is situational.
 
There are also Combo, Lighting, and Overhead stands, which are actually generally similar to C-stands but differ in leg design, wheels, head fittings, structural weight, etc.
 
Entity:

Used C-stands have become hard to find because there are now tens of thousands of newbies and film students out there trying to cheap out over buying new ones so they have cleaned the market out. I used to buy used stands all of the time from Mole, Wooden Nickel and a bunch of the lighting houses like Gunner. Not anymore, you cannot find used C-stands, at least in LA. The other factor is that C-stands, good ones, last basically forever unless they are abused so who needs to sell them to buy new ones?

C-stands are not light stands, they are designed for holding flags, cutters, reflectors, etc. There are dozens of types of other stands for other purposes. The same as your tool box. Why are there 14 types of pliers? Vice grips, channel locks, needle nose, etc. Different tools for different purposes. What would you use to hold up a 20x20 butterfly? C-stands? No way, they would fall over instantly.

Most low end users have mostly C-stands and light stands. Most users of the bigger steel have grip trucks. I have a three ton G&L package but I don't have a grip truck. It is a PITA to try to put two high rollers in the back of a typical car. If you use the big stuff, you are doing bigger productions and should have a grip truck. The big stuff needs bigger, heavier sandbags or shot bags, the flags and cutters and nets get bigger, it all gets bigger and heavier.

Dan
 
You get to a point of diminishing returns with some types of gear. It makes sense as an indie to have a few C-Stands. They are like apple boxes, black wrap, sand bags and cardellini clamps, because they can come in very handy. But if you are loading up your house/basement/garage with tons of Combos, generators and a taco cart, you are crossing the line into becoming a professional rental house. It makes more sense financially to rent that stuff or get a package deal with whoever you are hiring.

That being said, I can use a few more c-stands myself...
 
I have found that fourteen is the magic number for me. A dozen 40" ones and two Gary Colemans. When I had seven or eight, I would always do setups where I just needed a couple more. Once you start building and dressing fake backgrounds and sets for interviews, the C-stands get used up really quickly.

I totally fit your description, I was well on my way to buying a grip truck when some other financial things happened that sucked away the money I had set aside to buy an Isuzu w a liftgate. I am in a weird place, I usually am doing mostly interviews and run and gun b-roll, but about half a dozen times a year, I end up doing a three or four camera big shoot with locations, sets, big crew and then my three ton package isn't enough so I end up renting more.

I should probably still just bite the bullet and buy the truck or sell most of it off because I can't fit more than half of it into my truck and I have a huge pickup truck (Chevy 1 ton crew cab diesel). I like the idea of downsizing stuff these days though.

Dan
 
If you're in a secondary market, you can get 40" double-riser stands with 40" arm for about $160 all day long from Barbizon. I think they're Matthews. I just bought some condor-style set-ups from them a couple days ago with 20" gag arms and some Matthelinis. All in-stock, right down the road in Charlotte.

www.barbizon.com

http://www.barbizon.com/catalog/detail.cfm?Prod_ID=4926&series=1&brand=1


If you're in LA or NYC, there are lots of other options, but when you get out in the sticks...

e
 
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Yup, I think we are spoiled here in LA. Basically if you need ANYTHING for production, it exists in LA. One advantage to offset the smog, earthquakes, crime, traffic and bad drivers ;-)

Dan
 
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