Does the World Really Need Another C-Stand?

Joshua Cadmium said:
One important thing with shot bags is that older ones might be filled with lead shot, which is cheaper and heavier than steel shot, but a safety hazard. You do not want to be breathing in lead dust.

I have some Matthews BOA Bags which are real nice because the handle has a textured, sticky grip to it. Once you wrap it around something, it stays put.

I think these are the best price to performance 25 LB shot bags I've ran across: https://wakeballast.com/collections...shot-black-light-grip-photo-production-studio

They also make a 50 LB version which is only $64 (with free shipping) and if you buy 9 they'll give you a 10th one for free: https://wakeballast.com/collections...wakeballast-50lb-ballast-bag-steel-shot-black . (This one, unlike the 25 LB version, is only one pouch of shot, instead of two, though.) Advantage lists their 50 LB shot bags at $158.
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Not bad. I just ran across some for $70.

https://www.sandbagstore.com/butterfly-sandbags.html

ahalpert said:
Hmm maybe not. I heard once that shot is considered ammunition and incurs higher shipping fees. I see no indication of that now from a quick google

In any case, I've switched to using iridium bags because it saves so much more space than shot bags
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Yeah... Most bags are filled with stainless steel "pellets". Advantage refers to it as steel "punch outs".
 
The point of making your own or badging a generic is corporate sales. Many large clients want 1-stop shopping. They need to put in a purchase order for the complete kit and need a single company to buy from. Many sales go direct with a manufacturer so this works out for them. Also, for certain government clients each manufacturer must be approved. So even if purchasing through B&H it helps if Tiffen companies have a product to offer.
 
Mitch Gross said:
The point of making your own or badging a generic is corporate sales. Many large clients want 1-stop shopping. They need to put in a purchase order for the complete kit and need a single company to buy from. Many sales go direct with a manufacturer so this works out for them. Also, for certain government clients each manufacturer must be approved. So even if purchasing through B&H it helps if Tiffen companies have a product to offer.
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Why didn’t they release the c-stand sooner? Is this the first time Tiffen/Lowel landed a contract of this size/type to justify adding another product? Or has this been their plan regardless and it’s simply taken a while to reach agreements, set up shop etc?

I’m not sure how long Tiffen has owned Lowel, so maybe this has all happened over a short time period?
 
Currently copper is less than 3$ a pound, not gold but as long as they didn’t walk off a set accidentally one would have a piece of gear that still has value once it wears out or one retires.
 
Forgot maybe the conductivity of copper could be an issue, probably many good reasons not fill **** bags with copper.
 
rob norton said:
Why didn’t they release the c-stand sooner? Is this the first time Tiffen/Lowel landed a contract of this size/type to justify adding another product? Or has this been their plan regardless and it’s simply taken a while to reach agreements, set up shop etc?

I’m not sure how long Tiffen has owned Lowel, so maybe this has all happened over a short time period?
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I’m not privy to Tiffen’s inner workings so I couldn’t say. I can tell you that my answer is based on experiences with other companies and large corporate, educational & governmental clients.
 
lambert said:
Currently copper is less than 3$ a pound, not gold but as long as they didn’t walk off a set accidentally one would have a piece of gear that still has value once it wears out or one retires.
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I actually thought of using pennies but they're made of zinc not copper (you would need a lot). Where are you going to get them easily in the quantity needed? Target for theft. Scrap metal yard would be another option, but you don't want anything that's sharp or rusts. All of this leads back to sand.
 
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Peter C. said:
I actually thought of using pennies but they're made of zinc not copper (you would need a lot). Where are you going to get them easily in the quantity needed? Target for theft. Scrap metal yard would be another option, but you don't want anything that's sharp or rusts. All of this leads back to sand.
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The big deal about stainless steel shot bags is size. In this era of vans replacing 5 ton grip trucks, every bit of mass you can save is better utilized for other grip.
Every grip and video person I know who owns shot bags LOVES them, they are small, yet just as heavy as your monster 25 and 35lb sandbags. I have five of the 8lb
sandbags too, a size I rarely see on set. They are very handy for counterweighting a C-stand with light loads and low leverage where 25/35lb bag is just overkill.
 
puredrifting said:
The big deal about stainless steel shot bags is size. In this era of vans replacing 5 ton grip trucks, every bit of mass you can save is better utilized for other grip.
Every grip and video person I know who owns shot bags LOVES them, they are small, yet just as heavy as your monster 25 and 35lb sandbags. I have five of the 8lb
sandbags too, a size I rarely see on set. They are very handy for counterweighting a C-stand with light loads and low leverage where 25/35lb bag is just overkill.
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I understand what you're saying. I'm actually getting ready to buy some empty 15lb bags. I was thinking of anything I could fill them with that be heavier than sand that didn't cost a lot. Since I don't use them enough or in "the business" it would be too expensive to get shot bags, although I'd like a 3lb one as boom counter weight.
 
Peter C. said:
I understand what you're saying. I'm actually getting ready to buy some empty 15lb bags. I was thinking of anything I could fill them with that be heavier than sand that didn't cost a lot. Since I don't use them enough or in "the business" it would be too expensive to get shot bags, although I'd like a 3lb one as boom counter weight.
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Yes, sandbags are much more affordable. Stainless steel shot is expensive, I used to reload shotgun shells for duck hunting with stainless shot and it is definitely pricey, even in bulk.
In a pinch, I've used one gallon milk jugs filled with water, they can work and you fill them on location. When I travel to shoot small projects, my camera backpack and lighting case end
up counterweighting stands too.
 
Imagine how small you could make a tungsten shot bags, since tungsten is about 2.5x denser than steel. But att roughly $130+/lb that 25lb shot bag would be $3,250.
 
Yep. A pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of rocks. But if you can save space, sometimes it's worth the extra price. Counting my 25lb-ers, 15lb-ers and BOA bags, I probably have 400lbs-500lbs of shot bags in the back of my truck, 24/7.
 
Run&Gun said:
...Counting my 25lb-ers, 15lb-ers and BOA bags, I probably have 400lbs-500lbs of shot bags in the back of my truck, 24/7.
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Aspirational shot bag goals. Forget camera goals, it's the damn Pandemic and most of us are broke. Someday I hope to be able to afford as many shot bags as Run&Gun ;-)
 
Run&Gun said:
Yep. A pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of rocks. But if you can save space, sometimes it's worth the extra price. Counting my 25lb-ers, 15lb-ers and BOA bags, I probably have 400lbs-500lbs of shot bags in the back of my truck, 24/7.
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Noice! You've got my haul doubled (I could certainly do with more though).

puredrifting said:
Yes, sandbags are much more affordable. Stainless steel shot is expensive, I used to reload shotgun shells for duck hunting with stainless shot and it is definitely pricey, even in bulk.
In a pinch, I've used one gallon milk jugs filled with water, they can work and you fill them on location. When I travel to shoot small projects, my camera backpack and lighting case end
up counterweighting stands too.
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I suppose with water-based ballast, you could fill them in advance, and then empty them on pack-down. That would at least make 50% of the equipment hauling less painful.
 
puredrifting said:
Aspirational shot bag goals. Forget camera goals, it's the damn Pandemic and most of us are broke. Someday I hope to be able to afford as many shot bags as Run&Gun ;-)
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In the good 'ole busy days, especially if you had a couple of outdoor live shots going at the same time, like during football season, you could use a lot of bags at once. I usually factor at least four 25lb bags per silk/frame(usually 6x6)(2 bags per stand) when outside. And my guys usually like at least one bag on each HMI stand. Two locations on the field, like during the playoffs, and that's at least 10 bags. And if you have an E-Z Up up, you need to bag it, too, if the wind is blowing. Using 10-12 bags isn't SOP on most of the shoots that most of us would do on a daily basis, but when you need them, you need them.

And they're (usually) long-term purchases. Unless you are just abusing the hell out of them or someone steals them(been there...), you're gonna get 10-20+ years out of 'em, at least. The chances that your sand/shot bags remain relevant and last longer than your current camera and your next camera and your next... are pretty good. ; )
 
I’m not worrying about weight anymore, I just ordered a robot grip off of Amazon. Just to make it feel real I’ve ordered the version that smokes camels unfiltered non-stop and calls everyone Chief.
 
lambert said:
I’m not worrying about weight anymore, I just ordered a robot grip off of Amazon. Just to make it feel real I’ve ordered the version that smokes camels unfiltered non-stop and calls everyone Chief.
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Nice. So you've worked with union grips before? ;-) "Chief", that so nails it, they must teach them that at Union safety training.
 
Its been a long time, when I was a kid in my early 20s , 1990s and just getting writing gigs I spent a couple of pleasant summers in New Mexico on a few films as a standin, worked as casting associate, pa, A couple of minor roles, etc. it was a great way to get set sense without having any skills. On some of the smaller productions I’d pitch in whenever I could. Grab a runaway horse, lend a hand on a 20x20, Move giant foam pads with the stunt department, but mostly just listened and stayed out of the way and learned to love good craft service. One production got a truckload of beer as a product placement and allowed anyone who wanted to fill up their trunks. I can’t remember what transport would call everyone.
 
My Impact c stands came in today. These are the rocky mountain leg variety. Got one black and the other chrome.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/853472-REG/Impact_ls_cs40mk_40_C_Stand_with_Sliding.html
Few of my observations:
Overall I'm happy. Only thing I didn't like, one of the legs on the black one has a little play in it. Nothing structurally wrong and it will still works.
Opening/closing the legs more tricky due to the rocky mtn leg.
They won't fit in my trunk I'll have to fold down the back seats. I can see the benefit of turtle based legs.
In comparison to the Matthews they're not as solid again nothing you would notice unless you've used a Matthews before.

One question I noticed that they're not easy to set down or store. If you try to lean them up against the wall they'll fall over.
 
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