Looking for recommendations for an old budget friendly heavy duty tripod models

[Nigel95]

Looking for a recommendation for old heavy duty tripod models to look for on the second hand market, that can easily hold 7kg + setup with a compact zeapon micro 2 slider, dslr with heavy lens (1kg) and manfrotto 502 ah fluid head. I prefer to buy used so I can save some money as my budget is tight. Would love to hear if I could get something used for $125 (only the tripod legs). Is there something for video same as you can buy an old heavy photography aluminum gitzo tripod for cheap that is heavy duty?

I only use it in a studio environment and my most common working range is between 80 and 130cm including all the bulk of the slider + fluid head + dslr on top. So the tripod should be able to go down to around 55cm.

Since I only use it indoors at home and don’t need to carry it around in the field it doesn’t need to be light and portable. Hoping that since those models are very heavy so people don’t really care about them hoping that the price will be more affordable. As I understand my budget is pretty low for what I want. Another requirement is that it is important that it should be easy and smooth to quickly to adjust the height of the tripod. I was looking into an old gitzo tripod or heavy duty Sirui, but it seems that a center column to quickly adjust height isn’t a great idea for stability reasons. Does this still hold up indoors in a studio environment? It would greatly speed up my workflow. A center column would be nice to have some room to fine-tune my framing within like 20cm but if it introduces a lot of shake especially with my slider setup it isn’t acceptable.

What about an old Gitzo Gilux Studex see picture enclosed. How much payload capacity would this have? Gitzo by Nigel Aquascaping, on Flickr

 

[puredrifting]

I don't know specifics about the tripods you are naming but two observations:

1. There are a ton of interesting super heavy duty Ronford Baker legs, old Miller legs, etc. on Ebay https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...70.l1313&_nkw=heavy+duty+tripod+legs&_sacat=0

2. You will be held back by using a piece of junk head like a Manfrotto 502 for two reasons. A. It's a Manfrotto 502, just not a very good head. B. It's a flat base head. Almost all heavy duty tripods
are going to be 100mm bowl or 150mm Mitchell base. My dislike for the Manfrotto 502 is from years of using them, being forced to use them in multi camera retal situations and even in a static
situation like you will be using it in, there are much better, beefier, tripod heads, you could find used that would provide a much more steady platform for what you are trying to accomplish.

My advice would be ditch the Manfrotto 502 and buy a used heavy duty tripod head with heavy duty tripod legs. That Gitzo is single leg two stage. That is not a heavy duty tripod and flat base sucks too
because you have to adjust leveling with the legs manually. You want a ball head and something much larger and heavier with two part, two stage legs. I use our Rhino EVO Motion rig on our Miller AIR
75mm ball head on Miller CF legs and the head does fine, leveling is good but the single tube legs still kind of suck, if I did more slider work, I would invest in the biggest. heaviest, clunkiest legs and
used head I could afford but I do use it in the field so having small and lighter does help when hauling it on location so it's a compromise. Since you'll be in studio where hauling it becomes a non factor,
get the biggest, heaviest you can afford.

 

[paulears]

I've got to say the same things - and I still have two of the manfrotto heads. They're OK to use as lockodd heads - I have them fixed to cast base microphone stands so I can use them to get small cameras into tight areas like drums, or near keyboards on stage. You look to have about 10Kg on the things and they really are not at all suited to any kind of movement with these kinds of weights, as they fall forward or backwards given any opportunity. For keeping a slider steady, the wedge plate is also pretty poor at keeping an offset weight - as in a camera on a slider steady.

I'm in the UK so I've always kept my eye on old Vinten kit - I have a heavy duty Vinten tripod, and their idea of heavy duty is around 75Kg! Old Vinten broadcast heads can often be found and they weight probably 20Kg on their own - but go for silly money because nobody wants them at 50+ years old (apart from me!) I've got my studio cameras on newer Vinten pads and heads but have the old one with a skid on it and it is even steadier than the newer Vinten - but then it weighs twice as much. For sliders, they can be idea because the old heads had a big button that when pressed ion and head horizontal totally locked it solid. The Manfrotto heads are not junk, but they really perform poorly when carrying heavy weights fore or aft of centre.

 

[Nigel95]

That is not a heavy duty tripod and flat base sucks too
because you have to adjust leveling with the legs manually.

Indeed if I went with a tripod that doesn't have the bowl mount I could use a leveling base. Like this one The question is if it will be stable enough to keep the rig I am not sure...

I've got to say the same things - and I still have two of the manfrotto heads. They're OK to use as lockodd heads - I have them fixed to cast base microphone stands so I can use them to get small cameras into tight areas like drums, or near keyboards on stage. You look to have about 10Kg on the things and they really are not at all suited to any kind of movement with these kinds of weights, as they fall forward or backwards given any opportunity. For keeping a slider steady, the wedge plate is also pretty poor at keeping an offset weight - as in a camera on a slider steady.

The Manfrotto heads are not junk, but they really perform poorly when carrying heavy weights fore or aft of centre.

My original idea was to put the slider on top of the tripod and the manfrotto on top of the slider. So the Manfrotto 502AH will only need to carry my DSLR lenses. What do you guys think about the smoothness of the pan of this fluid head?

I saw a Vinten tripod used is this model worth it do you think? Vinten PT117 Pro-Touch Statief, Pro 9 Fluid Head
$_86 by Nigel Aquascaping, on Flickr


Also found this one
Screenshot_20210118_203621 by Nigel Aquascaping, on Flickr