Official Tripod F.A.Q's

The Bogen/Manfrotto spreaders are dirt cheap but I am not sure if they would attach to the Sachtler legs. Problem is, most manufacturers seem to use proprietary attachements for mid leg spreaders. You might find a cheaper floor spreader if you can find one that just takes the spiked tips of your legs, assuming that they have spiked tips?

Dan
 
Hey there guys,

I've been playing with my manfrotto 503HDV/501 setup and getting pretty handy with it. But I wonder if I'm setting it all up right. So what i ask of you lot is, what kind of setup would you use for decent pans etc. I quite like action that requires a good bit of push to get it started, but that can lead to slightly jerky starts and sometimes a little springback at the end of the move.

How to you guys set up your gear to achieve nice, smooth results?

cheers

moog
 
Practice mate

Practice mate

Make sure you do a test pan and set the traction accordingly. Actually recently i have been turning the base head with my hands instead, it seems to eliminate sudden jerks when tripod arm is out.
 
anybody work with a Libec TH2000?? It supports more weight compared to the LS-38M, 33lbs to be exact. So what's to stop me from spending an extra $15 for the Libec TH2000?? Is there an actually difference I'm missing here? I was going to get the LS-38M, but after seeing the Libec TH2000, it seems I should get that one instead...

Anybody use both or have a suggestion on which to get?
 
As of yesterday, I own the Miller Solo Carbon fibre legs and the Vinten Vision 3 head. So here my 2cents - based on first impressions / handling.

I took a long time reading though the posts on this site, was close to order this and that and in the end decided for that combo which I ordered through b&h.

The investment at 1850 USD (including shipping) was hefty, but I think it will be exactly that : an investment! I needed something that would not ruin an otherwise great picture from the camera.

Coming from an Manfrotto 501 HDV I'm naturally excited with what I unpacked last night. First movements with the head out of the box were great. Then, after inserting the spring for the weight I was a bit discouraged noticing some very slight "back-pull" (for lack of vocab describing that better) when coming to the end of a pan. One of the reasons I decided to put some money on the table had been to get rid of exactly that - and the 501 suffered a lot from that pull back. Other than that of course with the 501 you had to decide between stickiness and unacceptable speed variations in pans depending on your drag settings.

With the Vision 3 it turns out, that by tweaking the weight of the camera or spring to a more optimal setting (in my case adding the follow focus to the rig for additional weight) I got the butter smooth pans (i.e. the perfect start AND stop) I was hoping for. I'm really happy now, even when I attach a zoom lense.

As weight varies (greatly) with different lenses attached to the 35mm adapter and changing the spring all the time would be inconvenient, I have also looked at different adjustments one could do on the operator side and found that the right amount of pressure, the handle bar position and the hand resting for 2 seconds on the handle bar after the pan yields great results even if the camera is not optimally balanced.

Hope this helps the undecided. I feel with you. I spent hours reading pros and cons here and other places and am happy with what I'll be working with from now on.

Greetings,
Fr. Johannes
 
I have been looking at the Benros after someone pointed them out to me. They look to be photography tripods, not video tripods but if you need tiny and light for travel and are not going to be doing a lot of moves, they look decent. No pan handle on their heads though so I don't know what kinds of moves you could do by just gripping the head and rotating. Typically, that would not be a recipe for smooth moves.

Dan
 
Hey guys... This is my first post although I've been a reader for a few years now.

Recently, I purchased a "Sachtler DA 75" and Vinten Pro 10 Fluid Head from ebay for the low price of 689 bones. The fluid head seems to work fine but I can't fit it on the sachtler sticks.
I'm wondering if maybe these sticks are actually of the 100mm variety. Problem is when I measure it I don't get either.... It's two stages, aluminum, and the measurement I get across the top of the bowl is ~92mm. This leads me to believe it's a 100mm tripod. There is a small flat ridge at the top of the lip and if I measure from the outside edge of this lip across the diameter is 100mm.

So where is the proper measurement to be taken for the size of the bowl? How can I tell which flavour of Tripod this is? I've been searching high and low for this answer but I can't find much on it [probably because no one would put a Vinten on a Sachtler like this but i am on a tight budget].

here's the ebay listing:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=150317303646
 
precisely...

precisely...

which is what you would think [and is what I thought].

However, since it IS ebay someone could put anything they want there. So perhaps all they saw [which is the only marking on the pod] was the sachtler S or someone told them that's what it is? who knows...

I was just looking for the proper places to take measurements from. In the meantime, no one has adapters in stock so the only way I think I can be sure without spending any money is to get a 100 mm head and see if it works.

anyone wanna come out and play?
 
I'm looking for some type of hardware that will allow me to keep a relatively steady shot while possibly even running. Trouble is, my budget is only around 600 or less. Is there anything anyone could suggest to help me out? Thank you.
 
Kiarash212 said:
I'm looking for some type of hardware that will allow me to keep a relatively steady shot while possibly even running. Trouble is, my budget is only around 600 or less. Is there anything anyone could suggest to help me out? Thank you.
Click to expand...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/193812-REG/Glidecam_GL2000_2000_PRO_Camcorder_Stabilizing.html


relatively cheap and should give you good results with some practice.

heres a video of something similiar and the results.

http://vimeo.com/groups/filmtools/videos/1683759
 
ok.. I just re-read this sticky. I've decided to get the Miller Solo Dv AL. Would get the CF's, but i'm on a buget. But who knows, maybe ill do it. As for the head, I believe i read that the LS-38 head doesnt have a drag capibility. Can anyone confirm that?
 
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