Question about tripods

[rightfrog]

Hi,

I'm starting a business creating 30-second advertisements for vertically mounted, 16x9, 42-inch plasma screens.  My plan is to shoot using a DVX-100A and the anamophic lens to get true 16x9 but mount the camera vertically (turning it on its side) so I can use the entire height of the screen.

My question is, is there a good, fluid-head tripod where the mounting bracket can swing up, making the camera go into portrait mode instead of the normal landscape?

I know that there are good tripods that do this for use in still photography, but they aren't made for moving the camera slowly to pan or tilt, rather they just lock the camera into place.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

---Christian Remde

 

[vegasdigitalfilms]

Re: Question about tripods

You'll definately need a photographers tripod head for heavier medium format cameras.

These heads allow photogs to quickly switch between portrait and landscape usually by the flip of a lever.

 

[J_Barnes]

Re: Question about tripods

I'm pretty sure Bogen makes an elbow bracket that mounts to a tripod head, allowing the camera to be at 90.

AHH, here it is:

http://www.manfrotto.com/product/templates/templates.php3?sectionid=96&itemid=348

It won't support a ton of weight, but the DVX should be fine on it. If you use something like this, you won't be locked into an inferior head simply because you need to shoot in "portrait".

 

[Prairieboy]

Re: Question about tripods

A ronford or weaver steadman head would do that. I just saw one of them on ebay. Not sure if they are still available. Not cheap though.

 

[rightfrog]

Re: Question about tripods

Thanks to everyone who commented...I think the Bogen elbow bracket is the way I'm going to go at first.

Thanks,

---Christian Remde

 

[Boy]

Re: Question about tripods

bogen also makes the 055A sticks that alows you to remove the center column and mount it at 90 degress

 

[matthewd5]

Re: Question about tripods

i just love cruising the bogen catalogs, both the video and the photo, all sorts of things you can use even if it isn't in the way they intended...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=WishList.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=241139&is=REG

i found this little item, i kept thinking it would be nice to not have to keep taking the tripod plate for my 503 head off the camera whenever i wanted to mount it somewhere else.

so i found the above item, it lets you take the 503 plate (it actually comes with another 501/503 plate, and lets you screw it down to anything and has 1/4 20 and 3/8 so you can mount it to another tripod but i plan on using it as a swiss army knife that will sort of fit the gap between a tripod and a hi hat.

matthew