Sachtler's new "Revolutionary" tripod

Hmm...

My Miller Solo DV carbon legs extend slightly higher, weigh a pound less, have the same weight capacity, are only .5" longer folded length and cost $200.00 less. Sure, the new one doesn't have the Miller leg locks but I can't see upgrading to these for so little gain.
 
Wow I am impressed, now I know why the marketeers made such fuzz about it, trying to hype it. And why they kept sending me emails. This will change the filming industry forever. I kept all dozens of emails from Sachtler to announce it, I can show them to my children and grandchildren.

Though the magnets are handy, hope they don't interfere with electronics. Now I can't trust the Compass in my mobile phone while filming anymore. Didn't sleep for a week, now I can rest.
 
OK, as an owner of Sachtler CF Speedlocks in 75mm and 100mm (the big HD model), a Vinten Fibertec, an OConnor 35L (the forerunner of the Hotpod designs) and two manfrotto sticks, let me say this.

My greatest fear is the potential fragility of the legs. Carbon Fiber cracks pretty easily especially at the stress points and joints. If it is laid down too quickly on the ground, or falls over, what happens ? Are there plastic joining and locking parts or metal ? What happens too if one pulls up two hard on the quick release locks for instance ? How easy is it to take apart or replace something that is broken, etc. ? The concept is one thing, the strength of the materials and the execution is another.

Another thing, glad to see they are testing this out in 75mm, but what about the 100mm guys ?
 
yoclay said:
OK, as an owner of Sachtler CF Speedlocks in 75mm and 100mm (the big HD model), a Vinten Fibertec, an OConnor 35L (the forerunner of the Hotpod designs) and two manfrotto sticks, let me say this.

My greatest fear is the potential fragility of the legs. Carbon Fiber cracks pretty easily especially at the stress points and joints. If it is laid down too quickly on the ground, or falls over, what happens ? Are there plastic joining and locking parts or metal ? What happens too if one pulls up two hard on the quick release locks for instance ? How easy is it to take apart or replace something that is broken, etc. ? The concept is one thing, the strength of the materials and the execution is another.

Another thing, glad to see they are testing this out in 75mm, but what about the 100mm guys ?
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Yoclay, aren't the CF speedlock 75 fragiles? Always wanted to buy it, if they'r sturdy
 
To be fair I think these are.. I dunno.. if properly understood could hit a sweet spot.

To me my 1995 aluminium sachler legs*, miller 25 head FS7_vlock and a bag of lenses and another bag with a 1.1 panel is just too much for solo shooting - I cannot comforably get a taxi in to town or a train to london with that load.

For solo shooting work I really have a desire to strip it all back..

Fs5? EVA?
75mm head
fold up light panel
low mass sticks

I love my 'proper' legs/head.. they are solid and smooth panning with a 300mm and built camera.

But I have a job next week. Two days at an 'event' no parking, get there in a cab, probably nowhere to stash gear.. if I dont trim every gram then it will be a killer with my regular setup.

As for solo legs.. yep I have them too.. but dinking around low down is taxing.. the levers up top are genius.. unless they snap on the third outing!

S

*incidentally I bought these legs used when I went to a shop all tooled up to buy speedlocks.. but they just felt like the levers would break?
 
I gotta say that sounds pretty cool. When doing event/broll stuff or trying to work quickly in general one thing that drives me crazy about tripods is how long it takes to adjust between shots with height etc. So this to me sounds very cool. Actually kinda like what I mentioned earlier in this thread.
 
I wonder what material the flip levers are made of. If it's plastic you've got to imagine them breaking. If metal it should be good to go.

Maybe I missed something, but how is this so much better than the speedlock legs? Just supposed to be more reliable?


60 inches is rather short. I guess it's high enough for most stand up interviews after adding the head height and camera height. I often like tall tripods for filming events in case I need to look over people's heads, but for non-event work it could be fine. 6.5 lbs isn't all that light; my Gitzo Series 3 6X Systematic Carbon Fiber Tripod (X-Long) legs weigh 4 lbs 9 ounces (just weighed it on a scale, B&H specs are incorrect) and go up to 78.9" in height, so 19 inches higher and almost 2 lbs lighter.



Would it be too much trouble for a tripod to come out that has either infinite variable adjustment when it comes to spreading the legs (without using a spreader), or has several different spreading points, rather than the standard three points which don't always give the height or spread you want?
 
When I didnt buy Speedlocks I was mainly put off by the red flip levers which I thought would break.. maybe some speedlock owners can chime in..
 
From ProAV's video comment section, ProAV wrote, "[The flip levers] are plastic, but they seem very sturdy and strong. No complaint there from me."
 
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Eric Coughlin said:
From ProAV's video comment section, ProAV wrote, "[The flip levers] are plastic, but they seem very sturdy and strong. No complaint there from me."
Click to expand...

But who is he :)

When I tried Speedlocks I instantly thought.. 'that will break' - so maybe a Speedlock owner will chime in.
 
morgan_moore said:
When I didnt buy Speedlocks I was mainly put off by the red flip levers which I thought would break.. maybe some speedlock owners can chime in..
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I just sold my light sachtler Ace L with carbon legs, but without speedlock. And bought a Sachtler Video 15 with speedlocks, they work fine and fast.

They make plastic cars and boats and planes, I wouldn't worry about plastic flip levers, they feel sturdy.
 
I had one red level broken on a Speed lock 75 tripod while flying. I guess the baggage handler wasn't to kind to it. But I don't think I would break one myself when using the tripod properly.

Speed Lock legs are pretty fast to set up and work with and much better than a tripod with two or more locks to adjust legs. I also like mid level spreaders but these usually don't go that low. On the other hand my experience of solo like legs without spreaders is it takes more work to adjust each leg. Yes they go low but I don't like them because of that.
 
morgan_moore said:
When I didnt buy Speedlocks I was mainly put off by the red flip levers which I thought would break.. maybe some speedlock owners can chime in..
Click to expand...

I have three sets of 100mm CF Speedlocks: two "normal" pair and a HD pair and I haven't had any issue with any of the levers. And one pair that lived on the road every week for 10 months out of the year for at least seven years.
 
Other than the different levers I don't like the bulky legs on the new Flowtech legs as any added weight isn't to exciting. I just bought a SL CF 100 to replace my ENG 2 CF HD to go a bit lighter and I'll think it will last the rest of my working days.
 
The 100mm HD version of the speedlocks is far more reliable than the 75mm. However, the latter is extremely light and compact. Very practical.

The other issue to be aware of though is that it can happen that one leg does not slide down easily for one reason or another. Could be dirt, a bowed piece, the tension needs readjusting, etc. This then becomes a pain as you have to force it down, rather than have all three dropping evenly at the same time. I fully expect that this new tripod will have the same issue over time. Nature of the beast.
 
Never had an issue with my SpeedLock 75 legs, & a friend hasn't had problems with his either, but have rented some where the legs would stick, & it is a pain, but those were pretty beat up, & would have stuck even if they were not SpeedLock.
 
Greg_E said:
You have to admit, Vitec has a tendency to take companies that make really great stuff, and strangle it into mediocrity (with poor support as a bonus).
Click to expand...

How so? Vitec owns most of the major tripod companies (Vinten, Sachtler, Manfrotto, O'Connor & Gitzo), but I feel like those still have their own brand differences (most of the time... e.g. Sachtler has taken the Manfrotto 535 lets & kit them with a 75mm head). Benro, Libec & Cartoni are biggest tripod companies that aren't owned by Vitec & they all seem to make decent products, but it's not like they're super innovative where Vitec hasn't been.

As for poor service, I had a Sachtler FSB4 repaired for free even after it was out of warranty. I've had two Vinten Pozi-Loc tripods break at the mid-level spreader point (which seemed like a design flaw), and both were easy warranty fixes. Granted all of those repairs my office had to pay shipping & it was out of our hands for 2-3 weeks, but overall smooth.

I've dealt with SmallHD when they were on their own & then again recently as they're now under Vitec (again, warranty repairs for bum monitors). Both times seemed about the same. Annoyance I had to go through the motions, but smooth transaction.

Vitec has discontinued the Kata & Petrol bag brands, and absorbed them as Manfrotto & Sachtler branded bags, but they seem to be the same level of quality.

Apple, on the other hand, bought Color (originally FinalTouch), the super powerful color correction tool and has let it collect dust since 2001 when FCPX came out. I don't know of Vitec ever doing something similar with a brand / product they purchased.

Is the Flowtech 75 perfect? Nope. But I see them trying something new that looks like it could be very advantageous to lots of users.
 
yoclay said:
OK, as an owner of Sachtler CF Speedlocks in 75mm and 100mm (the big HD model), a Vinten Fibertec, an OConnor 35L (the forerunner of the Hotpod designs) and two manfrotto sticks, let me say this.
My greatest fear is the potential fragility of the legs. Carbon Fiber cracks pretty easily especially at the stress points and joints. If it is laid down too quickly on the ground, or falls over, what happens ? Are there plastic joining and locking parts or metal ? What happens too if one pulls up two hard on the quick release locks for instance ? How easy is it to take apart or replace something that is broken, etc. ? The concept is one thing, the strength of the materials and the execution is another. Another thing, glad to see they are testing this out in 75mm, but what about the 100mm guys ?
Click to expand...

I've had a Flowtech since NAB and have been using it all summer with my FSB6 head whenever I've been shooting with one of my lighter cameras such as the FS5, Z150 or the FS7 when it is stripped down. I love the Flowtech and people who have worked for me over the summer love it too. It's everything the demo videos say it is, and more.

I also own an OConnor 35L with 1030D head that I use with my F55 and FS7, so I know how a quality system should perform. In fact, the reason I got my hands on the Flowtech in the first place is because I've been pushing Sachtler/Oconner for a couple of years to bring back the 35L. So when they had something to show me, I was one of the first to get my hands on one. the classic 35L is a tripod like no other, as anyone who owns one would tell you. It is one of the most important pieces of gear I own and cannot be replaced if something were to happen to it. The Flowtech isn't quite as fast to deploy as the 35L but it is close, very close. And being able to drop the height down to almost ground level means I don't need to bring my baby legs anymore.

In my opinion the tripod is very well-built and more rigid than the 35L which can twist a little when you torque it. For $1K it is a no-brainer.

I'm looking forward to the release of the 100mm model soon. My understanding is that the 100mm version will have exactly the same legs -- but with a 100mm bowl. So if the legs are build for 100mm heads, then I wouldn't worry too much about using them for 75mm heads.
 
Doug, do you still have to skinny the legs up to lower the tripod with ease, or can you lower it easily when it's spread out?
 
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