Shooting with hack on a very tight budget

Agreed that a nice head is important and for most (even semi-pro) something like a Manfrotto 501HDV is perfect.

Now in regard to legs, I was at B and H looking for some tripod legs to hold up my IGUS slider when the person there suggested these http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/557127-REG/Slik_615_317_700DX_Pro_Tripod_Legs.html

They are insanely sturdy and heavy duty (hold 22lb) and would be great for a low-low budget filmmaker (only $99). They are sturdier than most legs I saw at 3x the price.
 
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Pietro Impagliazzo said:
That's not really a fluid head, is it? More like friction...
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No, this is fluid heads. On all recommended tripods.
Wf717A is just best of them.
I know even $20 tripods that have true fluid head (made of plastic in this case, of course). Fluid head is not magic contrary to popular forum opinions.
 
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I've seen a number of second hand GH1s around Tokyo today, all selling for the equivalent of about $410 USD. (with one month warranty)

Serial numbers seem to be around FS9Dxxxxxxx to around the end of 2009 build.

I picked one up and it is FS9Exxxxxxx, and of course it is hackable. (it had 1.32 firmware)

A good, cheap option if people are concerned about the 1.34 firmware problem.
 
Vitaliy Kiselev said:
No, this is fluid heads. On all recommended tripods.
Wf717A is just best of them.
I know even $20 tripods that have true fluid head (made of plastic in this case, of course). Fluid head is not magic contrary to popular forum opinions.
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But is the concentric disc with viscous fluid (like the 501) system considered to be a true fluid head?

Because even Sachtler FSBs are miles ahead these low end Manfrottos. Of course there's a huge price difference, a FSB-4 kit costs twice what a 501HDV kit costs, but worth it if it's just like the FSB-6.
 
The original 501 is fluid but the 501HDV is friction. The 503hdv and 701hdv's are both fluid.

Anyways i just got the weifeng that was reccommended and all i can say is thats its fluid as any 35mm film tripod ive ever used, its solid metal construction is nice, it offers tension adjustment for tilt, and the knobs dont get in the way of the camera (like tiffen and manfrotto's apparently do). On ebay, the head and tripod combo go for about the cost of one manfrotto head. Pretty sweet deal.
 
I have found a great source for fluid head tripods if you don't mind it being a little heavy: the old ITE tripods (Innovative Television Equipment) sell for shockingly cheap on ebay (I don't think anyone recognizes the brand name). The late ITEs look exactly like the Libecs from that period (I'm fairly certain they are the same) and the earlier fluid head models are very nice too. Their big drawback is they were made to hold 30-50lbs, and to use a GH1 on them you need to add a little weight. The one I bought for $100 plus shipping I mounted a barbell weight on it below a tripod plate, and it is wonderfully smooth, real fluid head at a fraction of the cost. ...they also made heavy-duty wheel bases for these tripods...
 
Good summary -- I didn't originally buy the kit lens, so I got an Olympus 14-42mm in order to get a proper wide angle -- half-stop slower, I suppose, but might be a better choice than the 14mm prime in some ways. The Panasonic 14-42mm (from the G2/G10) is about the same price, as well, and then you get I.S and image correction. The Olympus lens is beautifully tiny, though, although I'm probably selling it to pick up the Gh1 kit lens.
 
tonpole said:
The original 501 is fluid but the 501HDV is friction. The 503hdv and 701hdv's are both fluid.

Anyways i just got the weifeng that was reccommended and all i can say is thats its fluid as any 35mm film tripod ive ever used, its solid metal construction is nice, it offers tension adjustment for tilt, and the knobs dont get in the way of the camera (like tiffen and manfrotto's apparently do). On ebay, the head and tripod combo go for about the cost of one manfrotto head. Pretty sweet deal.
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Anyone have any experience with the 501hdv? Is there actually a noticeable tangible difference between it and a real fluid head?
 
i got the recommended video tripod and vivitar 28mm 2.0. the tripod is a bit heavy but it is easy to adjust legs and gives extra stability. yeah the smooth fluid head!!! the vivitar lens looks so ghetto but what a workhorse. very pleased with its output at f2.0. definitely i prefer the vivitar over pancake. heck... i can sell panny20 and get panny14. a set of 14/28/50/85 primes would be nice for GH1.

samyang 14mm seems nice but the barrel distortion requires post-processing. sure it can be done easily from ps cs5 extended on a single video clip... but still annoying. panny14 has 46mm filter thread. like panny20, its compact design will have less light loss. prolly better low light performance than tokina 11-16 and oly 14-54 in m43 body at 14mm. i was sitting in a jazz bar at george town in d.c. i missed 14mm... and GH2's rumored 3200 iso performance... without the banding.
 
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stonebat said:
i got the recommended video tripod and vivitar 28mm 2.0. the tripod is a bit heavy but it is easy to adjust legs and gives extra stability. yeah the smooth fluid head!!! the vivitar lens looks so ghetto but what a workhorse. very pleased with its output at f2.0. definitely i prefer the vivitar over pancake. heck... i can sell panny20 and get panny14. a set of 14/28/50/85 primes would be nice for GH1.
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I am glad that you like Vivitar lens and tripod.
Try larger video Waifeng tripod (WF717 as far as I remember) also.
 
Here's a few stand-out values I've found:

Konica Hexanon 40mm f1.8 (~$50 used) - very fast, very sharp, very light
http://www.buhla.de/Foto/Konica/Objektive/e40_18.html

Canon FD 50mm f1.4 (~$75 used) - virtually flawless, but neither wide nor long enough
http://www.fdreview.com/lens-review.php?itemid=20

Canon FD 85mm f1.8 (~$150 used) - perfect for close-ups, beautiful bokeh
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/fdlenses/85mm.htm#f1.8

Audio-Technica AT875R shotgun mic (~$200 new) - compact, clear, and inexpensive
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/right_mic_brockett.html#Audio-Technica%20AT-875r

Zoom H4N 4-track 24-bit audio recorder (~$300 new) - compact and clean, with XLR inputs
http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-Handy-Portable-Digital-Recorder/dp/B001QWBM62
 
Vitaliy, the tripod legs of the Weifeng WF717 look to be the same as those of the Ravelli AVTP tripod. Is the only difference the fluid head used?

Not sure if this is available yet, but there is a full set of modular parts for a shoulder rig and matte box combo on the Fancier website. http://www.chinafancier.com/enShoulder-Bracket.html. Competition is always good. Weifeng has some other interesting looking tripod/head combos (WF727 and WF737), but I can't find anything more online beyond their site.

First time poster, long time lurker. Have my GH2 on preorder!
 
skiandbike said:
Vitaliy, the tripod legs of the Weifeng WF717 look to be the same as those of the Ravelli AVTP tripod. Is the only difference the fluid head used?
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I don't know.

Not sure if this is available yet, but there is a full set of modular parts for a shoulder rig and matte box combo on the Fancier website. http://www.chinafancier.com/enShoulder-Bracket.html. Competition is always good. Weifeng has some other interesting looking tripod/head combos (WF727 and WF737), but I can't find anything more online beyond their site.
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OK, this is very interesting.
If distribution starts soon it could mean end to all low end DSLR rigs stuff. :)
Thanks for sharing.
 
skiandbike said:
Not sure if this is available yet, but there is a full set of modular parts for a shoulder rig and matte box combo on the Fancier website. http://www.chinafancier.com/enShoulder-Bracket.html.
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Thank you for the link!

Interestingly, I did a shoot (using my GH1) very near this factory just a month or so ago - in fact only a block or two away (this is in Ningbo, China). Many factories making video equipment located there, but my client kept me too busy to make a sidetrip and maybe pick up some stuff. But I can tell you that the quality of these stuff is not bad (for the price).

I will be buying a camera/laptop backpack from them in a week or so, but from a dealer here in Manila. Only about $35, and that includes shipping/tax/markup of local dealer. I can imagine the factory price at Ningbo will be outrageously cheap.

rgds / RandyQ
 
Petanque said:
How does one order from these guys? I don't see anywhere on the site.
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There's a link to a sales/inquiry email address, but I am almost sure this is strictly B2B, not retail. I did some inquiries at a similar factory in China before, and minimum quantity was 10pcs.

Another time, of course for a much cheaper item, the minimum qty was 10,000pcs!
 
I think that we could arrange group buy.
Chinese sellers are pretty ok with 10-50 items.
And this thing looks to be made much better than indian rigs.
As we have chinese speaking members we could call and directly ask them (it is generally better than email).
 
I would likely be an order if a group buy gets off the ground. I'll email the US distributor (ePhoto) to see if they have any news as well.
 
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