What's up with these tripods?!?

armisiano

armisiano

Veteran
So, as I skim through the ol' B&H site, I stumble accross things like the following:

Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Exhibit C

What I'm wondering is, well, what's the deal? All three are under $200, have a decent load capacity, and at first glance seem fairly worth while. Anyone out there used any of these? Where do they fall so short? Or do they not?
 
Not sure about the first one, but the other two, that's par for the course for them. They are cheap, and usable, but certainly not professional. I'd get a used Bogen before getting that.
 
I own a D&S Pro Vista w FM18 head. It was my first video tripod combo. From the perspective of a complete newb it was fantastic and to be honest I still use it on my B camera and it gets the job done. I did however, upgrade to a Bogen 503 combo which was a huge leap forward for me.

The D&S combo is solid, I'll give it that. The resistance actually feels pretty even but there's a little backlash ( I think that's a term..speaking of the spongy bounceback at the end of pans when you cease putting force on the handle.)

The lesson I learned was printed out in black and white (on these very pages and others) before I bought the pro vista but I chose to ignore it because it seemed like a sweet deal at the time. Heck, $250 seemed like a lot of cash to lay out for a tripod. When it came I was quite pleased with myself. But then I realized, shooting at max zoom on distant subjects moving consistently (imagine a horse in a ring doing a very slow but consistent jog) that using the FM18 wasn't getting the job done as well as I'd have liked. When editing footage I was having to work around spongy camera work and the "savings" soon became a loss. So I bought twice.

Now I'm ready to upgrade yet again. This time I'm looking at the Miller Solo DS10.

The short answer is, speaking for Exhibit A only, yeah it "works" if you consider working to mean holding up the camera and getting "pretty decent" pans. That doesn't work for me. I wish I'd have just taken everyone's advice in the first place and invested once in a really great system that would last for 10 years.
 
Exhibit A- okay for a first setup. I have one and it works pretty good
Exhibit B-poop
Exhibit C-Dookie

The 503 is awesome for us that can't spend several thousand on a head and sticks.
 
Some think a tripod is a tripod, but it's really not that easy. You need ask yourself are you shooting for fun or for work ?

If it's for work, save your money and buy something that will last you.
 
Watch EBay. I got my Bogen for very little and it goes up to 10' roughly. It's not a Satchler, but I still love it.
 
twocik23 said:
Some think a tripod is a tripod, but it's really not that easy. You need ask yourself are you shooting for fun or for work ?

If it's for work, save your money and buy something that will last you.
Click to expand...

Can't this depend on what kind of work you do? I mean, really, what advantages does a very high end tripod have over a 503 if you do most shooting handheld, steadicam, or dvmultirig pro? When I use a tripod, it's generally for a static shot or put onto a DIY dolly.

And for pan/tilt shots, I've really not had a problem using a 503... what are the big differences or advantages of a $2000 setup in a case like this?
 
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