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Light weight travel tripod for Epic/Scarlet

S

Scott Brown

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Hi folks

I'm looking at buying a light-weight travel tripod for our Epic that can be folded down to a size that will fit in a suitcase.

This will primarily be for interviews so we don't need an advanced fluid head for this, however it may be that we look at new foldable tripod legs and still take along a 75mm head.

We will have a crew of only 2 travelling and we're finding taking a standard tripod uses up one of our allowed checked bags and is not efficient.

Anyone have a suggestion on a suitable tripod/legs?

Many thanks.

Best wishes

Scott
 
Look at the Miller Solo & Arrow series of tripod legs and heads - Steve Gibby swears by them for lightweight travel.
 
Oops - meant to say Miller Arrow heads and Solo legs.
 
Really Right Stuff Versa 3 and Miller Solo DV. I prefer the former. It's worth noting that RRS has just announced a fluid head which based on their history I expect to offer several times the performance per dollar of what's currently on the market.
 
ericyoung said:
Look at the Miller Solo & Arrow series of tripod legs and heads - Steve Gibby swears by them for lightweight travel.
Click to expand...

I've got the Miller Solo 3stage with Compass 20 head... it's a nice solid tripod at a reasonable price. I wouldn't call it a featherweight when it comes t to lugging it through an airport but it CAN be lugged through an airport so that's something. I've not used it with my Epic yet (because I'm still waiting for my Epic to ship) but I've toyed with it using my D800 and was happy with how it performed. There's a video review of the combo online somewhere.
 
Scott Brown said:
Key for me are legs that can be packed into a regular suitcase to keep excess baggage costs down. I'm wondering if any of the stills camera tripods would be suitable?
Click to expand...

Hi Scott. If you're literally not doing any pan/tilt work and not really pulling the focus during your setups you can nearly get away with any tripod.

I have a set of VariZoom VZT75A sticks. I think that's what they are. I'm not at home, but I've had them for years now. I can fit them in one of my suitcases and they fold down to 23" without the fluid head. You can actually attach a 100mm ball head to it, but it will be a bit janky and may loosen as you pan.

I sometimes will use stills tripods too, but they are even more shaky for motion work. Manfrotto makes a handy leveling center column for their tripods that's worth looking into.

Just be aware when you go super light weight there's large trade offs in terms of your ability to get stable or smooth shoots.
 
Hi Phil

Thanks for your input here.

I'm thinking of the Miller Solo ENG 3 legs - these have a 100mm bowl and we can use one of our Sachtler heads on this. Looks like these legs fold down to around 27" making them very travel friendly :o)

Been looking at the Manfrotto options too!

Best wishes

Scott
 
Hi Pete

I think monopods are great for run & gun where the only other option would be to shoot hand-held but for sit down interviews I prefer legs that don't move :smile:

Hoping Steve Gibby can chime in with his thoughts on the Miller legs!

Scott
 
ok, I see and get the argument...
we often do "statements" or short interviews where people just stand (max. 10-15 min. length) and for that a Monopod works really well :)
 
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