a case for cheap stuff?

[hans de vries]

Just returned a week ago from two weeks in Namibia. Me schlepping a Red one and my colleague a Libec--what is it?--LS 70? during the afternoon in the Sossusvlei; for those not familiar with Namibia, the Sossusvlei is a particularly photogenic piece of desert. Struggling a few miles through dustlike sand with the Red one is quite something, but I have managed to bring my machine down to less than 7 kg, the rest is on a belt; with the tripod it was pure hell, it weighs something like 12 kg, no fun in this kind of heat. We bought it because we thought it would be good in every situation. Because it was terribly heavy we left it behind regularly; but I don't like the Red so much handheld. So today I put it on my small Manfrotto tripod with a pretty cheap Gitzo head, surely a configuration all professionals will frown upon. The thing is that in most circumstances it works really well, and I can easily pick up the cam attached to the Manfrotto and set it up somewhere else. Better than handheld.
Another situation. Some months ago I had to move all my editing stuff, the regular apple tower, a Lacie monitor, a Sony monitor and a JVC video monitor. For a couple of weeks I had to do with a cheap Samsung screen. No pretty sight, but it had one advantage over all the others: especially with green screen work, it would exaggerate mistakes that the other screens would hide. I have replaced the Sony for this one; it's mostly for the timeline, the browser etc. but I use it now and then to check whether I've been overlooking something.
As a newbie I tended to buy all the best stuff I could afford; unfortunately there is no short cut around experience to tell you what exactly is best for the situations you find yourself in; some of the best stuff I never needed, some of the cheaper stuff worked better than I expected. Now I'm interested in what the real veterans have to say about that; is this your experience as well?

Best regards,

Hans

 

[Matt Uhry]

small Manfrotto tripod with a pretty cheap Gitzo head, surely a configuration all professionals will frown upon.

Frown upon the Man-Gitzo until you have to carry a 2575, with Ronfords up a big ass sand dune on a hot day, then it looks pretty good. Everything has it's place and time... How about some pic's from your shoot?.

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com

 

[Jay Gannon]

Feisol sticks with a 75mm Ball Sachtler fluid head is getting popular in certain shooting circles. Very very light but can handle a light RED setup with ease.

 

[hans de vries]

Feisol sticks, I'll look into that. I don't have pictures available yet, but I'll try to come up with something soon. Actually, what I like about the cheap Gitzo that the Libec doesn't have is that you can lock the head while panning and unlock it again without noticing any hickup in the smoothness of the movement

 

[Julio Quintana]

I never mess with a 2575 anymore unless I'm in a studio and the dolly is doing all the work. I spent four weeks shooting for the Air Force, and the Sachtler 20 was a godsend. I used a Sachtler 15 last night and it wasn't ideal, but the counterbalance held up the camera fine and the whole setup was super light.
Obviously these aren't cheap tripods either, but I do agree with you guys that sometimes we tend to overkill with equipment that may not be the best thing for the task at hand.