Tripod Help Please.

[John Galeano]

Thank you for the advice Peter.. much appreciated!

+1 for the 509HD

I have used it now on about 10 serious projects since I've gotten it back in December. All shoots were with the Epic mostly loaded with the heavy 18-85 RPZ (which really is a beast). Fully kitted it was heavier then my Scarlet will be 99% of the time (save for the 800mm Canon setup) and it performed flawlessly. People who are used to $10K+ O'Connors usually don't like Mannfrotto (mostly on principal) - but even if someone was offering me a FREE O'Connor vs PAID 509HD - I would go for the 509HD. And I'm not trying to say that the O'Connors are inferior to the Mannfrotto. Not at all. But for every job there is a right tool. If you are mostly working on fully staffed cine productions where you will have a personal slave carrying your gear around - O'Connors would be very much at home (even thou will most likely have a problem with the light-weight Scarlet). You have to remember that matching the weight capacity of the tripod to your rig goes in both directions...

Go with the 509HD and do yourself a huge favor by taking a weekend out to get yourself fully familiar with it's functions and operation. You will not look back...

Peter

 

[John Galeano]

Jeff this is deff.. my second choice and when I say second choice, it's not because I think the Manfrotto is better. Like I said earlier, I hated the plastic feeling the Cartoni head had. I'm sure its a fantastic head and wish I could test them both for a couple of days before purchasing. I'm really going to look into them both and play with them till the salesman at B&H kicks me out lol..

Hmmm.... I have to agree with Gavin above, the Cartoni Focus is miles ahead of these Manfrotto heads. Personally, I have yet to meet a Manfrotto head that I like.

 

[Carlos Garcia]

They cost more than the camera? That's crazy/wrong/unconstitutional.

Haha, that is pretty great. Anyway, plus 1 on Libec. We used to have the lower end libec tripods at my film school, and they were so terrible I always associated Libec with... terrible! But then, in search of a fluid head, I realized they also make excellent stuff at, to be honest, unbeatable prices!

After quite a bit of a search, I went with the H70 fluid head. What a piece of equipment. The 3 step pan and tilt was the key factor in my decision. It is a head that, no matter what happens, or which camera I get in the future, I know I'll be allright. A head for life, damn it.

 

[BrandonChristensen]

Probably going to end up being the Libec 450 for me. Priced lower than the 509HD bundle, and nothing but glowing reviews.

 

[Ryan Chapman]

I have a Miller Compass 12, which I managed to grab on sale at B&H for $1500, and I'm very happy with it. 22 lb payload capacity, so with my still lens setups I will go nowhere near that.

From my understanding, the best cheap tripods are Miller, and the next step up is O'Connor for triple the price, and maybe a 25% improvement in the head action. Which for the real pros, is obviously worth it, but the Miller works just fine for me. I doubt many viewers can tell the difference.