TRIPOD LEGS

[Tim Naylor]

I recently purchased a 2060 from Ketch. Great buy. I'm in the market for legs now. Initially, I thought Ronford Heavy Duty legs would be ideal. But I began to think about how lightweight the Epic will be and our current RED package is also quite light, more stripped down than most. So I'm now eyeballing Ronford medium weight legs.

Anyone have any experience with them and know where they can be purchased new or used. I noticed Abel lists the single stage but I was also interested in the the double stage. I'm not interested in Sachtler or Millers as I prefer Ronford's all metal construction.

Thanks all.

 

[Christopher Barrett]

I'm also in the market for a tripod. Right now I've got a 2060 and Ronford HD legs on rental...holding up the R1 that coincidentally I recently bought from Ketch. That head and those legs are Hella heavy! Rock solid, but way more weight than I want to deal with on a daily basis.

I'm coming at all this from a career in Stills so I'm more accustomed to a set of Gitzo CF legs... curious as to why you want to stick with metal?

I've got my eye on these sticks with either a 1030 or Arrow 55 head. Just bought a beefy postage scale for putting the R1 on a diet and trimming the fat. I'm also imagining that I may move to the Epic next year and definitely don't wanna buy more legs than I need to be carrying around. Would love to hear the thoughts of the more seasoned Red crowd.

Cheers,
CB

 

[ericyoung]

Carbon fibre is fine if you look after them. But if you're renting them out a lot they don't take damage as well as aluminium. Aluminium can get scratched or dented quite a bit, and will keep working perfectly well. Carbon fibre can shred or shatter if subject to the same amount of damage.

 

[Mark Phelan]

I'm also in the market for a tripod. Right now I've got a 2060 and Ronford HD legs on rental...holding up the R1 that coincidentally I recently bought from Ketch. That head and those legs are Hella heavy! Rock solid, but way more weight than I want to deal with on a daily basis.

I'm coming at all this from a career in Stills so I'm more accustomed to a set of Gitzo CF legs... curious as to why you want to stick with metal?

I've got my eye on these sticks with either a 1030 or Arrow 55 head. Just bought a beefy postage scale for putting the R1 on a diet and trimming the fat. I'm also imagining that I may move to the Epic next year and definitely don't wanna buy more legs than I need to be carrying around. Would love to hear the thoughts of the more seasoned Red crowd.

Cheers,
CB

The 25L legs are great with the 1030HDS.

 

[Mark Andersen]

I love the big CF legs from Gitzo. I think the epic is light enough in many cases to use with heads that come in a 75mm ball head. These are really great travel legs, but may not be suitable for everything. As an aside, coming from the stills world I still am having trouble seeing all the benefits of cine style legs over the locking style legs of Gitzo.

 

[Mitch Gross]

We sell lots of manufacturers, including Ronford. And we do sell all of their product line, even if it isn't initially listed on our website (working on that). Feel free to give us a ring to discuss your needs.

 

[Tim Naylor]

I'm also in the market for a tripod. Right now I've got a 2060 and Ronford HD legs on rental...holding up the R1 that coincidentally I recently bought from Ketch. That head and those legs are Hella heavy! Rock solid, but way more weight than I want to deal with on a daily basis.

I'm coming at all this from a career in Stills so I'm more accustomed to a set of Gitzo CF legs... curious as to why you want to stick with metal?

I've got my eye on these sticks with either a 1030 or Arrow 55 head. Just bought a beefy postage scale for putting the R1 on a diet and trimming the fat. I'm also imagining that I may move to the Epic next year and definitely don't wanna buy more legs than I need to be carrying around. Would love to hear the thoughts of the more seasoned Red crowd.

Cheers,
CB

Funny you mention Arrow 55. Just sold mine to help finance my 2060 kit. For the price, the Arrow 55 is hard to beat. Can't say enough about its action. We decided to go O'Connor because the performance is even better. Nothing in my mind has the perfect resistance and zero backlash of an O'Connor. We kept our Arrow 25 and VJ legs for those "camping style" remote shoots.

I'm beginning to think the Ronford mid duty legs would be ideal to mate with our O'Connor. I'll help keep the weight down. The metal on the fittings and leg tie downs of the Ronford can withstand day to day use better than plastic found on Miller, Sachtler, etc. Does anyone know the load capacity of the Ronford Mid Duty legs is?

And once your Epic gets the full treatment: Lenses, MB, FF, S4's, Optimos, Rods, Etc., I believe it may still require a decent size tripod. I'd never put a large zoom on an Arrow 55 even if the weight is under it's specs. It'll work fine with large primes like RPP's. Payload is relative to where the weight is: zooms or top heavy cameras, lessen the max payload because of the torque.

 

[Ryan Glater]

Hi Tim, it's Ryan here from Ronford Baker.
In answer to your question the load capacity of the Ronford Medium Duty tripod is 150 lbs. ( 68 Kgs )
Thanks

 

[Tim Naylor]

Ryan, my company just purchased the two stage medium duty from the good people at Abel. I have used the Ronford heavy duties for ages, but with our R1 rig weighing in at 25-30lbs pounds plus another 20lbs for the 2060, and now the EPIC expected to shave some more pounds off that, I figured, why lug the heavy duties around. But I often rented the heavy duties even when they were more than I needed because they've no twist. I didn't even know Ronford made medium or light as Sachtler for whatever reason dominates that in the US rental market.

So I stumbled upon the mediums on the RB site and went to Abel today. Lo and behold the 2 stage Mediums with a Gear Nex and a Varicam were on the floor. Immediately, I began to play and couldn't get over how rigid these legs are. A gorilla with a plumber's wrench may be able to get any disceranble twist. Didn't know the payload but just by the simple all metal build, I figured at least a 100lbs. The two stage has a 19" to 64" inch range which covers over 90 percent of what I do. I'll probably pick up a hi hat to fill in the low end and skip the babies for now. Another handy aspect is that these legs pack up to 29". In the short Tuffpak rolling case, it's very airport friendly.

I'm confident I can load this up with a gear head or a 2575 with an Optimo with out a problem. The entire build is all metal. It's not the lightest but not heavy at 17lbs. I wouldn't recommend it for ENG or doco style stuff, but definitely stiff and sturdy enough for indie to high end narrative or commercial work. As the bodies seem to be getting lighter, these will be my go to sticks. For run and gun work, I may have a look at their light weights. The other thing that sold me, is I'm sick of plastic anything on a tripod. The build is bullet proof.

Also, the price wasn't too bad for something built so well. They were cheaper than my Miller Heavy Duty 2 stage CF legs, O'Connor and Sachtlers and in a different league in terms of toughness. The last thing I want to mention, is the simplicity of RB legs. Pretty much as basic as the heavy duties that even a caveman......you get it. No weird little clicks, lock off, doo dads to complicate things.

Can't wait to take it for it's first gig.

 

[Tim Naylor]

I love the big CF legs from Gitzo. I think the epic is light enough in many cases to use with heads that come in a 75mm ball head. These are really great travel legs, but may not be suitable for everything. As an aside, coming from the stills world I still am having trouble seeing all the benefits of cine style legs over the locking style legs of Gitzo.

I have Miller VJ Solo CF legs for my more run/gun and doc work. Same style of lock off as Gitzo. While I dig the size and weight and I'd rather climb a mountain with them than anything else, I prefer the lift the head and let all three legs extend mechanics of a spreader system. With an AC it's just faster. Lose weight, you lose something.

With the new legs, I just decided to go all metal. Feature production can be brutal on gear. I've seen many a plastic part or leg get damaged. Have yet to see any RB tripods go down on a show.

I guess tripods are like cars. You got your off road and your limos.

 

[Ryan Glater]

Hi Tim thanks for the feedback, good luck on your gig

 

[Mitch Gross]

Tim, glad we could help you out.