[Andy Mack]

Hello, Can anyone recomend a good tripod that i might be able to pick up second hand? It needs to be quite stirdy as it will be used outside in the cold and wet in Scotland. It is also to fit a Sony PD150 camera, i assume they all have the same standard fitment?

[MarkE19]

This question was covered recently in This thread. Obviously you can ignore the bits that relate to the Canon 350D stills camera unless this will also be relevent to you.

Mark.

[Andy Mack]

hmmm that thread confuses me! lol

would something like this be good enough??
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fantastic-Trip...QQcmdZViewItem

nope, this is a crappy plastic head tripod, it probably won't cope with the weight of the camera and certainly will not give you any decent form of tilts & pans

[Mroizouk]

try something like this

http://www.vinten.com/what-camera.ph...1&aid=2&ahid=2


there's no point mucking about with tripods. having a crap tripod is a nightmare, and you can't overestimate the value of a decent head- a good one will be a joy to use whearas a poor one will annoy you and make your work look amateurish.

[Mroizouk]

http://www.vinten.com/family-detail....=&lang=1&fid=4


if that's too expensive try this. I've used a PD150 on the protouch 5 many times, out and about, in the rain etc. and it was fine.


oh, and Roy is right. That ebay tripod is w*nk.
£2.5k of camera on a 20 quid support? I don't think so

[Bearded_Malc]

Probably not what you want but having looked at the price of the ebay offering I thought I point out I saw a basic tripod in Asda for 15 quid. Expands to about 5ft tall. Good price.

[Andy Mack]

I never really thought about a £2k camera on a £20 tripod. doh im a bit of a neebie at all this.

The Vinten site doesnt have any prices on it.

Basically its going to cost me £225 for me to hire one. So anything less than that is my budget.

[Mroizouk]

a quick search and I found one for £260 here

you may be able to cut a deal or find it cheaper



http://www.4rfv.co.uk/SellCat.asp?Item=372&Cat=2

[Andy Mack]

Thanks,

what about the link in the other thread to this tripod.

http://www.askdirect.co.uk/uview?cal...97&topcatid=12

is it suitable? or is that an inferior brand? Or not really for video camera?

[Mroizouk]

manfrotto are a very good brand.

I use the carbon fibre version of the 055 for stills photograpy.

That setup might be ok but I would be worried about putting a 6kg* head on a tripod with a carrying capacity of only 7kg. Once you have your 150 atop it, this will be exceeded and sure, the thing probably won't fall apart or anything but I really don't think it'll be sturdy enough for good video work.
The 055 legs are manufactured with stills photography in mind.

*does that head really weigh 6kg? Seems doubtful looking at it... in any case, it's aimed more towards stills than video.

[Mroizouk]

This combo would be much more suitable for video work.

http://www.askdirect.co.uk/uview?cal...10&topcatid=10

You really don't want to be let down by your kit. Spend the money. It is worth it. Equipment from the likes of vinten and manfrotto is built to last and aftersales support is usually very good. If you buy something decent it will have good resale value if you want to sell it on.
If you can't bring yourself to part with the cash- as you say in your initial post- go for a GOOD tripod s/h. Make sure it's not been abused of course.

[Andy Mack]

Thats a wee bit out my price range at the moment so looks like i'll just hire the tripod with the camera.

I just wanted to save myself the money in the long term as im a poor student so cant afford to really splash out £350 for a tripod.

[Mroizouk]

Fair play. I'm a student too.
buy the tripod! You can always sell it on the 'bay afterwards!
What are you filming btw? You're hiring the PB150 too? Did you say they were charging you £225 to hire a tripod? How many years is that for!? Or have I misunderstood?

[Andy Mack]

I'm using it to film my American Football games. There is a company in glasgow that hires out the equipment. £35 for a PD150 £15 for the tripod. But cause i have to get it for a weekend its time and a half. So its £75 per weekend. 10 weekends. plus paying a cameraman(actually its a woman) at £20 per home game(x5) and £50 per away game(x5).

So its going to cost me £750 for the equipment and £350 for the camera man.

Im planning on re-couping the money by selling the games to all the players. Hopefully 30 per game. I basically need to break even or get close to that. I might have to charge £4 a game. Which i think is quite a lot.

So you can see i dont have £350 spare to spend on a tripod because im going to have to shell out all this other money too.

[Mroizouk]

Fair enough. Buying a tripod would make more sense if you owned the '150 or were going to shoot with it on a regular basis long-term. You could still make a better return buying a tripod and selling it on ebay when you're done with it I think, but hiring a decent one instead of buying a cheap one is definately the way foreward in terms of keeping your film looking slick, especially seeing as you're selling it. Your camera-op will appreciate it too. Rubbish equipment is frustrating and working with good kit is great!

Good luck with it

if you intend to sell the footage then you will need smooth pans, £750 is a lot to pay in hire costs, it would buy you a panasonic GS400 from an online shop that you would have forever.

[Andy Mack]

i know i really want to buy the Sony HDR-HC1 but i just cant bring myself to spend £1000 when im already captain skinto.

Its on ebay at £850
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sony-HDR-HC1-H...QQcmdZViewItem

I wonder if i could get it from a shop with 0% credit?

if you are having to spend £750 anyway.... Jessops do interest free but not at that price.

[Andy Mack]

http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/publi...=sony_hdr-hc1e

they do it Buy Now Pay Later 0% as long as you pay it off.
Comes in at £1200 inc vat. And could defer it till September. I recon i could afford that. But then i'd still need to get a tripod, batterys, tapes, etc which all push the price up quite a bit.

hmmm its a dilema!

I could probably stretch myself for it on ebay at £850 and just stick it on my credit card. hmmmm tempting!

[Andy Mack]

ok if i bought the HC1, would a tripod like the Sony Sony VCT-1170RM be suitable to use with it?

buy manfrotto, the quality is great and they last forever. Unless you buy a much bigger camera it's the last time you'll need to buy a tripod. Pay cheap and you pay twice.

[Mroizouk]

Originally Posted by Roy Mallard

buy manfrotto, the quality is great and they last forever. Unless you buy a much bigger camera it's the last time you'll need to buy a tripod. Pay cheap and you pay twice.

2nded

[Andy Mack]

can you recomend one?

[Andy Mack]

hello again. I checked out the Manfrotto website to see if i could find the best tripod for what i want. The one i found on it was the Manfrotto 117. It was in the video tripods, where the 055 models were in the stills bit. Would the 117 be a better tripod than the 055 for what i need?

I also just got outbid on a 055 tripod by £1!

[Andy Mack]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA%3AIT&rd=1

just bought this off ebay.

[BananaTiger]

Wow, seems pretty cheap for a Manfrotto. Let us know how it goes.

[Andy Mack]

sure thing, i'll let you know when it arrives.

just need to buy a head for it. Think i'll go for the 701RC2, its going to cost more than the tripod! lol

there were lots of other Manfrotto 055's on it. a few going for about £50.

[Andy Mack]

well got the tripod. Everything looks fine on it appart from the spirit level on its broken. Its full height is over 6 foot so its pretty much ideal for that i wanted it for. I'm a happy chappy!

Edit - slightly annoying now that the 701 head i was watching on ebay has dissapeared

Andy, sorry mate only got your PM the other day, wasn't being ignorant, just disorganised.