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Manfrotto’s new low-budget lightweight monopod is designed for run & gun video shooting

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Manfrotto has today announced their new Manfrotto Element MII Fluid Video Monopod. They say it’s the lightest video monopod on the market, coming in at a mere 1kg (or 670g for the headless version), and includes three feet at the bottom to help it stand when you need to as has the option of a built-in fluid drag head for smooth tilting and panning.

It’s available in two different options. First is the whole kit with the built-in fluid head but you can also buy the monopod sans head with a 3/8-16″ thread on top allowing you to attach your tilt (or other) head of choice.

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Manfrotto and Gitzo team up with UNI to create a new international standard for tripod load capacity

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Load capacity on tripods (and monopods, heads, etc) has, until now, been a bit like guide numbers on speedlights. Numbers that seem to state the obvious, but are quite easy to fudge and make equipment appear more capable than it actually is when compared to its competitors. Manfrotto and Gitzo weren’t happy with this, so they’ve developed a new measuring protocol to offer full transparency to customers.

The reference practices for testing has been published by the UNI (recognised internationally by CEN and ISO). Manfrotto and Gitzo say they are both compliant with the testing procedures and have collaborated with the UNI and industry experts to create the new standard for testing payload across all photo and video products for the industry.

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Lastolite is no more – Swallowed up into the Manfrotto brand

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Lastolite by Manfrotto (since 2016), previously known as Lastolite when it was acquired by Vitec in 2011 is rebranding again. This time, it’s dropped the Lastolite branding completely and will now become part of the Manfrotto brand. The company says that the rebrand is “in response to industry and consumer behaviour changes over recent years as still and moving images continues to converge”.

The Lastolite by Manfrotto section of the Manfrotto website has already been modified to reflect the change, pointing users to the newly branded products. Although, for a while, they say that you may still receive products with Lastolite by Manfrotto branding.

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2020 DIYP Holiday Gift Guide – Tripods, Sliders and Gimbals

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Keeping cameras steady or having complete control over their position is important, regardless of whether you’re shooting photos or video. We’ve already covered cameras, lenses and lighting, so in this gift guide, we’re going to be taking a look at tripods, sliders and gimbals. Let’s start off small and build our way up.

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Manfrotto’s new 1.7GB/sec CFexpress Type B cards are built for extreme shooting conditions

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Manfrotto is breaking into the CFexpress market with two new CFexpress Type B memory cards. Initially being offered in two capacities of 128GB and 256GB, the cards offer speeds of up to 1,730MB/sec, and allow you to record 4K, 6K and 8K video footage at high frame rates, not to mention fast buffer clearing for RAW stills.

Manfrotto says they offer “industrial strength and reliability with unparalleled performance” for use in temperatures from -25°C all the way up to 70°C, so whether you’re shooting in the sub-zero arctic temperatures or the hot Arizona sunshine, they should stand up to the task just fine.

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Angle grinder vs tripod plate – How to still access your battery slot with small cameras

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A lot of us have smaller cameras these days. Even if we have larger DSLRs or mirrorless cameras, we also usually have one or two smaller ones as walkabout or travel cameras or just for shooting behind the scenes clips during our shoots.

But when you want to put one on a tripod it can be a pain, as photographer Ken Kawakami discovered with his Canon EOS M50. With the Manfrotto tripod plate attached underneath, he was unable to open the battery compartment door, trapping both his battery and memory card. So, he did what any reasonable person would do. He attacked it with an angle grinder.

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Manfrotto’s 504X fluid video head looks like the 504HD and a Nitrotech had a baby

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Manfrotto’s 504HD fluid video head has been extremely popular since it was released about a decade ago. It’s a solid but smooth head that supports an impressive 16.5lb load. Now it’s seen an update as Manfrotto launches the new 504X fluid video head with a very Nitrotech-inspired design with some significant improvements.

The load capacity has been increased to 26.5lbs, and as well as an overall change in aesthetic design, it’s changed a little in function, too. Instead of having a built-in 75mm ball base like the 504HD, it now features a flat base with a 3/8-16″ threaded socket offering a much wider range of compatibility with different tripods. but it keeps some of the things users loved about the 504HD, too.

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Manfrotto has entered the memory card market with new rugged SD, microSD and CompactFlash cards

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Well, this is a surprise. Manfrotto has entered the world of memory cards. And they’ve done it with UHS-II V90 SD cards, V30 microSD cards, and UDMA7 CompactFlash. They’re called Pro RUGGED memory cards, and Manfrotto says that they are “the toughest memory cards on the market” for professionals.

Although unexpected, the launch of SD and microSD cards makes some sense, but the CompactFlash is an odd choice when everybody else seems to be piling onto the CFexpress bandwagon right now.

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2019 DIYP Holiday Gift Guide – Tripods, Sliders and Gimbals

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So far in this year’s DIYP gift guides, we’ve covered cameras, lenses, lights and bags. But whether you shoot stills or video, at some point you’ll likely need something to mount your camera to. So here are some of the new ones that have come out over the last year or so and the ones that we use the most.

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2019 DIYP Holiday Gift Guide – Camera Bags

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Now that you’ve got your camera, lenses and lights, you’ll need something to store them in, and that’s where bags come in. Bags are one of those items that many photographers collect. There’s no such thing as the perfect bag, just bags that are perfect for specific uses. Here I’m going to show you some of my favourites from the last year along with a few that have been consistently useful and reliable for us at DIYP.

Remember that there are sales on right now, so some of the links show much lower prices than those listed here. Be sure to check all of them.

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