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This is why fluid head video tripods are useful for photography

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I switched over to mostly using fluid head video tripods for stills photography about 8 years ago. I still have a couple of Manfrottos with ball heads. I also use ball heads with sliders. But, my go-to is a Libec video tripod with a fluid bowl head. They just make life so much easier, especially on location.

It seems I’m not the only one who prefers to work with video tripods for photography, either. In this video, photographer Hudson Henry talks about why he likes to use fluid heads for photography. The advantages he lists are some of the reasons why I also like to use them. If you’re shooting a lot of video anyway, it definitely makes a lot of sense to make the switch, even for stills.

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How to DIY repair a damaged tripod thread in your camera

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Tripod threads in the bottom of cameras and other devices are usually pretty solid. I’ve got cameras that are decades old that still have perfectly functional ones. But, I’ve also had a couple of adapters and gadgets where they haven’t survived so well. Quality control isn’t what it once was, and the number of devices containing 1/4-20″ sockets has soared compared to only a few years ago. So, failures are far more likely these days.

Repairs like this can be a pain. If you can’t connect your camera to your tripod, slider, gimbal or other support system, you’re screwed. Sending to a service centre for repair can be costly and take a few weeks to get your gear back. Fortunately, filmmaker Tom Antos has put up a video to show us how we can repair our own using a readily available DIY tripod screw repair kit.

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Rant: Tripod makers, please don’t force us to carry coins in our bags

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I am a firm believer in the power of the tripod. Tripods let you do wonderful things. You can easily composite, take long exposures, do light painting, it is just an awesome tool. When it comes to video tripods are even more essential, at least if you want to take a static shot.

But tripods don’t all match. And that would have been ok, only switching from one tripod to another is not as easy as it should be.

Most tripods have a separate head, and that head usually connects to a tripod via something called quick release plate. While there are some standards (RC2 from Manfrotto, Arca Swiss), the need to swap quick plates is not that rare. In fact, I own (and use) 4 tripods (6 if you count Gorilla pods), and almost each and every one of them has a different plate.

And I swap tripods quite a bit. I use one for stills (with an RC2 Rapid Connect compatible head), another for video (with a Manfrotto 501PL Rapid Connect Sliding Plate) and sometimes I just need to mount my DR-70 between the head and the camera.

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This Is How Your Tripod Was Made

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Tripods are, quite literally, a solid foundation upon which you can create your photography, but have you ever wondered how they’re made?  Assuming you’re not using a fancy carbon fiber tripod, it was probably something like this.

In this video, the Science Channel takes us through the workflow of the Manfrotto assembly line to demonstrate the construction of their 190 Series tripods.

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Surfboard racks are a perfect solution for keeping your tripods under control

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Tripods are one of the most inconvenient pieces of equipment to store. Sure, you can try to stand them upright or even buy tripod bags, but the reality is neither of those options are much more convenient than laying them in a pile on the floor.

To solve this problem, the team at Lixi Studios came up with a clever solution to end tripod chaos once and for all. The secret? A snowboard rack.[Read More…]

QuickRelease One Wants To Rid You Off The Chaos Of Competing Quick Release Plates Standards

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If you use any gear that connects to a camera via a plate in your workflow (Tripod, Jib, Gimbal, SteadyCam, Slider, …) you will recognize this pain right away. Your Tripod may work with a Manfrotto square plate while your Jib works with an ArcaSwiss plate and your video head takes that weird Manfrotto Penta-plate. Getting the right plate for the right gear is a mess, and it means that you need to change plates on your camera every so-often.

There has been some good attempts at fixing this (The C-SLR M-Plate is one of the better ones that we have had the pleasure of testing), we have yet to see an accessory that is compatible with ALL plate systems.

Enter QuickRelease One from Edelkrone.

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This Tripod Can Be Opened, Closed And Locked With A Single Hand

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For some reason, we do not see a lot of innovation with tripods, I mean, it’s three legs connected with a base, what is there to innovate about?

Well a designer who goes by the name Product Tank  just invented the cleverest tripod I’ve ever seen.

You see, with most tripods, you have to spread the legs, open the locks (probably 6 of them), extend each section and then re-lock the locks. While this should take no longer than one or two minutes, it is quite an annoying task, not to mention adjusting the tripod once it is open. What if there was a magic tripod that can unlock, open and lock with the click of a button…

Enter the Super Tripod. This tripod uses a clever mechanism that unlocks the legs and re-locks them once the tripod is fully open (or at the height of your choice) with a click of a button.

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No Sandbags? No Problem, Just Bury Your Tripod

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Here is an interesting problem to have. What would you do if you wanna shoot in the middle of the desert, but don’t have any sand bags available? Photographer and Light painter Eric Pare (previously) had just this problem when he was shooting in the Sahara Desert in Morocco. Yes, that thing made out of sand. Having no access to sandbag in the middle of the desert, Eric simply buried his 3LT Keith tripod in the sand. Kinda like having the entire desert as one huge sand bag. The results are totally worth it:
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