Taking still life photos in studio is becoming a drag using a standard tripod. I was thinking that an articulated arm mounted to a table or wall might speed things a long. Anyone know of such a device? Google searches coming up dry
Studio stand, hands down. Far faster and easier than a tripod--in the studio I'd rather use a stand than handhold for anything.
I haunted eBay until I found an older studio that was selling their stand--I got a great, humongous, luxurious $2500 stand for $250. Nobody ships studio stands, though--this one was only three hours drive from me, so I went to pick it up in my van.
there are a lot that show up on CL or Ebay these days, I've seen amazing deals on cambo stands....but i don't shoot enough studio stuff these days...i'd wait till one pops up near you.
The Delta 1 looks pretty much like the Linhof Minimatic i was lucky enough to pick up for 50€. Though the Linhof has a counter weight. Then again, it's not exactly rocket sience to add one yourself.
Besides the missing counter weight, the major draw back will be the swinging everytime you touch the stand, camera or head, especially when you have to go all the way up, due to the verry light weight compared to the big cambos et al. It's like 25 vs 80+ kg.
Then again, you could even use it on location and i'm pretty sure the heavy stands would have ruined the marble floor between my two small studios, on which the previous owner of my flat wasted a fortune on.
So if you have the space for a big stand and a buddy who will help you pick it up, go to ebay. If your tight on space like i am and have to move the thing around alot and the Delta 1 is anything close to my small Linhof, 300$ is a no brainer and you get it delivered.
It actually took me two years to make up my mind if, and when what for how much, and although i'm just doing product photography as a small side business, if i'd know from the start how much easier studio live is with a proper stand, id gladly thrown the 1500$ at Foba for their smallest model from the beginning.
Oh, and don't even google for information on the motorized Foba, i've once seen one in action, together with a fully motorized ceiling rack and a fully computerized Elinchrom setup ... and couldn't stop wheeping for weeks. Verry unhealthy.
