I was shooting some video clips with my 5D2 and was fighting my gitzo carbon fiber tripod for leg adjustments, seems like there would be a faster tripod out there that has say a squeeze clamp type lock for quick leg adjustments. Does anyone know of such a tripod, It would not have to be the most beefy thing just fast to adjust leg heights from all the way down to all the way up without having 3 separate twist locks to undue. Ron

Cullman Titan

http://www.rtsphoto.com/html/cullm4.html

Thanks Chris, Looks like the tripod may be hard to get now, BH says discountinued. Ron

Any number of tripods come with flip lock rather than twist locks. Check around.

kazman442 wrote:
Thanks Chris, Looks like the tripod may be hard to get now, BH says discountinued. Ron

I notice that. Unfortunate. Did you call RTS photo?

How about the Neotec? No personal experience with it, but I'm sure that someone here has used it.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/336188-REG/Manfrotto_by_Bogen_Imaging_458B_458B_NeoTec_Pro_Photo.html#features

Barry

No didn't call them but all the places I found online seem to indicate it to be discontinued item.

This one seems to be just what I am looking for, I see my local Normans Camera has one in stock, I will have to head over and try it out, Thanks. Ron

how much adjusting do you need to do? i've been using tripod for 33 years now and i don't need to fiddle about that much. are you trying to level it? if so instead of trying to do it by legs use a leveling platforn which give you up to 15 degs to play with and it can be done in a few seconds.

video or motion picture tripods all use some form of half ball to level out the camera stage before shooting

most other quick adjustments can be dome using just the top set of pipes. after that they all become pretty much the same in operation.

i still have a sachtler in my basement

Well what has gotten me thinking about a faster tripod was when I was shooting different flowers blowing in the wind, They all had different heights that I wanted to film them at and by the time I kept adjusting the legs on my gitzo tripod I was thinking there must be something that allows for adjusting of the legs quick.

They varied from all the way up to most of the way down.

you will find it really isn't that much faster

believe me they'll wait a minute or two for you


if there was an actual good one believe me everyone here on the olympic tripod speed setup team would own it and be screaming out about their timings

sjms wrote:
you will find it really isn't that mush faster

believe me they'll wait a minute or two for you

I get your point maybe they will but some had bumble bees on them and I missed those . If I could only have gotten the legs in the height I wanted quicker I would have been happy. The gitzo I had to unscrew each lock and adjust height then tighten, 3 locks on each leg at the worst was just to slow.

thats what photo and MP people do... hurry up and wait.

choose your area where you only need to adjust the top set of locks. you jumping around trying to adjust all those things is just hard work.

If your Gitzo is an older model, you might benefit from a newer model with g-locks (they really are better). Chasing bugs, though, is one of those things where I don't think there's really any good solution -- you're always going to be set up in the wrong place.

;- )

Some people have good luck with monopods for fast-moving macro, but it never works for me.

I have the new G lock on but there are 3 locks on each leg. I am shooting video so mono pod would be tough to hold real still. I'm going to normans to try the bogen out and see if it's quicker. Ron

neo tec? manfrotto also do (not sure if its still available) a video set of legs that can all be adjusted by one switch, really heavy though.

http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/site/manfrotto/pid/3322?livid=68|73&lsf=73&child=2

they have a new one, should be quick enough.

that would be a good option but then to adapt is still an additional cost over the base leg cost

kazman442 wrote:
I have the new G lock on but there are 3 locks on each leg. I am shooting video so mono pod would be tough to hold real still. I'm going to normans to try the bogen out and see if it's quicker. Ron

Gotcha. Good luck with the search.

I own several Neotec Monopods and one (so far) Neotec tripod.

Simply put - there is no faster method to change leg height than a Neotec.

To raise...Pull. When you stop, its locked.
To lower, press a button at the top of a leg and gravity takes over. Letting go of the button locks it again.

No twists, no cams, no hassles.

I know that other tripods work well with twists and cams - but if you want speed and convenience, Neotec will fit the bill.

kazman442 wrote:
I have the new G lock on but there are 3 locks on each leg. I am shooting video so mono pod would be tough to hold real still. I'm going to normans to try the bogen out and see if it's quicker. Ron

How fast do you want it to be. I can set up my Gitzo's (new G-locs) in about 15 seconds and be ready to shoot. Is that not fast enough?

J.

JohnJ80 wrote:
kazman442 wrote:
I have the new G lock on but there are 3 locks on each leg. I am shooting video so mono pod would be tough to hold real still. I'm going to normans to try the bogen out and see if it's quicker. Ron

How fast do you want it to be. I can set up my Gitzo's (new G-locs) in about 15 seconds and be ready to shoot. Is that not fast enough?

J.


Takes me a bit longer and no not fast enough, How would you like your camera to take 15 seconds to fire up for the first shot? I would say that's not fast enough, I would like a tripod to take a few seconds at most, After shooting clips 2 dozen different things I was about sick of moving the tripod to different heights and was wanting another option. Ron

A few seconds (as in 3) is probably unreasonable for any tripod. I had a neotec one (for example) and that isn't any faster.

J.

I bought the Manfrotto 458B today after testing it out at the store, It is very fast to adjust. All you do it grab the leg and pull it down and it is locked. To adjust just push in the button on the top of each leg, I can't see how it could be simpler. Thank you for the link to this tripod and I think I'm going to be happy with it for doing macro and video shorts, I will retain my Gitzo for hiking and big lens shooting. Ron

You're very welcome! We'll be waiting to see those quick draw (fastest gun in the west) pics

Barry