Not much help on the "new" advice front, as I haven't bought a brand-new tripod in just years and years.
Personally, I'd hit eBay and see what is available in an Oconnor...as I am a
huge fan of the slightly-older Oconnor tripods and heads.
New, they are
wildly expensive, but great bargains can be had especially on older Oconnors, which are built like tanks and last forever. Even vintage Ocon heads will still be serviced (and rebuilt, if needed) by Oconnor, who are some of the nicest most helpful people around and their tech people really know their stuff inside and out (and you can actually talk to the tech guys on the phone).
The older 50D head is a good one (the regular 50 is good, but the 50D is
mucho better). You'll often see them paired with 35A sticks, which are
great sticks. They are one of the models of sticks where you can actually raise and lower the whole rig (all three legs at the same time) just by turning a ring at the top. I didn't realize just how
much I used this feature until on a cross-country location shoot where we rented all support equipment (everything but camera and lenses). We rented a
really nice Sachtler, but I was still fighting with it all day because I was so used to being able to easily raise and lower the whole thing... not one leg at a time.
This setup easily supports my camera (as I said, 22lbs with all accessories), rock solid, yet it is not overkill. I also frequently use a jib on it (Losmandy Porta-Jib) which I believe adds another 60lbs or so including the counterweights... as seen below... (those are the 35A sticks under the jib, the 50D head under the camera... and that's shown with one of our film cameras, obviously, not the XLH1 rig)...
Here you can see the Oconnor 50D head holding up a camera that is similarly outfitted to what you're talking about (sorry, you can't see the sticks in this picture)...
I have three of the 50D/35A combos... the last one I stole at auction for $800 (these guys were several
several thousand bucks when new). I actually saw a completed auction where a
like new mint condition right-out-of-the-box set went for $15 (yes, FIFTEEN DOLLARS), I think because the seller had a misspelling (and no reserve) so no one was watching the auction.
Which brings me to this point... if you want to do an auction search for them, try different spellings. The name of the company is actually presently spelled "Oconnor" (no apostrophe). However in years past it was spelled "O'connor." You'll also find sellers misspelling it as "Oconner" and "O'conner." You'll have best results if you search using all four spellings.
Even the same models sometimes have different bowl sizes (the 50D for example was made in both 120mm and 100mm sizes) so the best bet is to buy head and sticks together so you'll know they mate.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
Reply
Like
