Tripod for Sony Handycam...on a budget!

Sacksian

Hi,

I'm looking for recommendations for a decent tripod for a Sony Handycam - it doesn't need to be a high-end professional piece of equipment, just something that will enable me to do the job.

It's going to be used to video football games from an elevated vantage point so I guess it needs to be able to move up and down as well as left and right.

Any recommendations very welcome!

m83

What's your budget?

I'd be quite weary of cheap tripods, they tend to be universally useless. I went through so many of them before spending about 500 quid on a decent one. It'll do me for years to come though, guaranteed.

Sacksian

Thanks - well, to be honest, I'm not looking at anything approaching €500!

I did a bit of rooting about and found a couple of Velbon tripods (Sherpa 200R & Ultra Rexi) which were cheap, compact and there seemed to be generally positive comments about them online.

Know anything about them?

m83

Oh I know, each to their own of course. What is your budget though?

I'd highly recommend a Manfrotto 701HDV head and some sticks if you can throw down about €200... a quick search yields this kit on eBay, you may even get it cheaper elsewhere.

If it seems expensive now, trust me, it'll save you money in the long run as throwing 80-100 euro on a tripod now will almost certainly break with extended use. And you won't get a decent fluid head for that price so the performance will be crap too even before it breaks.

Sacksian

m83 wrote: »

Oh I know, each to their own of course. What is your budget though?

I'd highly recommend a Manfrotto 701HDV head and some sticks if you can throw down about €200... a quick search yields this kit on eBay, you may even get it cheaper elsewhere.

If it seems expensive now, trust me, it'll save you money in the long run as throwing 80-100 euro on a tripod now will almost certainly break with extended use. And you won't get a decent fluid head for that price so the performance will be crap too even before it breaks.

Thanks a million - much appreciated.

Tactical

I use this for stills and video work. Change the head to suit the application naturally. It was a good investment.

http://www.manfrotto.com/058b-triaut-camera-tripod-black

This head for video work with the tripod. Hasn't let me down yet

http://www.manfrotto.com/manfrotto-503-series-head