Tripod Heads » Dan Carr Photography - Photography Product Reviews + Ski, Snowboard and adventure photography tips

The Search For My Ultimate Tripod Setup - Really Right Stuff TVC-33s

Gear Reviews, Tripod Heads 8 Responses »

Dec 292011

Having broken my tripod recently I decided to look at what the high end of the market has to offer. A cheap tripod rarely does you any favors and whilst my previous one wasn’t exactly cheap, I’d often wanted a bit more stability and a generally nicer feel to things. I did a lot of research, read a lot of reviews, blog posts and forum threads and narrowed things quickly down to Gitzo and Really Right Stuff.

TVC-33s with TA-3-LC HK

I’m a big fan of Really Right Stuff products in general and I use their BH-40 ballhead as well as an MH-01 on my monopod so I was interested to watch their development of a tripod lineup over the last couple of years. Initially they launched the TVC-33 which promised the support capacity of a Gitzo 5-series but in a size and weight that was closer to a Gitzo 3-series. Those that have ever handled anything made by RRS will know that they are second to none when it comes to quality of machining and construction. The new carbon fiber tripods are no different but it comes at a price of course.

Manfrotto 055 Mag Photo-Movie Head Review

Gear Reviews, Tripod Heads, Video Heads No Responses »

Jun 292011

DSLRs with HD video capabilities have changed the way many of us shoot and many photographers are being asked to return from assignments with videos, or simply making that choice themselves to make their business stand out from the crowd. The problem is that DSLR video is incredibly susceptible to camera shake because in-body image stabilization has yet to be implemented in these larger cameras. Combine that with the tendency to create rolling shutter artifacts when panning too fast and you quickly realize that a good video head (fluid head) is necessary to get even a reasonable job done unless you are using a large shoulder mount system. An extra accessory to pack in your gear bag is never welcome though, especially if you travel a lot (which many photographers do) with ever decreasing baggage allowances. Most photographers already have a regular ballhead for stills photography and I know that on more than one occasion I have eagerly added my video head ( a Manfrotto 701 HDV) to my to-be-packed pile before a trip, only to cull it from the list at the first indication that my bags were over weight. Manfrotto have set out to solve this conundrum with the 055 Mag Photo-Movie head.. A head that can be both a photo ballhead with 3-axis adjustment, and a fluid video head for pan and tilt movements. So how does it perform ? Read on to find out…..