Not bad, but ultimately unstable
Written: Nov 10 '05 (Updated Nov 10 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great price, light weight, fluid head, looks great, comes with utility bag
Cons: Unstable, fluid head produces jerky horizontal video, thin and wobbly legs
The Bottom Line: Can't recommend this product other than at a very entry level for video amateurs. Save your money and buy a real professional video tripod.
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| julsol's Full Review: Sunpak Video Pro M Tripod |
The Sunpak Video Pro-M tripod for video and filmmaking is a light and sturdy stand that uses a fluid head for smooth movement and panning when shooting film and video. It's considerably cheaper than other similar products by other more famous brands, and comes with a utility bag to carry it around safely.
This tripod can be set up almost 70" high, and it's fairly simple to use and set up. It also looks great, as it has a very "pro" look and feel to it.
Now that's where the nice stuff ends. Ultimately, this tripod is NOT stable enough for pro video, unlike its name seems to suggest. There's something very wobbly in the horizontal bearing of the fluid head that, if not fully locked, makes a shot jerky. It's very frustrating, and something that is not supposed to happen in a "pro" tripod. As a result, tilting movements are smooth and clean, but horizontal panning results in jerky motions that show up in the video.
Also, the leg joints are made out of low quality plastic. This is terrible when the tripod is extended all the way up, as it makes the camera wobbly and evidently unstable. It can be very frustrating. While the tripod seems sturdy at low levels, when the legs are fully extended it gains a terrible lack of stability. Not good.
While this tripod is a great bargain for the money, in the end it does not do what it is supposed to do as a professional film & video stand. The fluid head is not smooth enough to produce professional results. As an alternative, you may want to consider tripods with fluid heads by other manufacturers in the field (I suggest comparing this product with any similar tripods by Manfrotto, Slik, Bogen, or Libec).
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
julsol
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Location: Boston, MA
Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 1 member
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