Red And Black - Stendhal's Tripod

Go On. Look it up. Better yet...read it.

This tripod from Manfrotto - one of  the BeFree series - addresses four complaints I have had about other firm's work in the past. In addition to a great deal of Italian style, I am delighted that:

1. The tripod has colour. All too many of them are black and dull, and apart from the aesthetics of that, they are a camouflaged menace in a darkened studio, or out in open air after dark. A black tripod has three black legs splayed out there just waiting to trip up the unwary or hard of seeing.

2. The leg angle adjustment can be made with one hand, and is not hard to understand. I've owned tripods that concealed their angle adjustments in under the leg itself and then invited you to insert your fingers in there....Then they snapped shut like a nutcracker! These red ( thank you, Manfrotto ) levers have three possies - closed, tall leg, or short leg, and that is it.

3. When it folds back together on itself for travel, the three legs have somewhere to go close to the quick release holder. Many other tripods adopt the folder leg but when they come home to roost there is no room for it.

4.The smaller knobs are actually shaped bars that define which way to turn them to loosen or tighten the screw. This is again a blessing in a darkened studio or paddock.

See the Manfrotto range on the Camera Electronic website here

The Silent Studio Assistants Pop Up

Getting some help in the studio when you are tackling product shots can be nerve wracking. You have to advertise the position, read the resumés, conduct interviews, choose a candidate, fill out the tax file and workers comp forms, and then wonder whether they are going to show up on time.

Some days you wonder whether they are ever going stop talking, or eating, or go home...

Well cheer up, because Cullmann have come up with some pre-packaged answers to your problem; kits of camps, holders, grips and props that can be the extra hands in your shop when you really don't want to hire extra hands.

The studio accessories from Cullmann are well-made and for the most part explicable. By that I mean they look like something that was made for a purpose and you can figure that purpose out by looking at them.Here are three kits grabbed from the shelves with slightly different content for slightly different jobs.

a. The FLEXX Tabletop Set. This gives you a clamp to grip the edge of a table or upright, an extension pole with 1/4" socket on the bottom and screw on the top, and a small ball head. The camera plate of the ball head unscrews and reverses to become a small flash shoe.

That's one hand free to do other things with - not you have three at our disposal. Like hiring half of an assistant...

b. The FLEXX Support Set. This has the clamp, extension poles, mini ball head and adds a suction cup attachment, a Copter tabletop tripod, and an accessory grip. Another hand in the mixture. Now you have a full-fledged assistant holding things steady for you as you shoot. And doing so without singing or muttering under their breath...

c. The FLEXX Assistant Set. This one has three spring clamps - a big one that grips the tabletop or a pool support,, and two smaller ones that grip products, gels, reflectors, or flags. The connection in this case is not rigid - it is a flexible gooseneck in metal. You get one of the mini flash shoes as well for a speed light holder.

With Cullmann you are really only limited by your own imagination as to how you combine the elements. Here they are in individual for so that you can plan your rig. Wise studios get several kits and keep a supply of the parts in a big box. The time that they save in positioning articles is money in the bank.

Oh, the heading image? That is from the Little Studio's pantry. It is a 60-year-old tin food canister full of rice and popcorn. It served to prop up that product boxes beautifully. Not for sale, but if you visit the studio with beer I might pop some...

French Head - Arca-Swiss d4m

I have no idea. Perhaps the Arca company was originally Swiss and now they are French. Whatever the explanation, the pan and tilt head pictured here is a gem.

Don't be fooled by first looks - that is a pan and tilt rather than a ball head  ( which they also make...) in a compact and precise form. It is also a panorama head.

The pano section is the top layer. It has an Arca mount, of course and this is one with a quick-release lever. It spins around freely with degree markings and an reference pin
 there are two bubble levels at 90º to each other to facilitate levelling this part for the panorama.

Below this the tilt mechanism allows for straightening of horizons and has a very positive lock. The stem casting is a good 1cm x 1.5 cm of metal and should cope with the largest of cameras and lenses.

Mind you, this is nothing compared to the size of he cast metal barrel below this that lets the assembly tilt. - it all sits in a cradle rather reminiscent of a gun mount or an astronomical mount. Under the lot is a second turntable for 360º movement. Standard 3/8" screw socket.

For whom is this head intended? I should say landscape shooters who have the largest and most complex DSLRs  - the 50 megapixel types - that have a certain weight and need very precise movements. Or studio workers with the same sort of high-end equipment.

Or people who just love precision machines.

Arca Swiss Cube Tripod Head

They're baaaaack.....

 To see where...

The New Cullmann Concept Head - Video To Still To Video to Still To...

And I'll bet you're glad I stopped doing that. But you needn't stop - if your photography is a mixed art - video and stills combined in one job - you do not want to be having to change your tripod head each time you get a new idea.

This is where the new Cullmann Concept 628M tripod with the convertible head scores. Look in the side of that metal head. the "video" knob is a lock that can freeze the motion of the ball so that it only tilts - the panning action is in the base of the head. This means you use the long video handle to smoothly turn the camera or make it nod up and down.

If the scene changes and you need to do a still picture instantly - with the ball head setting your camera at a strange angle, you turn the "video" knob until it locks out and then the ball head operates as per normal.

The legs of the 628M go up far enough to let a six-footer film at eye level, and there is an extension that goes above that. Wilt Chamberlain take note.

That is an Arca-Swiss sized plate up there and you can get them as spares in various lengths.

Cullmann have a ten-year warranty on this fine product. We're delighted with them.

Sign Of Things To Come With Cullmann

I note that we have a new Cullmann ball head sitting on the counter this morning. I suspect it is a sample but it points out a new departure for the German tripod and accessory firm.

The ball head is their Magnesit MB 2.4 - a medium/small size head that can hold up to 5 Kg very securely. Standard fitting on the bottom, so it screws right onto any tripod.

Up the top, however, a change. The QRC system plate and release system that we first saw on the 622T travel tripod is now fitted to this head as well. This clamp and plate use an Arca-sized rail to clamp onto so there is a fair range of other plates you might adapt to it. It is extremely secure and easy to slip the camera into the lock.

I should think it's intended for light DSLR and mirror-less cameras and should all that anyone would need for this level of system. I also suspect it will be more widely avaialble in other parts of he Cullmann range in the future.

We'll keep you posted as bits arrive.

Switzerland - Head Of The Valley

Some people chose the best because they actually need it and some choose the best because they have a big sack of money. Most times it ain't the same person...

If you fit either class, consider the Arca Swiss head on this blog. It would be rotten to do sport with and rotten to do portraits with...but it is the world's best for panoramas. If you are into horizontal stitching and can determine your camera/lens nodal point, you can make this head spin on the vertical axis with a precision that will astound you.

It copes with the tripod being on uneven ground by the simple expedient of keeping the ball under the tyrntable. Do what you like with the legs under it, once you level the camera and check it with a spirit level you can spin round for a perfect horizon. Your stitching program will cope much better.

That is an Arca-Swiss mount on the top, of course, so it will match lots of the ...ahem... oriental copycat manufacturer's tripod plates. Let them fight it out amongst themselves in the mountains...

Do It In STYLE....

If you are going to use a Leica camera you are going to pay money out. A lot of money. There is no doubt about this - it is one of the givens of the situation. As a Leica person, you might complain about it to us and try to get things cheaper, but you secretly love it. It marks you as different from the people who don't have enough money for Leica cameras.

If you are going to do it, you might as well do it in style. If your style is gaffer tape over the red dot and a piece of binder twine for a strap, go ahead. I can only imagine that you are doing it so that you won't stand out in the crowd...of people who have their shoes tied on with binder twine. Your photo essay will be fascinating.

If you would like to be seen as a little more sophisticated, may I suggest you look at a few of the offerings from Artist & Artisan and Leica themselves - the A&A cloth straps are superbly stitched and as you can see come in red or black. the Leica straps are leather and come in all shades. Note the cute little Thumbs Up button for the shutter release.

Finally, please note the classic style of the Leica ball head - generally paired with the folding tabel-top tripod legs. Solid heavy chromed casting and look at the speed lines turned into the ball portion to allow it to work even in grubby conditions. That is style!