As an aside, it is AMAZING how many people discard nice tripods because they now have gone digital. The laws of physics have not changed! A good tripod will still help produce a sharper shot when long lenses or long exposures are needed.
I can understand why folks are reluctant to use this for a digital SLR with a heavy zoom lens, but it should handle most of today’s camcorders just fine.
Some of those camcorders are so light, it just seems a shame to bog yourself down lugging a tripod around. But after you’ve watched a few hand-held videos, you’ll realize how much you want/need a tripod, even if you have the steady hands of a surgeon.
And if you’re taking a longer video, say of a school play, concert, or game, you’d be nuts not to use a tripod. Just nuts!
Silk tripods are junk they will last a while but then start falling apart. buy a better brand such as a Manfrotto. it will cost you more but your great great grand kids can use it! long after your gone. passing on this Woot!
How does woot consistently know when I have purchased something within the last week? Just bought a Calumet pro tripod and ball head but would have seriously considered this one a week ago.
For most DLSR’s this will work well and will be extremely light with the carbon fiber composition. For pro bodies and lenses it might not be robust enough but anyone with a consumer body and lenses will love this deal. I personally prefer a ball head but again, for most this will work great.
If you really want those pro looking photos get a tripod. It will work wonders in terms of the sharpness of your photos!
We have one of these on display at my store, and even through light customer use it has started to come loose a little, with noticeable play when using a heavy camera/lens.
Buy cheap, buy twice. Get something more solid, like the widely accepted Manfrotto.
b&h also. one review not so good:
Pro photo friend sez…
pretty cheap for cf.
made in china.
manfrotto or gitzo are used by people who are going to put some miles on them
I bought a Sunpak Pro 624P a while back for a few bucks cheaper during a woot off. I was not impressed with the quality, although I must admit that I have not had the opportunity to use it much. Maybe I just expected more for what I paid - I am sure that a really good quality tripod would cost much more. So I guess if it lasts as long as my first tripod has (30 years and counting), it’s not a bad deal - time will tell.
Best I can tell the “artist” was the copywriter and the “art” was this writeup…
One Caution with Pistol Grip heads. Before you go and film an important event make sure you mount your camera on the tripod and shoot some video…make sure to turn the head a few times. Play back the video and see if you get vibration noise on the video from the friction between the ball and head. I have a Bogen Pistol grip that is unusable in any situation where the camera might need to be panned…the vibration noise wipes out most audio. Using Panasonic Camera.
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Who cares about them. Let them buy their own tripod.
If you’re thinking of using this as a backpacking tripod because of the reasonably light weight, think twice. It has three section legs thus the folded length is a longish 27". Four section leg carbon fiber tripods are much easier to pack in due to their shorter folded length.
I’ve done both and wouldn’t attempt more than a short pack in with a tripod of this length.
This is the same one I bought my sister for Christmass. Unfortunately My sister could not tell you nothing about it, since it was stolen along with her car and belongings while visiting her and her husbands friend who happens to play for the steelers. Was surprised, but then again when your rich them theives are watching you.
$99 ?! Geez, next thing ya know- woot’ll be selling diamonds or something.
A couple years ago I bought one of those cheap, Chinese knock-offs on Ebay. Sure, it was light, but it looked like some amateur had made the thing without the instruction sheet. I just couldn’t get myself to pay the $700+ for a Gitzo, so when Manfrotto came out with 055CXPRO3 model I was excited.
Don’t know anything about this particular tripod model but have dealt with Sunpak in the past on another model and they provided great customer service. Received a unit that was damaged during shipping because of the way it was packaged and Sunpak replaced broken parts free of charge and sent the replacement parts very quickly.I would not hesitate to buy a Sunpak product again.
It seems like this thing is too expensive for anyone who just wants something to stick their camera on and too cheap for someone who’s serious.
A good page for anyone interested in serious support for still photography: http://www.bythom.com/support.htm
You can get a Manfrotto tripod with postal grip head for $70
I have a 30 year old Slick U212, and I can tell you it is NOT junk. Maybe some of the newer ones aren’t as solidly built, but they use to make excellent tripods.
This offering doesn’t seem to be all that light (4 lbs) considering it’s made from carbon fiber.