I’ve come up with my ideal tripod. After several months of field testing the latest releases from Cartoni, Miller, Sachtler, Vinten and Manfrotto/Gitzo, here’s what I want: The speedy setup of the Miller or Sachtler one-point leg locks for dual-stage legs; Miller’s carrying handle; the precise, adjustable spreader of the Vinten Vision 100; the dual-point spike tips and ball-and-socket feet of the Cartoni high-end tripod, and the pricing and availability of the Manfrotto/Gitzo brands. That would be the ultimate field stick for my production truck.

But since I can’t run out and buy this exact tripod today, using Studio/monthly‘s regular "ROI Reviews" rating structure, I’ll sort through the tripods out there right now to help you figure out which ones are right for your next production. I received ten tripods over a period of two months, from five manufacturers. Each company, at Studio/monthly‘s request, sent me one top-of-the-line field production tripod and pan/tilt head, plus a more moderately priced system aimed at the indie shooter. Street prices of the various kits range from about one grand to roughly seven. In addition to the companies listed above (Manfrotto, Gitzo, Vinten and Sachtler are all actually under the corporate umbrella of the Vitec Group, but operate as independent manufacturers), JVC provided me with its ProHD HDV camcorder, the GY-HD100U, as a test camera for the tripods. I also broke out my big, honkin’ Betacam dockable camcorder. At 33 pounds, it was just right for playing with the bigger, ENG tripods. There are many other good tripods out there, from companies like Libec and others, that I didn’t have time to test.

The Gitzo G1380CF is a moderately priced tripod aimed at the event videographer or indieshooter. I found the unit, actually a diminutive piece of hardware, to be pretty indestructible. If you are a military recorder headed for Iraq, this might just be your ideal set of sticks. Priced right to get wrecked, but not likely to get scratched, this tripod features telescoping tubes made from heavy-duty carbon fiber. Twisting up the rubber feet will expose the spike tips. The 1380 head has a rudimentary system for matching to different camera weights for counter balance. Simply install one of the six provided springs that corresponds to the weight of the camera you intend to use. There are no complicated knobs to get broken. It also worked great. The fluid drag system for panning and tilt was fairly decent. All of the metal parts are powder-coat painted and should resist all but the worst scratches and dings.

Studio Rating: SWEET
Gitzo G1380CF Kit
Event, indie or location shoots
Price: +/- $1,600 kit with strap and carry bag

Specs
Weight: 9.5 lbs.
Camera Cap: Up to 22 lbs. by type of installed head spring

Features:
Carbon Fiber legs
4.3-inch – 59-inch height
3 stage tubular

What’s Cool
Rugged, simple leg design ready for field or event use. Head is also tough and has simple, yet functional interchangeable counterbalance spring design.

What’s Missing
Price seems a tad high when compared to the Cartoni Focus system, which has more features for the same money. Like most tripods with screw-type rubber feet that retract to expose the spikes, the tripod, on the wrong angle, can shift by rolling on the rubber "tire" if it is not really tight.

The Manfrotto 526 system is actually not much more money than the Gitzo, but it is a very different breed of hardware. The 526 is Manfrotto’s newest and top-of-the-line ENG tripod head. It features multiple settings of fluid drag, though I found the pan settings to be fairly heavy. In fact, while performing a pan on a smooth floor, I found that the tripod actually slid a little bit. It may have just needed more break-in time than my review window provided. Overall, the head worked pretty well, and it was easy to set up. The tripod legs sent to me were the company’s flagship sticks, the 3193. The aluminum legs locked into any position firmly and the ground spreader worked well. I am not fond of ground spreaders in general, so I would have preferred a mid-level system. But for the money, the Manfrotto tripod is a solid choice.

Studio Rating: SOLID
Manfrotto 526 PRO
Event, moderate-budget broadcast
Price:+/-$1,400 head, $375 legs

Specs
Weight: 18.5 lbs.
Camera Cap: 17 to 34 lbs.; adjustable spring

Features:
100mm bowl
Stainless steel fittings
Aluminum
Stepped fluid drag system

What’s Cool
Great system for the price. Stable sticks and a solid head that supports a wide range of camera weights. Heavier system creates stable platform. Great carry bag.

What’s Missing
I would have liked an above-ground spreader. Pan drag was a little heavy. Minimum height is over 30 inches. Not as low to the ground as other systems tested.

Sachtler sent me two tripods. The first, the DV 4 II/2, is a stripped-down version of the company’s higher-end models. It worked well, could be set up on almost any terrain using an above ground spreader and articulating rubber feet; or you can remove the feet to expose double tip spikes that grab hold of the ground. The head has a smooth fluid panning system. Its shortcoming lies within the fluid dampening system. There is simply not enough of it. There are only two settings for pan or tilt drag: ON or OFF. In the binary world of digital video, I suppose this is fitting (ironically, the settings are labeled "1" or "0"). The fluid drag, however, is very good and would do just fine for lighter cameras.

Sachtler’s System 18 tripod and head combination are the most expensive of all of the systems I tested, but that is my only complaint. There is nothing poorly designed on the rig. The System 18 features a wide range of drag settings, with silky smooth movement, the ability to support almost 40 pounds of camera gear, and a set of sticks that has a fantastic leg lock mechanism, using only one lever, that quickly deploys one or both stages of the dual-stage legs. When open, this lever system feels as smooth as the telescoping sections of a trombone. The rubberized feet, which snap on over spiked tips, articulated well to stick to uneven ground. It’s a great tripod, if not a little bit on the heavy side.

Sachtler DV 4 11/2
Studio Rating: OK
Event, moderate-budget ENG
Price:+/-$1,100

Specs
Weight: 11’13 lbs. depends on spreader
Camera Cap: 7.3’16.3 lbs.

Features:
Stainless steel fittings
Off-ground spreader
Fluid head

What’s Cool
Light and quick set up. Compact Design. Easy quick release camera plate. Great price for

What’s Missing
Has only one setting for fluid drag, plus no drag. Needs variable drag.

Sachtler System 8
Studio Rating: SWEET
Plus SL MCF
Higher-budget ENG and film
Price: List $8,6995.
Street +/- $6,500

Specs
Weight: 21 lbs.
Camera Cap: Up to 39.7 lbs.

Features:
Dual-stage heavy duty legs
Dual-spike tips with detachable floors pads
"Speedlock" off-ground spreader

What’s Cool
Single lever to release either stage of the legs
Above ground spreader is adjustable to allow many positions
Head has 10 adjustable fluid drag levels for pan and tilt; very smooth

What’s Missing
Heavy system, with a minimum height that is 25.6 inches. Costs more than other systems.

Vinten’s Pro-6 system worked without a hitch. Though this is the only piece of gear I had no complaints about, nothing stood out as impressive, either. Features include decent legs, with solid locking adjustment clamps, a clean design and a smooth working fluid head. There’s even a lighted bubble level to help level the 75mm ball platform. My only complaint was the ground spreader, but since I rarely shoot with them, it didn’t bother me. At this price point, it’s a respectable system that will support cameras up to 13.2 lbs. at heights of 16 to 61 inches.

The Vinten Vision 100 was also a solid performer. Aimed to support cameras from 15 to 44 pounds, it is a true workhorse. The Vision series is for high-end pros and it is priced accordingly. But with that high price comes optimum performance and a few nice creature comforts I hadn’t seen before this review. The head, as expected, has ultra-smooth movement. Heavy cameras were the easiest to counter-balance on this tripod, I found. Helpful features include a digital readout for the balance, a photocell that triggers illumination behind the pan, and tilt drag knobs and a bubble level. This is a stocky carbon-fiber model that has similar leg locks to the Pro-6. To me, this shows an attention to detail across Vinten’s product line. The carbon-fiber spreader, which is easy to adjust, is this particular tripod’s best feature. It helped lock the legs in almost any configuration. A twist of the knob on top fine-tunes the height of the tripod by pulling or pushing the legs apart.

Vinten PRO-6 System
Studio Rating: SOLID
Event, moderate-budget broadcast ENG
Price: +/-$1,080

Specs
Weight: 10.5 lbs.
Camera Cap: Up to 13.2 lbs.

Features:
16.4’61.5-inch height
illuminated bubble level
Fluid drag system

What’s Cool
A reasonably priced Pro grade system for DV or HDV shooters.
Quick set up. Adjustable drag.Has decent protective/carry bag. Fun to work with.

What’s Missing
I don’t like flat ground spreaders. But I rarely shoot on flat ground, so why would I?

Vinten Vision 100
Studio Rating: SOLID
Broadcast ENG/EFP, Indie film
Price: +/-$5,800.

Specs
Weight: 16.1 lbs.
Camera Cap: 15.4’44 lbs.

Features
Adjustable mid-level spreader.
90 degree tilt range

What’s Cool
Backlit drag knobs are a nice touch. Wide range of camera weights that can be balanced.Mid range spreader locks legs in any position. Best spreader of the bunch, hands down. Super smooth fluid drag, with detent dial knobs. Easy to balance.

What’s Missing
I worry about durability. Many people swear by Vinten, but some parts seem like they might stress. I’m not used to carbon fiber gear, though, so don’t quote me.

Both of the systems I received from Cartoni are great and received high marks. I will mention the high-end Gamma unit first, because I only want to talk about one feature-its feet. The Cartoni folks have taken a somewhat standard spiked foot design and dramatically improved it. The bottoms of the legs have dual spikes, like the Miller and Sachtler sticks, but the angles allow for a low grip on earthy terrain, as well as an upright stance. What’s great is that Cartoni’s soikes are threaded, which means you can screw on rubber feet. The rubber feet are assembled as ball and socket joints, so they can pitch to almost any angle and hold it. All tripods should feature this design; it is simply the best I’ve seen. The sticks and head were great, too, which you’d expect to find in a high-end system from a well-known manufacturer. But the feet were where Cartoni nailed it.

Cartoni’s lower-end model, the Cartoni Focus, is a great value. For what you get for the price, this was the best tripod I tested. The sticks were OK; they lacked the second spike tip that the higher-end model sported. The best feature? The focus head. It works as good or better than many top-notch heads costing three-to-four times more. In fact, the head on the Cartoni Focus is like a small version of the top-of-the-line head. It can pan and tilt about as well as anything I’ve used. It has an innovative single lever for quick release and position adjustment of the camera and overall, it has good ergonomics. Both the Gamma and Focus heads share a rotating bezel for adjusting the fluid drag for panning; it’s an excellent design that Sachtler also uses. I have used better tripods than the Focus, but none of them go for such an amazingly affordable price.

Cartoni Gamma
Studio Rating: SWEET
Price: +/-$4,250

Specs
Weight: 13.9 lbs.
Camera Cap: Up to 35 lbs.

Features
Above-ground spreader
Tripod height ranges from 30 inches to 64 inches

What’s Cool
I really liked the feet on these sticks, which were threaded for the ball-and-socket feet that contour to the ground. Brilliant! Head worked flawlessly with silky smooth movement that id almost imperceptible to see starting and stopping from pans.

What’s Missing
Needs a better spreader. With the wide-stance, inner foot positions, this tripod could be stable much lower, but the spreader prevents the tripod from getting down with its bad self.

Cartoni focus
Studio Rating: SWEET
Documentary, moderate-budget broadcast ENGMbr>
Price: +/-$1,500

Specs
Weight: 12.1 lbs.
Camera Cap: 2.2’22 lbs.

Features:
Lightweight fluid damped pan and tilt head with 100 mm ball base.
Illuminated bubble level and tilt range of +/- 90 degrees

What’s Cool
For the price, the Focus is the best of the bunch. It functions almost as well as a top-of-the-line ENG head costing four times more. I love the ball-and-socket detachable rubber feet that seem to stick to any surface at any angle.

What’s Missing
A single-stage tripod was a bit limiting.

Miller’s "budget-minded" system is called the DS10 Solo. This great, spreader-free, telescoping tripod, almost exactly like the Gitzo pod, is made with aluminum tubes. The uppermost legs are wrapped in soft, durable foam, which was a nice touch, and the leg locks for each of the multiple stages release or lock with a light twist. Like on the Gitzo, they are rugged. The DS10 head is a pared-down fluid drag head, which balanced and tilted very competently. Still, I found the panning to be a little lacking in smooth resistance. It even felt like there might have been a bit of friction in there. Perhaps it, like the Manfrotto head, just needed more time to break in.

Miller’s Arrow 30 system is a tripod configuration any pro would love. It has a leg-lock system similar to the high-end Sachtler in that both stages of each leg can be released from one, upper position without having to bend them down to the lower leg. Unlike the Sachtler though, the Miller sticks have two levers at the top, one for each stage. This way, you can more easily choose which leg to extend. The tripod also has a handle that slides along the leg tubes-it hits the balance point of the rig when folded-making it easy to carry. Why don’t all tripods have these? The mid-level spreader features an adjustment knob similar to the Vinten; the carbon fiber legs were also very stable. My only concern with the Arrow 30 is that the extra hardware might increase failure rates out in the field. It would be interesting to see how durable the lock system and legs are during extended, hard field use; unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to test this out. Overall, the Arrow 30 is a sweet tripod featuring one finger, silky pans and tilts, easy balancing, good ergonomic placement of the controls, lighted dials and, once again, a nice bubble level.

Miller Arrow 30
Studio Rating: SWEET
Broadcast ENG/EFP, indie film
Price: +/-$4,500

Specs
Weight: 13.6 lbs.
Camera Cap: Up to 33 lbs.

Features
Above ground spreader
Detachable feet over spike tips
7 step fluid head
Multiple attachment choices on a newly engineered quick release camera plate
Has balance point handle

What’s Cool
I love the legs on this system. Fastest and easiest setup of the bunch. The feet lay flat on almost any terrain, plus there are spikes.

What’s Missing
Takes practice to close down the legs quickly. Legs are sturdy, but the clever one-point lock mechanism adds more complicated engineering and parts.

Miller ds10 Solo
Studio Rating: OK
Event, Moderate-budget broadcast
Price: +/-$1,300

Specs
Weight: 12.8 lbs. includes padded carry bag
Camera Cap: 5’10 lbs.

Features
75mm ball head with fluid drag pan and tilt, and "flick-of-a-switch" counterbalance selection

What’s Cool
I really like the sticks on this system. Bombproof, like the Gitzo rig, but with padded upper sections and really good leg locks. Balancing a camera to the DS 10 head was a snap. Light and durable system. Nice bag.

What’s Missing
Head could use a bit better fluid dampening; I could feel a bit of friction while panning.