Tripod Vellbon CX 660

jackdaw

Hi
I have one of these tripods .. its grand but a bit hard to use with
the 70-200 f2.8 or 24-70 f2.8 as they are heavy lenses ..

It's hard to keep it level as the weight of the lens pulls it a bit ..
now .. my gf got this for me last christmas as a gift so i don't wanna replace
the tripod .. but is there an accessory i can get maybe to keep it more stable
or at least be able to rotate the camera easier ?

dakar

Maybe something like this will help, but I suspect with that combo sitting on it, you'll need a more stable set of legs and a decent ball head. These don't come cheap unfortunately, look for names like Manfrotto, Gitzo etc. Like everything else, you get what you pay for!

Incidentally, no need to get rid of your currrent one. It's always handy to have a light tripod hanging around (and not just for sentimental reasons!). The really good ones are light and stable though.

jackdaw

OK thanks, Can i attach a ball head to a Vellbon ?

dakar

jackdaw wrote: »

OK thanks, Can i attach a ball head to a Vellbon ?

Short answer, I doubt it.

In general the tripods aimed at the mass market come as an entire unit, and don't allow for customisation.

The ones aimed at enthusiast/semi-pro/pro allow for different combos to suit a given shooting style. So someone can choose one set of legs and a different head based on different needs eg, light weight or stability, precise control or speed of set-up. Depending on your budget you can go for aluminium, mag fibre or carbon fibre leg sets in different leg lengths or number of sections. Heads in general are either 3-way or ball heads, with different configurations of each.

I'm most familiar with Manfrotto products and I use a set of 190 mag fibre legs and a 222 pistol grip ball head, which suits me very well. Have a look at their website to get an idea of what the options are.

jackdaw

dakar wrote: »

Short answer, I doubt it.

In general the tripods aimed at the mass market come as an entire unit, and don't allow for customisation.

The ones aimed at enthusiast/semi-pro/pro allow for different combos to suit a given shooting style. So someone can choose one set of legs and a different head based on different needs eg, light weight or stability, precise control or speed of set-up. Depending on your budget you can go for aluminium, mag fibre or carbon fibre leg sets in different leg lengths or number of sections. Heads in general are either 3-way or ball heads, with different configurations of each.

I'm most familiar with Manfrotto products and I use a set of 190 mag fibre legs and a 222 pistol grip ball head, which suits me very well. Have a look at their website to get an idea of what the options are.

Cheers.. maybe i can get one and not mention it to be gf...

Thirdfox

You can keep the light tripod to use as a light stand - attach a flash unit to it and experiment with off camera (studio-esque) shooting.