A fried of mine sent me
this link where you can buy a 10-inch flexible tripod for $11.90. Basically it is the same as the "Joby GorillaPod SLR-Zoom" (the biggest GorillaPod) which you can get
here for $49.95. The only difference I know is that the joints of the cheaper one are a bit stiffer. I decided to get one because I don't want to carry my tripod with me all the time. Shipping to Germany took 2 weeks and I'm really satisfied with the quality of this product. It carries my 550D with the 50mm or the 18-55 kit lens, a metal stepping ring, the H&Y fader ND and a big 3-way rubber lens hood without a problem. And the best thing: It also works nice with my new "Bilora Professional 1153 fluid head" mounted to it. I got the head for 39.99€ ($52) from a local electronics store in Stuttgart. I tested a lot of fluid heads (cheap and expensive ones) and decided to get this one. It's really cheap, build quality is great and panning is comparable to some of the cheaper Manfrotto heads. So all in all it's a great small head for shooting stills and videos - and it comes with a nice quick release plate.
This is a really lightweight and small setup with all the basic accessories you need for shooting nice timelapses or videos with some smooth pans. But you'll definitely need some more stuff for handheld shots or if you need to record usable sound.
My rating:
10-inch flexible tripod: 5/5
Bilora Professional 1153 fluid head: 4.5/5
3-way rubber lens hood: 4.5/5
Hi Ivica,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Where did you pick up that BIG 3-way rubber lens hood?
Hi Rod,
ReplyDeletethis is the link to the lens hood: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220603374805
But in fact you can only use it as a 2-way hood, it does not stay in the middle position. Still a great product, and very cheap!
Cheers,
jonni
This is a great site! Just found it off a link from eos550d.com. I'm just starting out and trying to learn as much as I can. Thanks for posting your info. Looking forward to future updates.
ReplyDeleteHi Al,
ReplyDeletethanks for your comment - I'm glad you like this site.
Cheers,
jonni
Just wanted to ask you a question. I'm on the process of deciding what to buy, due to my situation, I have to buy everything at once. I wanted to ask you about the batteries, because on ebay there are tons of cheapos but they all say 7.4V while the originals say 7.2. The reviews I've read oin cheesycam are all positive, also there's a batterygrip from meike (http://cgi.ebay.com/B6K-LCD-battery-Grip-Canon-EOS-Rebel-T2i-550D-LP-E8-/270652817847?pt=Batteries_Chargers&hash=item3f042a41b7#ht_3202wt_936) that looks great, it even has an LCD displaying batterylife etc. and it comes with two batteries. How many batteries would you recommend? Would you go with this cheap items? Thanks a lot and the blog is great.
ReplyDeleteI also do have some cheap aftermarket batteries with 7.4V written on them. They work great! For sure you can buy them. How much? I don't know, as much as you need. Depends on how long you shoot. Shooting video does suck out a lot of battery life.
ReplyDeleteAbout the battery grip: I don't have this one so I can't tell you much about it. But if there's an intervalometer integrated in it, it would be a really nice product. Please go over to cheesycam.com and ask your question. I think over there you'll get the answer you want.
Hope this helps,
jonni