I have 5 or 6 tripods, but the two Slik 212 Pro tripods are the most stable and have the most features, so I tend to grab one of them first when I need to use one. But they are heavy at about 5.5 lbs each. Still, I'll take them on most field shoots, since they are my favorites, I'll lug them around to distant shoots in spite of their weight.
But about 5 years ago I found and bought an old and very well used 6' tall camera stand that is counter weighted to roughly the weight of a full frame camera, has wheel locks, and though it's quite old, it has become my preferred camera support when in my studio. This was made by Regalite, a long out of business company, but they seem to have made some solid photo gear in their day. I re-built this camera stand and re-painted it's painted parts, installed new wheels and I now use it with a 3 axis micro adjust K&E head most of the time for doing still life, product photography, etc. It is very stable, and it takes up way less floor space than a tripod, with no long legs to trip over. My studio shooting room is only 19.5 X 26' with an 8' ceiling. It was what I had available, so I make do within these limits.
I have built this studio with safety in mind from the beginning. Every light, be it on a light stand or the ceiling lighting support grid can be remotely powered on and off via a wireless transmitter located on each camera stand. The cameras have Godox X Pro II remotes, so light selection and power is wirelessly controlled from the camera. I've even added a wireless control for the "Work Light", the original centered ceiling light and can be controlled remotely from either camera stand, the toolbox on wheels where I set my camera during a shoot when the camera is not on the camera stand, at the computer location, or at the original switch position next to the entrance door. Occasionally I need to turn off this work light for a shot that requires a very low F-Stop setting on the camera, so these switches let me turn off the work light for the shot, and then back on without the need to move around in the dark. A few months after finding this first camera stand, I found a near identical one made by the same company, so I bought and re-built that one as well, and I now use this 2nd one with my video cameras. The counter weight makes camera movements up and down much smoother and a lock at the handle lets me lock the camera at any desired height. It's also very stationary when it needs to be, like when stacking shots in Post to achieve longer depth of focus, or doing multi layer photo editing. . I still use tripods, but no longer use them in my studio, except for one, a Velbon that frequently gets used to support my smoke machine. I modified the smoke machine, adding a piece of 12 mm Baltic Birch Plywood to it's base, and inserted a 3/8-16 brass thread insert at the balance point, which is almost in it's center, for attaching to the tripod. This plywood is attached to the smoke machine using the same positions that held the rubber feet to it's base. I have now added the rubber feet to the plywood so I can place the smoke machine on a flat surface like a table or the floor, should I not want to use the tripod.
I have incorporated many safety features in my studio as well as the remote lighting controls. I built a ceiling lighting support grid from 10' lengths of steel angle, supported at each end via weld attached 4" long steel pipe nipples, which have a piece of hardware called a "Floor Flange. These make it easy to attach to the ceiling via screws or anchors. I positioned these 10' long angles about 4 ft apart and running parallel with my 10' wide backdrops. I can bridge 5' lengths of this same angle across the top of any two of these 10' angles, to allow me to hang lights, or anything else anywhere in my shooting space. I use what is called "Electricians Beam Clamps, a small cast piece that resembles a C - clamp in shape Each has a bolt that can be tightened to the edge of a steel angle of building beam and they have two threaded holes in them of either 1/4-20 or 3/8-16 threads for easily attaching photography hardware, like a spigot (the piece on the top end of a tripod light stand), or a cold shoe, or an upside down light stand (I modified my tripod light stands by adding a piece of dowel rod to the bottom end of the light stand center column, then drilled a center hole in the dowel and threaded a 2" long "hanger Bolt" ( a headless bolt with wood thread on one end and either 1/4-20 or 3/8/16 thread on the other). Doing this allows me to attach one of my tripods "upside down" to one of the Beam Clamps, which then attaches to one of the steel angles that make up the ceiling grid. I can then adjust the attached light up and down on the tripod to any height desired. The studio strobes work fine upside down. For stability I sometimes extend the tripod legs up until they touch the ceiling, giving me considerably more stability of the attached light. Mains Power for the light comes from the power strips on the ceiling with the power cord running along the ceiling grid. I use short "Ball Bungee" cords to attach the power cables to the grid and make it all neat and tidy.
The closest angle to my backdrop system is about 5" from the backdrop. I frequently use this angle with A Clamps to hold temporary backdrops, but the backdrop system holds six ten ft long backdrops on rollers that are motor powered and also controlled via a wireless transmitter that's also located on each camera stand.
Power for the lights usually comes from Wiremold electric outlet strips that I've installed on the ceiling at both ends 90 degrees to the 10' long steel angles. Each has mains power at outlets every 6" from the backdrops all the way to behind the usual camera location. So mains power is available within 5' of anywhere that I want to place a light, be it studio strobe, constant light, etc. Since lights on stands are usually left and right of the camera, power for these lights usually comes from these ceiling Mains outlets too. All of this minimizes the cables on the floor and even the number of light stands on the floor too. This is a major safety improvement for my studio, and I need to worry far less that anyone, or even me will trip over tripod legs or power cables. Even my tether cable runs from my computer up to this ceiling grid and then drops down in roughly my normal shooting position to my camera. There is enough slack to allow free camera movement around the usual camera half of the studio and if the tether cable does touch the floor, it is for such a short distance that it is not likely to ever be a trip hazard.
If anyone wants to know more about any of this, please ask here, or PM me. I will be happy to help and honored that you like my ideas for making your studio as safe as mine.
Charley
Luckily I had a firm grip of it.
