Studio camera stand advice

ralphhardwick

ralphhardwick

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I am in the process of kitting out our studio for product photography and, up until now, have been using a tripod.

I am realising the limitations of this and want to upgrade to a 'proper' camera stand. We are a new start business and although we don't want to scrimp I don't want to spend more than I need to.

Searching the interweb I don't seem to find that many studio stands available on the UK market and those that are seem to be an awful lot of money:(. The model I keep coming back to is the https://www.manfrotto.us/mini-salon-190-camera-stand-with-counter-balance which is available for £799.

Can any of you studio owners, who have experience of these things, give me some advice if this is a good option or do I just need to bite the bullet and pay four figures for something else?

Ta very much:)
 
Scour 2nd hand sources, the reality is they're not that common, a decent 2nd hand one may be a bargain, the market isn't huge.

ETA I've just looked at sold listings on eBay - anything from £200 to £600 for gear that's a small percentage of its new value.
 
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I had a Foba for many years… cool thing indeed.

…but when I moved my studio, I sold it and got 2
Triaut black from Manfrotto that I can take on local-
tion and very happy with them.
 
I have an old one that I bought many years ago and I had the height reduced to 9' to suit the studio that I had at the time - I now wish that I hadn't, as I now have much more height.
It's a Cambo, and I agree with Phil - they come up every now and again on Ebay at very low prices.
sk66 said:
What exactly do you find limiting about a tripod? A stand is a beast... stable for sure, but fairly limited and very heavy.
Click to expand...
They have 2 major benefits, apart from the stability:
1. They adjust in height instantly, from almost floor to full height
2. They're safe. The problem with tripods, when used at height, is that when a stepladder needs to be used to reach the camera, the legs get in the way and the photographer ends up leaning over to reach the camera, and falling off of a stepladder and landing on a concrete floor hurts:)

I originally bought mine for use with 10x8 and 5x4 monorail cameras, plus my RZ67 - nearly everything I do now is with a DSLR but I still wouldn't be without my stand.
 
sk66 said:
What exactly do you find limiting about a tripod? A stand is a beast... stable for sure, but fairly limited and very heavy.
Click to expand...


Just about everything........... a decent counterbalanced studio stand is many times quicker to move about and adjust every which way, and it is safer and far steadier.
In a studio situation its weight is all advantage and they glide around and lock with ease.
For product work they never get in the way of feet, lights, or reflectors. Most have inbuilt adjustable accessory tables which can be swung to any position.
 
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For that kind of stuff I use a Benbo Classic 2. It extends to ~9ft, has a 3ft center column/boom that can be placed anywhere, and legs that are infinitely adjustable. I can do just about anything with it... Sometimes for product work I'll put two legs out front resting on the table and boom in/over. Or I can clamp an adjustable arm to one of the legs and use that as my product support (for little things like watches).
I've only worked at max height a few times, but with the adjustability of the leg positions I don't have to lean off the ladder... still don't really like doing it though (and it's not nearly as stable at max extension).

My point is that a stand definitely has it's benefits, but I don't think it is more *versatile* than a tripod... if "the limitations" are speed/stability then I can see a stand being the answer. If the issue is interference with other stands, then I'd much rather have boomed lights.
 
Thanks for all the comments.

@sk66 I think others have listed the 'limitations' of using a tripod but each has there pros and cons. I am currently using my giotto tripod and managing but , personally, want both options as I fancy the speed and flexibility of a stand.

@Sharky thanks for the link. I'll keep an eye on that.

Several of you seem to be recommending secondhand. I don't have a problem with that as I'm always up for a bargain, but has anyone any experience with this manfroto model or know of any other sub-four figure brands.

@Garry Edwards I notice you said that you wish you hadn't cut yours down. The Manfrotto model I linked to is only 7' do you think this would be a big limitation? I'm only shooting small stuff at the moment but when the studio is finished it will be able to cope with motorbikes on furniture/machinery of that size.
 
There's very little to go wrong with a studio stand, which makes second hand a fairly safe bet. Just get a big heavy one, I've seen a few pretty flimsy ones and frankly I don't see the point.

7' isn't very high, but thinking about it, it would probably just about be adequate for what I do now. When I bought mine I was doing a lot of furniture on large format, using the camera very high and with drop front, and I had a large studio so often shot from a long way away so although the camera was high, the angle was fairly shallow.
 
It's got a dual camera(head) platform, an accessory tray, and an old Manfrotto ballhead (uses the hexagonal plates). I would probably try to find another camera platform (or similar) for the other end and mount a laptop platform there... and maybe a low camera mount as well (or maybe just get a low mount, use that as primary and mount the laptop to the dual platform).

I believe you can still get the parts from Cambo, but they are expensive...
 
Well done, it should last until you're as old as me:) A good, big off roader should be OK for transporting it. But I'm not offering, sorry.

You asked earlier whether my 9' stand was high enough... Right now I'm photographing some large 5 in 1 reflectors and similar items laid flat on the floor, from directly above (which would be pretty impossible without the stand) and I've just found out that more height would be better - OK, I've got around the problem, but only by using a wide angle lens.
 
Well, I have collected my new beast, and what a beast it is!

Although I knew it was big I never anticipated just how awkward this thing would be. Luckily I have a pickup truck. However I did get some funny looks driving on the M25 with a 9 foot 'chimney'.

I've just got to wait for the studio ceiling to be modified before I can use it!
 
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