Velbon VideoMate-607/F Heavy-Duty Tripod with Case

I spent A LOT of time trying to find a reasonably priced tripod that had true fluid-head smooth panning and tilting. I have my own videography business, and had spent $100 on a tripod that was jerky when you tried to pan or tilt. This velbon cost $60 and is incredibly smooth for pan and tilt. The tripod is a little bit too light weight. i wish it was a bit sturdier. but other than that, excellent tripod for the price. To get a significantly better tripod, you'd have to pay at least $180.update: 8.1.07after having used this tripod for close to a year, it no longer performs well. the camera sits crooked on the head now and the tripod is useless.

100% agree with the other reviewer who commented on how it broke after 5 uses. When I first recieved this, I heard something shaking inside. worked fine so thought something might have gotten in. After about 3 uses, the fastener on one of the legs completely snapped off along with whatever part was inside. Tried calling the manufacturer as well as email for 1 month straight and not a single word from them. Had they fixed the leg I would say decent product, but for lack of service, I have to rate this below the $25 tripod I've replaced with which is found strong after more than 20 uses. BEWARE of this product

It's not the cheapest, but it's the cheapest good one. Unfortunately it shows as some of the components do not feel solid or feel a bit loose, even when tightened up. For the price I can't complain, this tripod has very smooth movement and is very stable. It's not super light but not difficult to lug around. The quick attachment for the camera is not always quick as it can be difficult to get it set in just right, but after a few uses it gets a bit easier. I'd definitely buy one of these again.update: Their is a plastic piece that holds the legs in and seems to be poorly built and breaks easily. Unfortunately I was directed to return to the maker, which is very difficult to get ahold of being in England. They want me to ship the entire unit there and wait for them to fix it, which hardly seems worth the cost and effort.

I am an amatuer. Tri-pod is fairly stable and fairly fluid moving. OK for average home-user. There is a fair amount of play in the head (especially at high zoom), before the "fluidity" takes effect. At high zoom, the followed, framed subject drifts off (back to it's "zero"), when you take your hand off of cam. Maybe I have a poor one!!??

I have three of these that I use for event videography. Although they pan fairly smoothly for the price, I mostly use these for holding relatively fixed camcorders. I aim the camera at a particular position on the stage and leave it there for a few minutes while I pan around with a more expensive Bogen rig. Then at a convenient time I move the camera on the Velbon to point at a different part of the stage. Sometimes I have all three of my Velbons within arms reach so that I can keep adjusting the area that each camera is covering during the performance.I really like these tripods. They are lightweight but relatively sturdy. When travelling by air I can throw one of these in my suitcase and use it when I get to my destination. It isn't as smooth or as steady as my Bogen setups, but you can get very good results with it.There are some things that I don't like about the units. The first is that they don't work very well with the column extended. When extended more than a very short amount, the plastic extension column will vibrate/oscillate for a while any time you bump the tripod. When I re-position the tripod and then let go of the handle, I often get 4-5 seconds of unusable video because the camera is vibrating. Even the anti-shake features of my cams can't compensate for the motion. Worse yet, people walking on wooden floors cause the cameras on the end of the columns to start vibrating. The bottom line is that unless you are on a concrete floor you can't reliably use these tripods fully extended. The column can only be extended a few inches before this effect comes into play. This is pretty limiting because the tripods aren't all that tall to begin with.The second problem has to do with the friction knob that restricts the motion when the camera is panning up and down. It is a small knob, and very difficult to tighten the needed amount. My cameras are very lightweight, and it is still difficult to tighten these knobs enough to keep the cameras from tipping forward or back when you take your hand off of the control handle.The bottom line is that these tripods are the best that I have found anywhere near this price for my specific needs. But they do have their quirks which you need to be aware of if you want to capture professional quality video.

I was skeptical about buying any type of fluid head tripod in this price range. I just couldn't believe that it would be any good. I was pleasantly surprised by this tripod. It's extremely easy to use and most importantly, its smooth. I wasn't in the market to spend hundreds of $ on a Manfrotto or something similar, and honestly for the type of shooting I do this is perfect. If you're looking for a tripod and were about to spend $25 - $30 on something you might find at Walmart, etc., I can tell you that it is absolutely worth stepping up to something like this. You will definitely appreciate it once you use it.

At first I thought this was a great tripod and used it one time outdoors and then mostlyfor indoor still of product shots. Then I barely used it and now it is almost a year old-I went to use it (barely opened the clasp) and the cheap plastic parts making up the lockingmechanism on the legs broke. I tried to get in touch via email to the Velbon company and they donot seem to care. I tried calling and realized they in the UK. So, if you bought this piece of junkbetter return it quick before it breaks on you too and you are left with no product support on it at all.My suggestion. Buy USA made.