Take this product:
- US + International: Professional Heavy Duty Video Camcorder Tripod Fluid Drag Head Kits by Fancier WF717A
- RO: Fancier WF-717A – Trepied + WF-717AH cap video fluid – F64 & Fancier Trepied video profesional EI-717A Lista de preturi – cel mai mic pret
which looks, while doing his job, like this:
When reading this review, please note the circumstances I use the product:
- I am at a conference, I need to do multiple things at once (photo + video + pay attention to what is happening at the event), thus I film / photograph / record audio on auto, I don’t stay in front of the machine all that much, so I need to have some freedom.
- I tend not to care for my products a lot, and I am a bit clumsy.
- I push products to their extreme, I force things, I push things, I drop things. Thus, I look for products who are more prone to resisting to my (unwanted) powers).
- I have quite some experience in event recording, on these areas: photography / video / audio. See some reviews I made here.
- The current review will probably amaze you on how little emphasis I put on the quality of the product itself. The thing is, I know little of my equipment, and I know even little-er on other similar equipment. So, while I can tell you my equipment is good or not, I can’t make evaluations such as “it’s the best in his class”, or “this is a best buy”. Despite my experience with documenting events, I’m a beginner in hardware testing. So, take this review as it was meant to be – in no way to save you from reading an actual review from a reputable web site about the product. You should do this! Instead, my review is focused on giving you some feed-back you might get in other places.
- If you think it is impossible to read a detailed review about a tripod, without any other comments about the performance of the tripod itself, other than “it’s OK”, you are wrong. This is that kind of a review!
The video with the review:
Issues:
- My biggest complaint is with the cover which could have been made much better. Right now, it doesn’t look well at all. It’s mostly my fault, because I’m not very careful when I use the product, but I think it could have been better made. I managed to pretty much destroy it, the current state is – very poor condition.
- Other than that, the tripod was very resistant to my pushing-things attitude.
- I describe in the videos things such as: the fact that it can be used by left- or right- handed persons, air bubble for leveling, the fact that the tripod tends to automatically level horizontally, the neck can become longer, it’s best to hook things from the hook of the tripod, to give it more stability, I describe the mechanism for keeping the camera on (there are two levers which need to be moved in order to remove the camera).
- I am satisfied with the quality of the product, and its power to resist to my forceful attitude towards it.
Some proper reviews:
- Tripod Review: ePhoto Pro Heavy Duty Fancier FT-717A Head – YouTube (video presenting the product)
- Amazon.com: Customer Reviews – Professional Heavy Duty Video Camcorder Tripod Fluid Drag Head Kits by Fancier WF717A
Some official product photos:
