It is rare that I shoot on a full size broadcast camera these days, and am much more likely to be shooting something mid size like the Canon C300 or Sony F5.  As the kits get smaller I decided it was time to look at getting a smaller tripod.

 

Miller Arrow

 

I have owned a Miller Arrow 50 for years and bought it as an alternative to the Sachler V20.  The head is somewhere between that on the Sachtler V20 and V18 in terms of size and pay load.  I mainly used this for full size broadcast cameras.  This is a great tripod and I have had a lot of good use out of it, although recently I started to wonder whether I could get away with using a smaller tripod for my Canon C300.

 

One of the problems with lighter weight tripods is the tend to be fairly low quality so I looked around for a while before deciding on trying out the Miller DS20

 

 

 

 

 

Miller DS20

 

The Miller  DS20 is a great little tripod.  It cost around 1000 UKP or 1500 USD.  The payload is 10 kg which will accomodate my Canon C300 even when it is loaded up with the Redrock shoulder rig.  The head is great, really smooth and has the kind of quality that you would expect for a tripod of this price.  The base plate is longer than the head, which gives you plenty of forward and backwards travel so you can  balance out the camera and change it quickly when the weights change from different lenses or monitors.  One of the good aspects about this tripod is the legs,  they are carbon fiber, so light weight but well protected as they are telescopic and covered by a layer of foam.  The best thing is about the tripod is the range in height you can get with.  Fully extended it reaches well over head height and it can get down really low by splaying the legs far apart.  With a full size tripod you would need a high hat or set of baby legs to get down this low.  Another little addition is the spikes on the feet which are revealed by a twist of the feet.  All in all this is a fantastic tripod for anyone using camaras in the 5 to 10kg  range.