Fishing with the Sachtler Ace
03 Aug 2012Whenever a production has to make do with a small budget, Sachtler's Ace tripod system is the perfect choice. Sachtler is part of Vitec Videocom, a Vitec Group brand. Its price/performance ratio makes it the head of its class. Photographer and videographer Dean Hodson, owner of the production company imagefactory, wanted to see for himself – while filming a tutorial video about fly fishing. Hodson's requirements: a lightweight yet robust tripod system with quick set-up for both of his HDV camcorders, the Canon XLH1 and Canon XHA1.
Lightweight and compact
Filming was done on a cold fall day along the River Don near Sheffield in Great Britain. "We filmed some scenes on land. For other scenes, the whole team stood in flowing water up to their knees. In addition, we had to transport our equipment to the best fishing spots on foot." Constructed with a special fiberglass-reinforced composite material, the Ace tripod system with a mid-level spreader weighs only 4.5 kg (9.2 lbs) – ideal for Dean Hodson's shoot: "Ace is compact and is a genuine flyweight. This made frequent film location changes easy for us. However, I was especially impressed with its performance while filming scenes standing in the water. Even here, it provided stability despite its low weight."
Versatile and dependable
Ergonomically designed for intuitive operation, Ace can keep up with Sachtler's big heads. At an amazing price/performance ratio, it even offers filmmakers professional working capabilities when using lightweight cameras. With three vertical and three horizontal grades of drag (+0), the completely newly developed patented SA dragTM damping (Synchonised Actuated Drag) enables fine adjustment for precise panning and tilting. The 5-step counterbalance provides easy and quick balancing of camera set-ups of up to 4 kg (8.8 lbs). In Ace, Dean Hodson has found the perfect tripod system for his video productions: "Our main business consists of promotional films, commercials, training films, and wedding videos. All of these projects have a limited budget, but Ace offers us genuine Sachtler quality at a sensational price. Despite its low weight, the tripod system is unbelievably robust. The damping and counterbalance features also won me over," concludes Hodson.
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