Sachtler ENG 75/D vs SOOM

[Bo Sundvall]

Hi

I own a Sachtler FSB6 2MD system which consists of the FSB6 head and a ENG 75/2D Tripod with mid level spreader. The head is a real dream to handle. The legs are something different. I also have a smaller and cheaper Manfrotto model 190 tripod. The Sachtler ENG 75/2D legs, fully expanded, suffers from a lot more twist (rotational windup) than the Manfrotto model. When my XH-A1 (camcorder only, no extras) is mounted on the tripod it behaves like jelly. During pans I always must take the twist in consideration and if I don't, there will be a kickback during the stop of the pan. It's not the head that gives me the kickback, it's the twist of the legs. As I went with a Sachtler system I thought that the ENG 75/2D legs would be more solid than my Manfrotto legs which costs about 1/4 of the price compared to the Sachtler tripod.

I also read the Libec RS-250M review by Chris Soucy, whos experience and opinions I have great respect for, and he notes that a Sachtler model he tested suffers from this rotational windup, but I cant find what Sachtler model he refers to, but It might well be the ENG 75/2D.

Another thing about the ENG 75/2D legs: Last week, one of the second single sections of the legs fall apart! A guess is that I have used the tripod for a maximum of about 50 hours and always handled it carefully so the tripod is more or less to consider as new. Inside section 2 of the leg the third pipe is inserted. In the end of the third pipe there is a plastic butt, about 6cm long, pressed into the pipe to prevent the leg to slide out. What happened was that this plastic butt inside the pipe came off. As the butt is ment to prevent the leg from sliding out, I couldn't take it out from the pipe to put it back in place again. The pipe itself is guided by a track and the plastic butt can only be fitted in one way in the pipe as the track of the pipe and the butt must be aligned. After a lot of trying I succeeded to get the butt in place again but it kept came off very easy. The only solution was to try to put glue on the end of the pipe, put it back in the section of the leg, try to align the track of the pipe with the track of the but and finally press the leg to the bottom of the pipe, pressing the butt in place together with the glue.

These two things together, the twist of the legs and the pipe coming off, makes my descision buying this tripod a big disapointment. It's not a quality tripod in my opinion.


When I bought the FSB6 system I also bought the SOOM trispread, the mini tripod, which works as a mid level spreader together with the SOOM tripod. As the ENG 75/2D legs are crap (my opinion) I'm thinking of buying the SOOM tripod (just the tripod, not the monopod) and use that in combination with my trispread instead of the ENG 75/2D legs.


Now to my questions:

- Does anyone have experience of the SOOM tripod?
- Is the SOOM tripod, in combination with the mini trispread, more stable and more resistant to twisting than the ENG 75/2D legs?


Regards,

/Bo

[Barbara Jaumann]

Hello Bo,

The Soom is more stable as it is based on a Sachtler 100 mm tripod.

Please contact me regarding the 75 mm tripod, I will arrange that you get it repaired (barbara.jaumann@vitecgroup.com). I am sorry about this issue.

Barbara