My prime tripod is a set of Bogen 515 legs with what ever head is needed to carry the camera I'm using but I got along for a lot of years with a couple of 3246 center column tripods. Heavy but stable as can be and the height advantage is tremendous. i can get the 3246 up to 8 feet with the column raised. Invaluable at times. there are some though that IMO are too lightweight for a lot of vid cams but I know a lot of guys using the lighterweight photo pods for smaller vid cams.

Don

I see your viewpoint Ger, and I too have the Manfrotto #075B pins which act just like yours - legs independent of each other and therefore making it very versatile. Like Don it means I can have the camera nearly 8 feet in the air - invaluable at times.

But my point was really to John, the thread starter. If you're going for any sort of support device as you start out in event filmmaking, make your first support device a dedicated video tripod. All the others can come later.

tom.

True Tom.
I had been meaning to get nice heavy duty legs with a bowl & good head for a long time now, but since I'm a one man operation its good to be travelling reasonably light.