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So, the Sirui monopod doesn't come with a head. I picked up a used Manfrotto tilting head, but I'm thinking about getting a Manfrotto 700rc, does anybody have any experience with it? Or what video heads do you guys use with your monopods?

I was looking at the Benro as well, but I already have Manfrotto plates, so that's why I narrowed it down to those other two. When Zak, recommended this and linked to that comparison video, by CheesyCam, it was a no brainier for me. I think with some more practice, I can get some pretty stable, albeit slight movements with it. In the video I posted, it looks a little stuttered thanks to Vimeo, but in the original it's fairly smooth.

Right now I have been using the NX500, but I come from a Canon background. I am mostly a writer that has picked up video as a hobby and a possible outlet to produce some short films when my skills get better. I am definitely going to sell it, in fact I should have it listed on eBay by week's end. I bought it in the middle of the summer as a manufacturer refurb and probably used it for a few hours testing it out and then I found a great deal on the NX500 and I have been pretty much obsessed with figuring out that camera, which is so different than the canon line. I don't have a native lens for it, just the body, a separate battery pack and a couple batteries. I also had a butt load of adapters and some vintage lenses I'll probably throw into a bundle.

One day last week I was reading a post about the Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera, when I read a comment by @Zak Forsman regarding the Sirui video monopod. It was perfect timing because I was in the middle of searching for a good monopod. I had narrowed my choices down to a model by a company name Cinetree and a Manfrotto model. I had heard of Sirui but never read any reviews on it. Zak gave it a glowing recommendation, so I headed over to eBay to check it out. Luckily, I found a "New Other" model for sale at a 30% discount... Sold. The monopod arrived 2 or 3 days later and I was immediately impressed with the build quality and how lightweight it was. The fluid pan function is butter smooth and the tilting, swivel base is just as smooth as the panning. The built in foldable feet are sturdy. But when I extended the legs, the top and bottom section was tight, I could barely extend them. I figured that this is why it was sold as new other... it was probably a return. I, immediately, went over to Amazon and read some reviews and the tight leg seems to be a common flaw of this unit. Apparently, when the sections of the leg are extended with a lot of force, the female metal end digs into the male plastic guide cap and scrapes off shavings of plastic, the leg gets clogged and it becomes very tight to open and close. Some buyers received their monopod that way, others had the issue occur over time and others never had a problem at all. I had two options, pack it up and return it, or take it apart and fix it. Since every other aspect of the monopod: the price, the fluid pan, the swivel, tilting base and oversized feet were exactly what I've been looking for, I chose the latter... take it apart and clean it. In less than 10 minutes, I had the monopod sections apart, cleaned, relubricated, with WD-40, and reassembled. It works just as new. Perfect. I attached a video of some clips I took yesterday down the shore. After about a half dozen cups of coffee and a half a pack of cigarettes... I realized I need a little more practice with it... or less vices that cause uncontrollable arm spasms. But either way, I am extremely happy with it and it is worth every penny I paid for it. Does it replace a tripod with a good fluid head or a steadicam? No. But for run and gun shooting with a small footprint, it's exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks, I have had more failures than successes with that camera... It's a love hate relationship. I just recently found its sweet spot as far as settings go. And I have some nice lens sets that pair nicely with the camera. I convert the 4K to 1080p prores before I do any post, and I agree there is a really nice weight to 4K downscaled to 1080p image that isn't quite replicable with a straight 1080p camera. Why can't you get good over the shoulders with the 70mm? It seems like the perfect focal length for that shot. I use only vintage lenses, so my lens budget is waaay smaller than that, but I get your point. I tend to prefer a practical lighting set up with a overhead China ball and a couple led panels to boost. Of course, I'm poor so I work with what I have.

I have an a5100 I am going to sell. Not because I don't like the camera, it's actually a pretty cool, tiny camera that is pretty amazing for the price point. It can be configured that everything you need to access can be assigned to a physical button, anything that kept me out of Sony's clunky menu set up is much appreciated. I love the zebras and the magnification, the focus peaking is not as good as the nex cameras, but still very usable. A 64gb SDXC card is the minimum card you can use, but for your purposes that seems like a logical choice anyway. With ClipWrap or EditReady, the conversion to prores is practically instantaneous. Like I said... Many pluses are checked off. At the native ISO of 800, the camera had a good amount of dynamic range, but in the end I only need so many cameras and I just do not like what it does to skin tones. And I felt the image felt a little thin or brittle.

Max, I watched your test, and of the cameras tested, the two best in my opinion, are the BMPCC and the LX100. I understand the production concerns regarding the pocket, so my final vote is for the LX100. I am encountering a similar question as I too am in the early stages of developing a web series, so far my 2 options for cameras are my NX500, or a D5500. I am leaning toward the D5500, for ease of post and I just like the look of the flat profile. Anyway, I hope you update us with the series' progress! Sorry to the OP for OT.

I have on my nx500 and they work nice. I think the older optics takes the harsh edge off the 4K. Here are a couple handheld clips, sorry for the shakiness, I just pulled over and took some quick sample shots. I used the zeiss jena 50mm f2.8. Everything was shot wide open, with no correction in post. I've also used some old Taks that look nice. BTW, I convert everything to 1080p prores LT, in EditReady, before I do any post work.

That is some Frankenrig you have there. I think the shots looks really organic. Good stuff! Look forward to seeing some exteriors.

I usually just go with Fotasy adapters, they're inexpensive, they ship quickly from Rainbow Imaging out of NYC and they are a tight fit. The only issue I have ever found with them is that the lens focuses a hair past infinity... Which is annoying, but I have never bought a cheap adapter that didn't focus past infinity a hair. http://m.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-G-AFS-Lens-to-Samsung-NX1-NX3000-NX300M-NX300-NX-Adapter-Aperture-Control-/221804455384?nav=SEARCH

What are your render settings at on FCPX? I had a similar problem and realized I had my render settings set to h.264, so I guess (I'm not really much of a tech head) with FCPX compressing it and then Vimeo recompressing it, it is creating an issue.

That looks pretty good!!! I wonder what it would look like with a point and shoot like the LX100 or FZ300?

That 2.4 Zeiss 35mm is a great lens. I had one for a spell and sold it when I needed a little extra cash. I wish I kept it, it's a beaut. And I have been interested in that Color-Ultron for awhile now.

Did you shoot this with auto focus? I think the colors look nice and subdued, but I am noticing some kind of shifting artifact on the brick wall? It seems to happen when the lights spin past it. On another note, I love the Indian culture, a good friend of mine married an Indian woman and at the wedding, everybody was so very nice and welcoming. They were very excited to include us and show us their traditional dances.

Yes. I only use vintage lenses, in fact the newest lenses I own are a set of Minolta MDs from the late 80s/early 90s. When I had my t2i, I could switch lenses to get a desired, in camera look. The same with my eos-m. With my Sony a5100 (which I'm selling soon if anyone is interested) only certain lenses really looked good in camera... my Minoltas being one of them. Other lenses, technically, looked fine, but the shots needed a little more tweaking in post, which I am still learning. I noticed this with the Samsung as well, so much that I am selling off a lot of my lenses now (I have way too many) and only keeping a few sets. How do you like the FD lenses or your NX1? I have/had a nice set, but I didn't love them with my NX500, I felt they favored green colors more, but I don't have any L lenses. Anyway, good point, and I look forward to seeing your footage.

When I shoot raw with my eos-m the recording stops sometimes due to dropped/skipped frames. Do you think that is because I am not using a fast enough card or just a quirk of ml raw on the eos-m?

I read the reviews on Amazon, and apparently that is a flaw of the monopod. Some buyers received their unit that way, others would develop the issue over time. And others had no issue whatsoever. Apparently the end of each telescopic portion has a plastic guide cap, and when the leg is extended hard, the metal on the male side digs into the plastic on the female side and scrapes away bits of plastic that clogs everything up. So, to make a long story short, I took the leg apart, cleaned it and used a little wd-40 and it works perfectly. To reiterate, this monopod is AWESOME!!! Having to take the leg apart, clean it, and relubricate it was a minor inconvenience for how inexpensive, stable, smooth and functional it is... So thanks again for the heads up!!! Now I just need to find a good head for it. After using it for a few minutes this morning, I appreciate the built in panning function for small movements, but for a proper pan, a fluid head does seem necessary, but if I want to do extensive panning, a tripod is probably a better choice anyway... Decisions... Decisions...

Hey Zak, thanks for the tip on the Sirui, mine just came in today, and that bitch is smooth. I don't think I will even need a panning head with it. The only issue with mine is that the leg section does not smoothly lengthen. Since it was a "new other," I assume it was a return because I didn't get the bag, the spiked foot or the extra base for the tabletop tripod. Was you leg tight when you first got it?

Did you shoot just the skit part, or the entire video? I liked the skit part, especially when the card girl came out. Made me laugh.

Dang. That sucks about the HDMI out with the D5500, I love what I have seen of that flat profile and thought it would be great with a recorder. But from everything I've seen, it seems like it's a good dslr that shoots good video... I assume it's better than the rebel line or the eos-m? Anyway, sorry that was off topic... Look forward to your review.

I think you can just get a Nikon mount Sigma and then get a Nikon G to NX adapter.

Do they let you into concerts with tripods/monopods? Supposedly, it collapses to 27 inches, if you put a small head on it, it could be tiny enough. Yeah, I'll definitely post my thoughts. Am heading back down to the boardwalk with it next week, so I'll let you know. Do you know of a small video head that would work well with it? I guess since it has fluid panning built into the monopod, a basic head would do but I would rather have something with an arm and the ability to pan. I've seen a few videos where the videographer rests the arm in their armpit to add another point of contact. Then with slight body movements, they can get some pretty cool slight jib and pan effects. Easy trick for slight cinematic movement. I looked at the benro s2 and it seems cheap enough with decent reviews, but I'd rather spend 50 bucks or less.

That makes sense. I'll have to give that a try. I just bought that Sirui Monopod, should get it in a few days, maybe I'll be smoother with that. I also have, but never tried, a battery operated head used for security cams. If I remember correctly, it rotates 360 degrees, has 3 different speeds and a remote control. I should dig that out too. A slider is on my wish list too. Thanks again for your help.

Looks great. The slider shots are really cinematic. Nice.

Good point, Neat Video will probably be my next software investment. Thanks.