A really good tripod can sometimes be an afterthought in the production equipment buying process. For Austin Allen, the lead filmmaker at Times Square Church in New York City, the quality of his tripod often had him tip-toeing around the set to avoid movement in the camera. So, as part of Church Production’s Road Test User Experience, we had Allen try out the Cartoni Focus 22 Cine and the Focus 12 tripod system with mid-level spreaders and two-stage tripod legs.
The Cartoni Focus 22 Cine and Focus 12 Tripod Systems have received the Church Production Road Tested Certification.
At Times Square Church the team produces studio videos, writing and filming narrative short films, as well as shooting live services. They also do all kinds of talking head videos with a teleprompter, so there are lots of different kinds of project needs they had throughout the week to run the Cartoni tripods through their paces.
“I was absolutely blown away by these products,” Allen enthuses. “Both of these tripods performed incredibly, the smoothest of the operating, the ease of use, the overall just quality of the build. It's absolutely something to behold. I'm really looking forward to using more of these Cartoni tripod systems in the future.”
For the Focus 22 Cine tripod system, Allen used their Komodo X cinema package with a pretty large teleprompter on it for talking head projects they call generosity videos they produce every week. This week they were making a new one and were thrilled to have a really heavy-duty tripod to hold the full-size cinema camera with a teleprompter as well.
“You don't want your tripod to be slipping and you want to make sure that can hold the appropriate amount of weight,” he explains. “With our old camera tripod systems, I would have to worry about it. As I get a little bit closer to my tripod, I walk closer to it, I'd be worried about seeing the vibrations of me walking on the floor. However, with these heavier tripod systems from Cartoni, like the Focus 22 Cine head, I didn't have to worry about that.”
Allen also used the Focus 12 tripod system. “I was able to use the Focus 12 during our broadcast services. I was able to put one of our Canon C 300 mark three cameras with a broadcast back on it. The panning movements, the tilt --- everything was very smooth and fluid,” he says.
He believes both tripods would fit a lot of different uses for churches because they're so versatile. The bottom line? “I wish I had known about these tripod systems sooner. I kind of feel like I've been missing out a little bit. These tripod systems feel like they are punching way above their weight,” Allen concludes.
To see the tripods in action at Times Square Church and hear more about Allen’s experience, watch this video!
