I have been getting various different bits if kit recently,

My latest purchases are a nice tripod and a nice rucksack. Nothing uber flashy just very good quality functional items that are essential to any prospective film maker.

I deliberated for a long time over which tripod to go for. I wanted to get something reliable, that wasn’t going to break in 5 minutes; something that is stable, but most importatly light.

I have used the Manfrotto 525MVB with the 501HDV head - we have them at uni, and whilst they are nice tripods they are a little on the heavy side for what I need.

I like Manfrotto so I went with the newer, slimmer 701HDV head. As for the legs, I went for the 055XPROB. Now I’ve got some nice legs! (pardon the pun). They are photography

legs not specific for video, however Manfrotto being themselves, I can attach the head straight on to them.

These legs are clever because the central column that the head attaches to can be attached at 90º with great ease. This is good for us photographer as you can angle the camera in many interesting ways.

Now you may think that isn’t that useful for a video guy. However, I do film climbers.. They climb rocks which are 90º off horizontal. Now.. I can set my tripod up, hoist it up a cliff to where I will be dangling and attach it to the rock at 90º. Perfect!

Here is a picture so you know I havn’t gone mad.

Now I also spend time looking at different bags. I know Kata are very good so I looked at their range of bigger rucksacks. Oh, their range is HUGE by the way, if you ever need a camera bag I would highly recommend Kata. I have only had the bag (model HB207) a few days but I already love it. I can carry my film camera which is a mid size HDV camera plus my Canon SLR plus all manor of accessories such as a gorilla pod, rain cover, tapes, batteries, memory card, infact just about everything you would need for about 2 weeks shooting. Kind of handy as I have a trip coming up. Cleverly the tripod I got comes apart very easily and slots down either side of the bag nicely.

On a final note, I got some of my equipment from Warehouse Express who I would recommend as well. I ordered it on Thursday evening at about 5:30pm and 8am the next morning everything I ordered was on my doorstep. Very impressed!