I'm looking for a tripod around $100 to $130, and I learned that I can also buy the head and legs separately, and that the "Velbon PH-368 Vel-Flo 9 Mini-Pro 2-Way Panhead" is a great fluid head for its price, but the legs of the same brand are not great. Is anyone using this head, and if so, with which legs? I can spend up to $100 on the legs, and I would like to get the best available for that price, heavy but not too much so I can carry it for a mile or two, but it has to be heavy enough for it to be steady when I pan.

Thanks

That head is a very popular choice among those looking for an entry level setup. The legs most people choose to go with it are from the Sunpak 7500 Pro. The Sunpak comes with oversize aluminum legs that are very tall and very sturdy. The Velbon head attaches easily and the bonus is you get to use the head that comes with the Sunpak as a still camera head. It has a 3 axis setup and is very stable for still photos.

The best part of this setup is the price. You get the legs, a still head, and a video head all for around $100. It's a deal that's very hard to beat. I haven't seen any other setup come close in the entry level category.

These parts aren't Manfrotto pro level parts. The heads are mostly plastic and I'm sure they won't last as long as a Manfrotto setup. But they are solid plastic and should last for several years. The head is very smooth and the legs are very sturdy. It's even easy to add weight to the center column of the legs to make them even more sturdy. Considering that you get a good stills head also this is a very good combination.

I read here that some people choose that combination, but I've read lots of reviews from several people that bought Sunpak tripods saying that their packaging in terrible and because of that they come with broken parts. I wouldn't want to order that tripod online and then receive it broken and having to go through the hassle of shipping it back and then having to wait for the replacement. Circuit City and Best Buy have a similar Sunpak tripod for about $80 where lots of users mention about the packaging problem.

I'm not knowledgeable of tripods so this axis thing has me a little confused. I mean, the head basically lets you move the camcorder in a tilt motion, or a panning motion, or a combination of both. What else is there in respect to movement?

The third axis on a stills head allows you to flip your still camera up on it's side to take portrait type photos. You don't ever want to flip a camcorder on it's side. Well you might if you were shooting something wacky style but for the most part you don't take videos with the video camera turned on it's side. It's very common to turn a still camera up on it's side to take photos.

As for the packaging on the Sunpak setup I've been hanging around this board reading every post for a few years now and I've seen one person have a problem with shipping. You may have seen him post a complaint more than once. I know he did that. You will not have any more chance of a problem with the Sunpak than you would any other set of legs. It was UPS that caused the problem for the one person here anyway. You can take my suggestion or leave it but it's wrong to assume Sunpak packages anything different than anyone else. I know B&H, the place where the Sunpak is available, does an incredibly good job of packing their shipments. I got my Sunpak shipped to me and it didn't have any problems. My guess is that there have been dozens of people that ordered that Sunpak setup without any problems.

Well, I'm going by the comments on both Best Buy and Circuit City for two Sunpak tripods priced at $80 which are probably similar to the 7500.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...3#productdetail

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/prod...CustomerRatings

There seems to be a lot of people that got Sunpaks with broken feet or something else, all due to poor packaging from the factory. Even if B&H puts more padding around it, they don't control the shipping from the factory to their warehouse.

So I'm hesitant on buying that brand for this reason. Can anyone recommend me or tell me what they think on these legs, up to $100?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...h=&cltp=&clsgr=

Are the Velbon Sherpa 600RA good legs?

Thanks