Customer Reviews

Sony VCT870RM Tripod w/Remote for Sony MiniDV, DVD, HDR-HC5 & HC7 Camcorders

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pros pay $600 and more (even much more)for tripod legs and head.

The two main problems with cheaper tripods are lack of stability in the legs and "stiction" in the head movement. The lack of stability comes from lightweight, bendable legs. If you bump the tripod with your knee, or grab the handle without care, you'll see shake in the video. "Stiction" is the tendency of of the materials in the head to bind together slightly when left in a position for a few moments. The result is a visible jerk in the video when you start a pan or tilt movement. True fluid heads have a viscous fluid between the solid parts to provide smooth drag without binding.

With the VCT-870RM Sony has somehow managed to produce an inexpensive tripod that doesn't stick. My pans and tilts are as smooth with it as they are with my 40 pound Bogen-Manfrotto legs and head.

There is no getting around the fact that although well-built, the legs are lightweight. Therefore I have to take extra care to grasp the handle gently, and not to bump the tripod. But this is not hard, and it's worth it. It is so much easier to carry around the VCT-870RM than my pro tripod that it is almost always the one I grab when I'm going out for a single camera shoot. And I use it with expensive cameras--a Canon GL2 or a Sony VX2100.

The controller on the handle is a totally unique and great extra. Being able to control the zoom from the handle gives much better results with much more comfort than reaching over with the other hand for the on-camera control. There is also a record/pause switch, a power standby switch and a still photo button. It plugs into the LANC control port on the camera. As mentioned above, Sony and Canon both operate according to the LANC standard, but Panasonic does not. I don't know about JVC.

With the crank-controlled vertical column the tripod is able to attain more than enough height. I'm 6'2" and I only crank it up very little.

I like it so much that I also bought one for my school's video club, and anticipate buying another. Highly recommended.

Tripod is stable. It has strong locking mechanism on the legs. Pan and tilt is very adjustable for smooth movement. Locking mechanism for camera (Sony 403) is easy to connect and engage. Remote control functions and handle are easy to operate and worked with no problems.

I was a bit tenative about writing this review lest the world know our secret - and then they'd all have one too. We were looking for something to put under our PD170 and stumbled upon this beauty.

The construction quality is solid and as a unit the tripod is stable. The fluid head panning is just about as good I could expect. Smooth and steady. The tripod shoe is nice and has a cork pad to protect the bottom of your camera.

The tripod would be a good buy for just its basic features, but what sets it apart is the LANC remote control built into the handle. Its great. LANC (or Control-L) compatable cameras are made by Sony (this is a Sony product) and Canon and some others.

On the handle you have a On/Standy switch, a Record button, a Photo button, and a Zoom rocker. For the stuff we've done so far its super. I can keep my hands on the handle get the shots I want.

The remote control makes the makes using the camcorder on the tripod a slick experience.

The only thing that would make this a better deal is if they added a Focus Control to the remote. As far as usage - the only other issue is it took a while to get a feel for how much to tighten the tilt knob to lock it down - i didn't want to over-torque it and break something and didn't want the camera slowly moving either - but once you get the feel its fine.

This tripod is a good buy. But don't feel like you have to run out and get one. We like being the only cool and geeky ones.

Easily the best tripod I've ever owned, including some considerably more expensive ones. The only problem was with the remote. You must turn on the video camera before connecting. When the camera turns off automatically, disconnect the wire, turn on the camera, plug the remote back in. What a pain.

It's a great tripod with the features. Very stable but a little heavy compare to others. If you need to carry it a lot on the move, you'll have to deal with the weight issue. To be stable, it probably needs to be a little heavy.

After reading the great reviews regarding the VCT870RM tripod (here and elsewhere), I decided to purchase one for my Sony HDR-HC1 camcorder.

When I first opened the box, the VCT870RM seemed sturdy and well made. The tilting action was smooth and had a nice touch, and the remote controls on the handle worked well. However, the panning action was so stiff that while attempting to pan, the main column would twist and the handle would bend slightly. It felt like the tension control knob was tightened, but that was not the case. In fact, the panning continued to drag severely even with the tension knob completely removed.

I recently found a VCT870RM review from about 5 years ago where somebody else was having the same problem with stiff panning. However, due to all of the other great reviews for this tripod, I'm assuming that I just received a bad one.

I'm now in the process of working with Amazon to get a replacement sent to me. So far, Amazon has been great, as they've already scheduled UPS to come to my home and pick up the defective tripod the very next day. They say that I'll receive my new tripod next week. I'll post here on the status of the new one when it arrives.

UPDATE: I received a new replacement VCT870RM tripod from Amazon, and this one works great. Panning and tilting are both very smooth, and the tension is adjustable. If I'd have received this tripod originally, I would've given it 5 stars. The first VCT870RM I received was definitely defective. I'm glad I returned it, and I'm glad I bought it through Amazon (best price at the time, and a hassle-free return).

For it's price, which i in the mid-consumer range, and well below the pro range, it's a very nice little tripod.

The legs lock firmly and are easy to latch and unlatch, the leg brace is at the bottom of the first set of leg tubes, which puts it off the ground even at the lowest height, overall manufacturing quality is very good--including the carrying case which is tough enough to last a while, unlike most such bags included with consumer equipment. It's a mid-weight nylon canvas with a self-repairing plastic zipper.

I'm shooting with a moderately heavy camera (VX1000) at 4+# additions for a total weight of around 6-7#

It is a LIGHT tripod. With the tripod fully extended it has a tendency to wobble a bit under the weight of my gear. Weighting this one in windy conditions or when shooting fully extended (especially with telephoto,) is a necessity.

As others have noted, the zoom control moves the reverse of most camera zooms which is a pain to get used to, but can be gotten used too. (Hey LANC controls generally cost more than this tripod with it's controls!) If it continues to bother me, I may disassemble and reverse the control.

With a lighter 1-2# consumer camera it is a VERY nice tripod, with less weight on top it is extremely stable.

The carrying bag is very nice bonus. It's deigned to slip over your head and arm and run across your back--I'm 6'4" and have no trouble with it binding, and it is light enough to be barely noticeable. Very nice if you're traveling.

As a consumer tripod its an excellent choice esp. if you are shooting with one of the newer small cameras, The LANC control helps stop a lot of camera wiggle and makes for smooth combination pan/tilt /zoom operations.

The fluid head is of very good quality for the price, and has a nice range of adjustable drag.

For heavier gear it needs added bottom weights outside, but works pretty well indoors.

Besides the backwards zoom my only trouble has been that I accidentally hit the on/off button a lot--but that's mostly due to my height which tends to make me grip the handle in a choke grip.

The LANC control should also be improved had they made the I/O a standard LANC plug rather than the molded relief permanent cable--it's too easy to forget to disconnect the cable when removing the gear, and I have some concerns about the longevity of that built in cable.

THe LANC control handle is removable which opens up the possibility of using it from some distance away from the camera (I have a 20' LANC extension cable for use when the camera is mounted outside a vehicle

I've shot about 7 hours of a documentary with it to date, and it has performed very well.

I recommend it for consumer lightweights and reservedly recommend it for heavier prosumer cameras. You're not going to want to put a camera, lights, additional mic, transmitters and sound mixer on the head, but it does perform very nicely as a camera & mic support.

I tried about 5 other tripods for my Sony HDR-FX1 video camera before purchasing this one. All the others had an issue with jerky motion when panning after the camera had been sitting still for a moment. With the others, there was always a slight jolt as you began to pan, which would ruin many shots. This Sony VCT870RM is the closest thing to a true fluid motion as is possible in a very affordable tripod. Having the remote operation on the tripod handle has made shooting much easier and provides better results because there is no awkwardness when trying to zoom and pan at the same time.True one handed operation of the camera. For being a lightweight tripod it is also very stable and it comes with a handy carry bag. It is well worth the price. I would recommend this tripod to anyone.

The Sony VCT-870 is the tripod I bought. I think the LANC will also work with Cannon cameras.

I like the fluid-ness of the head as there appears to be very little static friction. The pan and tilt are both smooth. The tripod legs are heavier and sturdier than the most expensive tripod I have seen in the electronic box stores or pro photo stores. I have been looking to buy a tripod for 2-3 years now and have not seen a pro-sumer version that I thought would be good enough for video. The legs are double extension with a flip-over friction clamps for quick setup and leveling. There is a built in bubble level at the apex of the legs. The center column extends up like most tripods out there. With everything extended I still get good enough stability. I am 6' 6" tall and it extends tall enough for me. The removable mounting plate has no slop in it. The mounting plate lever clamp is spring loaded closed but has an automatic trigger pin that keeps it open until the plate is inserted.

With that said, I noticed several review saying the PAN function was too stiff. I agree that it is too stiff. If the tripod is just sitting on the ground, panning will cause the tripod to flex and wants to tip a little. There is no static friction, just high drag friction (this is of course with the drag control backed out). The TILT can have close to no drag at all which makes for difficult pan/tilt movements since the forces are different for each direction. I did notice that when the tripod warmed up in the sun for a while, the pan drag eased up a bit.

The "work around" for this dissimilarity of drag is to add enough tilt drag to equal the pan drag. The drag control adjustment is very accurate and does not stick, bind or jump like the cheaper ones sold at electronic box stores. When I shoot a football game, if I securely strap the tripod to a handrail, the pan drag is not an issue at all since the drag will add stability to the shot. If the tripod is free standing, I grab the neck of the tripod with my left hand and the handle with my right hand. My left hand will add the needed stability to counter act the flexing or drag of the tripod while my right hand aims the shot. This provides more than acceptable results for shooting football plays since the action is fast and last for only 20-30 seconds at a time. If I were to shoot a theatrical event or a long slow shot, I think the panning might be more of an issue if you could not securely strap the camera down. It would be harder to steady the free standing tripod without adding a little occasional hand movement.

The main reason I purchased this model was because of the LANC controller built into the handle. This controller is a TRUE variable speed zoom controller. A lot of the after market "clamp on" controllers have a zoom in/out toggle switch with a separate variable speed knob. This would be almost impossible to shoot a variable speed zoom in, stop, then zoom out as it would take juggling two controls with one hand. I have only used four of the functions - Power ON, Record Start/Stop, Zoom IN, and Zoom Out. The Zoom function is reversed from what you would intuitively think. To "push in" or zoom in you pull back on the controller. To "pull back" or zoom out you push the controller forward. After a short time of working with the controller you start to sub-consciously zoom correctly without having to think about it. The complete handle is easily removable and can mount on the left or right side of the tripod head. The controller/handle could be used to zoom or start/stop a remotely mounted camera such as a steady-cam or boom type operation with only a LANC extension cable.

It was my intention to reverse the zoom pot to make it function the intuitive way. The pot is custom made with a flexible plastic multi-conductor cable. The pot can not be mounted backwards as it is built with a one-way snap in design. The three conductor plastic cable terminates with a four conductor end that plugs into an edge connector. You can not simply flip the cable over as the active three conductors will be offset and the conductive side would be opposite the contacts. The last possibility is cutting the circuit board and swapping the two outer leads. I have no problem with doing this as I used to modify circuit boards all the time in a previous job. The problem is that one of the outer conductors continues to other parts of the board and can not easily be bypassed. I gave up and decided to learn how to use it backwards. It did not take as long to get used to it as I thought it would.

I would buy this tripod again if I ever needed another one. I would be willing to pay up to $200 for it as I see it as being a good $100 tripod with a good $100 LANC controller.

The ONLY reason I did not rate it 5 stars is because the legs could still be a little stronger to counter act the pan drag. I would only rate something 5 stars if there were no room for improvement. I think it is a good compromise and good value. I give the value aspect 5 stars.

The good:

* Incredible value - a great tripod for the money
* Solid construction. I don't have to baby it.
* Head is marked in 10 degree increments making 360 degree stitch shots (for Quicktime 3d, etc). a snap (assuming your optics are centered).

The not-so-good:

* Some backspin at the end of pans, especially slow pans
* The remote zoom in-out control on the handle seems backwards to me (push forward to zoom out.)
* I miss the ability to quickly adjust side-to-side tilt from my el-cheapo unit.

The verbose:

This tripod is a fantastic value. When I first got my Sony HDR-HC1 camcorder, I needed an ultra-portable tripod for a trip to Asia. The one I picked up was about $40 and pretty wobbly, but it fit in my backpack and was suitable for static shots and very basic movements.

Recently, however, I was asked by a client to do a quickie promotional video (my first time "doing it all" from concept to shooting to editing). After reviewing the results of my first day of shooting (mostly buildings and equipment shots), the limitations of my budget tripod were all too apparent. Pans were jerky, and camera shake was really bad, particularly at the beginning and end of shots as I started and stopped tape. That afternoon I ordered the VCT870RM for next day delivery.

My next shoot was a night-and-day difference! The head provides very smooth vertical and horizontal pans. The tripod feels solidly built, has enough mass to be stable, but isn't too heavy to carry (I even got a low-end steadycam shot with it), and the integrated controls make life much better if your camera supports the LANC standard. I was able to get some great shots that utilized pan, tilt, and zoom all at once, and without any shaking.

The only negatives I've found include a tendency for it to make a slight move in the reverse direction at the end of slow pans. I worked around this by holding a little pressure on the handle and making the end of the shot a little longer. Additionally, the remote zoom control on the handle seems backwards to me. You push forward to zoom out and backward to zoom in. I still haven't gotten used to that.

In the "things to be aware of" category, this isn't an overly large tripod (though it can get the camera around 6' off the ground), but it isn't super small either. It comes with a fairly nice, unpadded carrying case with strap, but you're not going to be fitting it into your backpack between shots. It also doesn't have a side-to-side tilt, which my cheapo tripod did. I'd rather have to adjust the legs more often and get great image stability, however, than to have side-tilt and shakes.

I definitely recommend this tripod for people new to video (and maybe even as a 2nd/3rd budget unit for pros) - it's amazing how much you can improve the quality of your shots for just a little more money. If I could give 4.5 stars I would (1/2 star deduction for the pan backspin).

I'm extremely happy with this purchase and would get another one if it were stolen (or if I started doing two-camera shoots). I also have a suspicion that I won't be able to go back to a non-controller tripod anytime soon!

For comparison:

As I said, I'm a newcomer to video and don't have direct experience with more high-end tripods. The other models I looked at included the Sony VCT1170RM ($365) and a few different Bogen models. I didn't see an overwhelming reason to spend an additional $245 on the 1170, especially given the low weight of my camera, and I couldn't find an affordable Bogen that also had an integrated remote control interface. If you do go this route, Sony's RMVD1 add-on controller will run you about $35. I prefer having an integrated unit, however, as the controls are bigger, easier to use, and it's one less thing to lose.