Okay, so I just got my new tripod yesterday. I ended up purchasing a Davis & Sanford Pro Vista tripod with the FM18 head. Seemed great on paper, got great reviews, great price range, so I figured it would be a decent tripod (certainly better than my previous tripod).
I've played around with it a bit yesterday and much more today and I'm a little worried about it, so I've got a few questions...
First is with the 75mm Claw ball. I thought the way you set this is, after you set your tripod to the height you want, you use the handle underneath the head to move it around until the bubble level is level. I did this, then panned and found the bubble level to be off (actually, by what seemed like quite a bit- at least 10 degrees). Am I doing something wrong, or (as I'm suspecting) the bubble level is not accurately positioned. Note, this is a built-in bubble level, not one I added.
Now, question 2 is that the head feels very stiff, even when I open up the pan and tilt drag controlls (Is this the right term?). So much stiffness that I can actually see the legs twisting a little bit when I try to pan. Also, when I try to tilt forward the back of the tripod starts to lift up off the ground (this is when no camera is on, but I would expect that to possibly make things worse?). I try opening up the pan or tilt drags more, but it doesn't help. The movement does loosen up from "locked," but on my old tripod (a Slik) it loosened up a lot more (but was a much cheaper tripod, so I don't know if this is actually expected?).
Third, there is an oily substance all over the tripod and I've tried to wipe it off, but I can't seem to get all of it off... Everything I read/hear says this is normal and will go away soon, but how do I get rid of it now! I keep washing it off my hands because I really don't want to get it on/in my camera. Am I just being paranoid?
Fourth, there is a chip in the anodizing on the head on the tilt part. It doesn't seem like a big deal or very deep, but there is a lot of oily substance in/around it and I'm starting to get worried that it's somehow leaking the fluid from the head. It really doesn't look like it's deep enough (just looks like the anodizing is missing really), but it's worrying me.
Fifth... how do you measure a tripod's height. Tiffen's website and B&H (where I bought it from) both say the height should be 64". Well, I measured it and it's 60" from the ground to the top of the head... am I measuring wrong? It's really not a big deal, but with everything else that is worrying me, this just adds to my annoyance/etc.
Okay... I think I've gotten through the potential problems that are worrying/annoying me the most. I know I can't expect an amazing tripod for 200 bucks, but I'm less and less happy with this tripod the more I play with it. Honestly I guess I was expecting something better from the company that invented the Steadicam. I guess I need to call Tiffen tomorrow and see what they think about it... But of course I have a film fest next weekend so there isn't really enough time to send it back and get a new one sent out by then if it is defective...
