Manfrotto 055XDB Tripod (Black) with 501HDV Head

I am using this with the Sony Nxcam, I think the tripod is very good, for the money, I find that it's strong enough to hold this camera. Pretty fluid head will probably get better with more use. Love that it has a bag! Balancing is a bit tricky, it seems to always start of unbalanced...

I bought this for the Canon XH-A1. It has proven to be a steady tripod for most occasions. Wind will be a problem though. You'll need to be very careful while using this, because it will shake around if you touch it too much while your shooting. I've pulled off some nice shots with this tripod though. I'm a professional videographer and use it every week at least. I would say buy it, if you can't afford to purchase something higher end. You'll just have to improve your skill a bit to perfect the use of it. Not a bad thing, but can be frustrating if you're used to the high end of the spectrum. It's better than going handheld, that's for sure.

I'll give this tripod two stars since it would probably be excellent for still photography. However, for video, unless you're using a mini camcorder under 2 lbs, its pretty much worthless. It was purchased for me to use with a Canon XH-A1 (a relatively light prosumer camera) and it shakes so badly under the weight that most of my footage is unusable when zoomed in.

The 501HDV head is okay, but not a truly fluid head. It utilizes a thick grease rather than true fluid for movement and you can definitely tell--especially when trying to do smooth pans and tilts.