LLANSANNAN, Wales—As a cameraperson with more than 20 years in the industry, I’ve used a fair amount of kit in my career. You become loyal to certain brands that never let you down—Sachtler is definitely one of these for me.
From the beginning of my career in cameras working for a facilities and rental house based at Shepperton studios, Sachtler tripods were the go-to sticks for any given situation. Back then in the early 2000’s I was mainly an assistant, and the ever-trusty legs were usually the Sachtler V20 head and 2 stage legs. It’s nice typing something out that I’m fairly confident that nearly every person that reads it will empathize with. I mean, what camera crew hasn’t used a Sachtler V20 a million times?
Lightweight But Rugged
Throughout my career I’ve used Sachtler and until recently, as a news cameraperson, I’d been using a DV12 SB as an ever-reliable but lighter weight head with carbon-fibre legs. Then, just over a year ago I switched to using the new Aktiv 12T head with flowtech legs. Wow, talk about an upgrade.
The Aktiv 12T is lighter than my previous head but just outperforms it in every way possible. Combined with the carbon fiber flow tech legs it’s so comfortable to carry (in no small measure helped by the convenient carry handle on the legs) due to its lightweight design. But lightweight doesn’t mean reduced payload—quite the opposite in fact. The 12T head takes everything I could ever want to throw on it easily.
While working with ABC news on their coverage of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, I found myself on a rooftop in Edinburgh providing lives for their flagship GMA show. The Aktiv 12T easily handled my Sony PXW X-500 camera with toplight, Anton Bauer Dionic XT150 batteries, zoom demand and large Autocue hood with counterweights. Quite the payload but performance did not suffer one bit. Pan and tilt functions were as smooth as ever and balancing the head was a breeze, as usual.
Bubbling Up the Head
When it comes to balancing the head, it’s so simple. Leveling (or bubbling) up the head has been completely re-innovated by the Aktiv range. The speed leveling system whereby you simply pull the lever at the front of the head and use the illuminated prism bubble to level the camera is a real plus.
Due to the ever-changing demands in a busy newsroom, I’m often deployed last minute to a story with no time to waste. Being able to get to that press conference seconds before the speaker takes the stage or that court just as the accused is arriving for the hearing and being able to level up the tripod head in a split second can make the difference between getting the perfect shot and getting an acceptable shot because you simply didn’t have the time to bubble up.
I do a lot of work for BBC Breakfast, which often means setting up in the dark. The illuminated prism bubble—which lights up/switches off with a simple touch—makes leveling the head super simple in all situations.
Not having to loosen and tighten a nut underneath the head saves valuable seconds in an industry when literally every second counts. Also, it means that when combined with the Sachtler Flowtech legs you can get the camera right to the floor without the need for a set of baby legs or a high hat—it gets lower than these would anyway. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Sachtler Aktiv 12T head is a game changer.
More information is available at www.sachtler.com/en
