Manfrotto vs MeFoto, epiphan Webcaster X1 details
Photo Moment - December 07, 2016
A viewer wrote in asking for a comparison of the Manfrotto video tripod I'd reviewed earlier (links below) vs the MeFoto tripod I've had for years. This isn't an apples-to-apples comparison as they are quite different tripods for different purposes, however I compared what is comparable — construction, leg locking mechanism, folding technique and more. Plus, the journey continues with the epiphan Webcaster X1, which still isn't in use — watch to see why!
Products mentioned in today's Photo Moment:
Luma Wifi mesh router — http://amzn.to/2h6V0YK
Manfrotto Befree Live Video Tripod — http://jal.bz/2gbMxkC
MeFOTO BackPacker Travel Tripod — http://jal.bz/2h429s7
MeFOTO RoadTrip Aluminum Travel Tripod — http://jal.bz/2gbx6hx
Videos mentioned in today's Photo Moment:
Epiphan Webcaster X1 for Facebook & YouTube live streaming — http://bit.ly/2ghPsfc
New Manfrotto travel video tripod — http://bit.ly/2h3NxZM
You have a great style, the first 8 minutes were on the unrelated topic of a modem. There is a newer Manfrotto, the befree advance and the traveller would be a better comparison. Thanks
Thanks, but of course this video is over three years old, so without a time machine, I'm afraid the review stands as it is! ;-)
A lil trick for mefoto... flip it upside down ,extend the legs a lil and u could position camera close to ground for macro and low shots. Yeee.
My MeFoto won’t lock the legs upside down… it’s a great tip as long as you can secure the legs though sot hey don’t go sliding away!!
Joseph, enjoy your channel thanks for the great content. A brief note on your style.... you tend to mumble and speak too fast, I find I rewind often just to catch things...
Why doesn't B and H sell the MePhoto anymore. I have one and love it.
What about the tails? (Sorry, what is the question?)
PSA: to skip the unsolicitee advertising, go to 8:45
On my Manfrotto, if I invert the centre column to lower the camera position as you suggest - all my shots are upside down.
Totally useless.
Totally useless.
+Tomer Itzhak he's kidding :-)
PhotoJoseph what's the problem to just flip them in basic editing software?
+Graham Cooper Ah, see the solution is easy. Stand on your head! Or, just send me all your photos and for $10 each, I'll fix them for you. I have the magic sauce.
Mefoto and buy a video head! this is what I'm looking to do
You can invert the head on the roadtrip, you just need to screw off the bag hook before taking out the centre column.
if you are shooting in a windy environment which tripod in your opinion deal better with vibrations?
+hsiang-hsin Tseng Anything heavy. And weigh it down with your camera bag.
If you twist the lock under the Mefoto head is goes lower than the Manfrotto. It can also invert like the Manfrotto...
Yeah that's right, this is an older model. Good to know newer ones have that feature!
Joseph Linaschke maybe the later models allow for the center to move up and down. I have the same one and I can do it on mine. you mentioned you had that one for 3 years if I heard right.
Hm, are you sure? I just looked at mine and don't see a way to remove (and therefore invert) the center column. BUT I realized that you could simply use the legs in the folded-up position, which would invert the column. The legs can't lock that way, but it's better than nothing.
+France Menk I think most bigger tripods tend to do that, but good to know in the MeFoto
I have tripods with both clamped legs and twist legs...I have found the screw much faster on ,my ravel tripods...can tighten all legs with one hand which can reach all twist
licks at once
licks at once
+France Menk That's interesting. I wonder if I can do that. My hands aren't really big so maybe not.
road trip also forms in to monopod
+France Menk how cool! I missed that.
i recently brought webmaster x1 for youtube and the everything appears to work except the audio. I'm able to livestream and the picture looks great but there is no sound. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks for the video
+UGR TV how does the Mac fit into it?
I'm using a canon rebel t5i with a sennheiser microphone. I have the hdmi cable going from the camera to the webcaster. I'm also using a macbook pro
UGR TV No, not yet. I get very distorted audio on mine. They are looking into it and I expect to get more information soon. But you get NO audio; that's different. What is your setup?
Thanks Joseph! I very much appreciate you taking my request and addressing the pros and cons from your perspective. Just a quick FYI, the manfrotto with video head currently has a $40 rebate until 12/31/2016. So with the rebate, it ends up being the same price as the Mefoto (bigger model). In fact, if you look back on your own footage here, the $40 rebate is displayed right under the price of the Manfrotto on B&H.
You did bring up one HUGE point that I didn't know and that is the point about the video head being used in landscape mode only. I didn't realize you can't move the head into portrait mode with the video head. That is an important point. I will need to think about this...
It's a very tough decision. It didn't seem like you had an easy conclusion either as to which you'd buy. It's especially interesting to see you give a small nudge towards mefoto in terms of build quality. that was really interesting and not what I expected.
BTW, do you remember a tripod brand name Bogen? What happened to them? I've been kind of out of serious photogrpahy for many years. I had a Bogen for my Canon EOS-1 with 85MM f1.2 lens system. But that was in the old physical film days. I believe at the time Bogens were considered one of the best -- if not THE best -- for pro use.
Thanks again for your comments.
You did bring up one HUGE point that I didn't know and that is the point about the video head being used in landscape mode only. I didn't realize you can't move the head into portrait mode with the video head. That is an important point. I will need to think about this...
It's a very tough decision. It didn't seem like you had an easy conclusion either as to which you'd buy. It's especially interesting to see you give a small nudge towards mefoto in terms of build quality. that was really interesting and not what I expected.
BTW, do you remember a tripod brand name Bogen? What happened to them? I've been kind of out of serious photogrpahy for many years. I had a Bogen for my Canon EOS-1 with 85MM f1.2 lens system. But that was in the old physical film days. I believe at the time Bogens were considered one of the best -- if not THE best -- for pro use.
Thanks again for your comments.
Lance Guilin My pleasure. Yeah the build quality on the MeFoto is surprisingly good. As to the video head Dane portrait mode; you can always rotate the camera 90° and then point the video head "down", but it's not ideal. Bogen; sure I remember them. It looks like they were acquired by Manfrotto from the five seconds of googling I did… not totally sure that's right but I saw references to Bogen parts on manfrotto pages.
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