Tripods are the secret weapon in the war on home movie look. Funny thing these tripods, a friend just went out and spent about 8 grand on a new HD Camcorder. I ask him what kind of tripod he bought, and he said, "Oh an expensive one, it was like 200 bucks" Well folks, sure 200 dollars is alot of money. Its just not alot of money when it comes to good tripods. Even an entry level tripod costs thousands, and sad to say there really is no shortcut or way around it. There is a pretty decent post up over at Photofocus that talks about tripods for still photography, and alot of the information is good, and you can learn some basics from reading it. The problem with video recording when it comes to cheap tripods is pretty simple - You can either achieve a smooth consistent pan or you can't. And even locked-off shots need to be rock solid and impervious to wind or any other external movement. To get those two features, stability and consistency with a video camera you really need to spend several thousand dollars on a good fluid head, and at least one set of regular stick (legs).
One way to get around this is to avoid panning and tilting altogether. To get rock solid locked-off sots you can find hella bargians if you know what to look for. Ideally you want to get a used set of motion picture camera sticks that are from the 60 or 70's. Wooden Legs with a beast of a friction head like the legendary Miller Pro Jr. There are some heavy tripods out there, and there are some great bargains if you know what you need. Just stay away from those Electronic Store lightweight aluminum combo plastic tripods and get ready to invest some money is real camera support. Good Luck out there!
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