DEFINITION February 2018

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SACHTLER FLOWTECH 75 USER REVIEW

SACHTLER FLOWTECH 75 How do you innovate in the world of tripods? Sachtler’s new technology is at least making the operation faster

WORDS ADAM GARSTONE PICTURES ADAM DUCKWORTH

IMAGES Light, flexible and sturdy, the Flowtech 75 is a fine addition to the tripod universe.

Our review unit was fitted with Sachtler’s Ace XL fluid head, a lightweight unit rated from 2kg to 8kg, ideally suited to the likes of Canon’s C200/C300, Sony’s FS7 or Blackmagic’s URSA Mini Pro. It matched the legs well, and the two combined weigh only a little over 5kg. Deploying the tripod is as fast as Sachtler claim. Combined with the very low weight, the Flowtech 75 is perfect for fast, documentary-style filming – a single operator can get the tripod up, levelled and the camera mounted in under 15 seconds with a little practice. The finish of the carbon fibre legs is excellent – for those more familiar with wooden or aluminium legs, the carbon fibre sounds flimsy as they extend, but the tripod is very sturdy indeed, even at full extension. In extreme cold (the tripod is rated down to -40ºC) carbon fibre won’t fetch the skin off your hands like metal would. The Flowtech 75 is a light, sturdy, fast and flexible tripod. It would suit a variety of markets, from event filming, to documentary and natural history work. It’s available (without a head) for around £810 plus VAT.

t can’t be easy to innovate when it comes to designing tripods, but Sachtler/Vinten’s latest offering is at least trying to move the goalposts a little. The Flowtech 75 is a lightweight, carbon fibre tripod, with two leg extensions, a mid-level spreader and a maximum payload of 20 kg. The 75mm bowl is a robust alloy casting with three 3/8” threads for attaching accessories – one of these can be used with the supplied carry strap mount (though the strap itself is optional). All this sounds pretty conventional. It’s only when you start to use the tripod that the

new features become obvious. The Flowtech 75 is built around ease and speed of deployment. The legs are held together magnetically, so there is nothing to loosen, no straps to undo, just pull the legs apart and the spreader opens up all three. horseshoe-shaped lever. Opening the lever on each leg unlocks the two leg extensions, allowing you to quickly pull the tripod up to your working height – simply push down the quick-release levers once you are happy. Maximum working height is 157cm to the bowl, using the spreader. A similarly quickly deployed rubber boot is supplied for the spiked feet. Removing the spreader is simply a matter of pressing the red buttons on either side of each arm. With the spreader removed, the Flowtech 75 can demonstrate another of its tricks. Pressing a button at the top of each leg activates a leg locking function, setting each leg at 20º, 46º or 72º. At 72º, the minimum height of the tripod is specified at just 26cm (though we actually measured it lower, at just 23cm). DEPLOYMENT At the top of each leg is a red,

DEPLOYING THE TRIPOD IS AS FAST AS SACHTLER CLAIM

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FEBRUARY 2018 DEFINITION

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