In an business as outdated as ours, few issues have withstood the check of time the best way the Century Stand (extra generally often called the C Stand) has. On what looks as if a day by day foundation we see insane enhancements in digital camera and lighting expertise. But we don’t sometimes see the identical kind of innovation on the planet of grip the place the C Stand you buy in the present day appears to be like and performs in an nearly an identical trend to at least one from 30 years in the past. Is it time for it too to evolve?
Throughout the business three manufacturers stand out because the leaders in grip: American, Norms, and Matthews. Although there are periodic additions to their arsenal of grip gear their staple gadgets have remained largely unchanged. However in simply the previous few months now we have seen two new gamers, Lowel and Savage, enter the sphere with some adjustments to the traditional 40” C Stand design. Might their contemporary tackle a traditional drive the business to maneuver away from the standard workhorse on set?
LOWEL
Lowel shouldn’t be new to the manufacturing world and is called a pacesetter in location lighting. This 12 months they’ve rolled out their new 40” C Stand choices. Out there in chrome or black with a sliding leg (Rocky Mountain Leg) or in black with a spring-loaded turtle base, these C Stands are backed by the Tiffen model and priced very aggressively ($159 and $180 respectively).
There are some design improvements on these stands that customers will both love or hate. The two.5” grip heads characteristic t-handles that can look acquainted in design to that of different C Stands in the marketplace, besides that they appear to be a bit slim for larger fingers. They’re nonetheless useable and you may actually crank on them however its value noting that they aren’t fairly as “snug” as different grip head handles. Lowel has additionally redesigned the knobs on the riser and base. They’ve achieved away with the standard t-handles and as an alternative integrated a 3 prong knob design.
At first look this seems to be lower than optimum, nevertheless after really cranking on it we discovered that the additional prong permits for the thumb and two fingers to grip and supplies sufficient area to crank down and torque the knobs. The arm itself additionally has a small recessed notch on a child spigot on the finish of the arm reverse the grip head, a design characteristic that we completely love. This notch permits you to securely connect lights and different accent with out having to fret about stated gadgets sliding or slipping on the tip of the arm.
SAVAGE
Savage has been round since 1937 and has been in style with photographers and productions world-wide. Most just lately they’ve centered on LED lighting and studio gear, together with a really contemporary have a look at the century stand. Savage’s C Stand comes in a 40” flavor, out there in your alternative of stainless or black finishes. The Savage C Stand design has been essentially the most revolutionary we’ve seen, it includes a turtle base that additionally has a rocky mountain leg. At first look you would possibly assume “how can a turtle base have a rocky mountain leg?” Let me clarify.
The low leg on the turtle base options an open backside receiver that settle for the bottom of the double riser, or the included 20 inch riser. When utilizing this leg on stairs or different uneven surfaces you’ll be able to drop the riser out of the underside of the receiver to offer your self a strong base for the third leg.
The 20” riser additionally features a junior to child pin adapter that can be utilized within the base. Savage additionally contains 2 newly designed heads with this stand. Whereas the design is sweet in idea, and will be splendid for gripping onto some extra delicate issues like reflector boards, in follow it doesn’t really feel as sturdy or sturdy as conventional grip heads. These grip heads characteristic “jaws” with rubber pads that, after the primary use in an precise studio, will doubtless fall off making them extra of a nuisance than an precise characteristic to assist from marring flags or different equipment. The included arm is totally detachable which, once more, you could love or hate. It does characteristic a child spigot on each ends with a ¼”-20 male threaded finish on every. Worth level is aggressive (starting at around $212) with the business commonplace C Stands in the marketplace, and whereas chock-full of cool options this C Stand feels prefer it lacks the power to take the place of the tried and true traditional design.
So, Does The Humble C Stand Want An Improve?
In our opinion, probably not. Nonetheless we definitely imagine its definitely worth the effort for firms like Savage and Lowel to take a crack at redesigning one thing like a C Stand. Options just like the anti rotation notch on the tip of the Lowel arm and the turtle/ sliding leg base combo on the Savage stand are attributes that will enormously enhance the standard C Stand. Huge three, take observe!
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