Not a professional - amatuer "hobbyist" filmmaker trying to buy a tripod.
Hi, I recently moved to Toronto and am in the lookout for a video tripod with a fluid head. I've been consulting forums and posts and videos for almost weeks on this and have no idea why this very fundamental piece of gear is so contentious online. This is my setup: a Lumix GH5 and a couple prime lenses, one zoom lens being my heaviest which is the 35-100mm f2.8. One microphone which is the Sennheiser MKE 400, and I'm looking to add a 5.5-5.7 inch monitor to the rig, as well as (but much further down the line, this is not a total necessity for me now) a V mount battery.
I'm not running a business, I don't have clients nor am I looking to do paid work. This is not something I'm investing in to expect an ROI other than paying for what I feel will give me the results I want. It's just me. I'm new to the city so I don't have a crew, or a group of people I'm filming stuff with. I've made some projects in the past but they've all been handheld, and I want to start practicing cinematography on my own-- in my house, in my downtime. I have a few shorts in mind that I want to use a tripod for and I really care a lot about having smooth pans and tilts, so I want to use my free time in my environment to practice, which is why I'd like to own a tripod, not rent. I don't want to buy a $200-$300 tripod someone on youtube says is "The Best Tripod for Solo Filmmaking 2026" only to then find it's garbage, but I also don't want to shell out thousands on a Vinten or a Sachtler and feel like a dumbass afterwards cos it'll be obviously overkill.
I don't have a specific budget. I will try my best to afford whatever seems like is the best tripod for my use case: i.e. not something super heavy and intended for big sets or broadcast or anything that's a little overkill for my simple setup, but also not something too limited or that will give only jerky/subpar motion. I guess my criteria:
-Adjustable drag/counterbalance
-Legs can get real close to the ground for lower angles
-As smooth as possible.
-As light as possible. I know that for stability and smoothness there's gotta be some weight. But I'm not looking to get a Vinten kind of heavy system.
Thanks a lot! I know Reddit is not meant to be a shopper's guide. But I feel like I'm going insane going through so many youtube videos which are really just ads, or threads where there's just too much talk about client work and investing in your business and so forth. I hope I am not being unreasonable.