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This video is sponsored by Storyblocks.
Hey everyone. It's me, Hallease. Endeavoring to persevere, as always. If you're new here,
I make videos about my chaotic good life. Subscribe, follow, social media.
Today, I wanna talk about gear. More specifically, mini-tripods. Mini-tripods aren't really talked
about that much. Mini-tripods can be a really good tool to have in your vlogging arsenal.
I'm gonna show you three different mini-tripods that I use to film whether it be vlogs here on
this channel or even when I'm doing things for clients as well. I keep these around.
Because they have multiple uses and they can easily just help you out a lot when you're on set.
Let's start off with the Manfrotto PIXI pod, coming in at the most affordable
mini-tripod on the list. This is actually a really awesome and versatile little tripod.
It's mostly comprised of plastic which I think is how they keep the price
low. They're very inexpensive. Really simple design, simple ball swivel, ball joint on the top.
There's no traditional sort of mounting for this which if you're ... depending on your skillset
can be a good or a bad thing. But it comes with this little twist-y right here so it's easier to
put your camera onto this little guy. Considering it's mostly plastic (laughs) it can hold a pretty
decent amount of weight which is surprising. It has two sort of heights built into it. There's the
standard height and then there's a little lever here that you twist and it goes a little flatter.
Something that's actually really cool about this one is it can really get low to the
ground. You can get some really fun angles with this guy. The other thing this does that
to me is kinda like ... I guess that's helpful (laughs) is that each leg extends to make it
a little bit longer ... but again, all that extension raises it up maybe a couple centimeters
if that. But I don't feel like it adds much height considering how much more it's in the way now.
A downside to this one is that you don't really have much control
on how you can ... on where these can lock into place. It kinda has those two locking
mechanisms and that's it. But on the flip side, this thing is so compact. It's very light. It's
really easy to just throw this in your camera bag, throw this in your purse and have a full
set up to kind of hold and vlog. For the price, this is really helpful.
This also I think if you're someone who's just getting into vlogging, documenting,
starting a YouTube channel and maybe you have a point and shoot camera. Something
that's a little bit more smaller all pretty compact, this is a great addition to a point
and shoot set up. I think this can add a lot of value. Something else I often do with it, too,
is I'll take it and kind of use it as a little mini gimbal. Manfrotto PIXI. Think about it.
The second one is I would say (laughs) the thing everybody gets (laughs).
I'm not gonna spend too much time on this. It uses this interesting sort of plastic-y
circle mechanism. That makes it so it can really fit in weird and interesting places.
You can hold it and put your camera on it. Again, it's light enough to where it's easy to
kinda hold it out and really get some decent shots with it and all that kind of stuff.
You can really fit this in some weird spots. The downfall of it is what makes
it great (laughs) which is a bummer. And that is that you're never quite sure where the true center
is. When you buy it, it's super straight and it's amazing and then of course you use it and you will
never get it back to being perfectly straight again. It's just never gonna happen. I have
had a lot of almost accidents with this guy. Where my camera has ...
I've caught my camera mid fall. So, again. I would say if you're someone who mostly does
this with your vlogging. This could be a good thing. Quick thank you to Storyblocks for
sponsoring today's video. For those of y'all who don't know, Storyblocks is a stock footage site
with over a million royalty free assets that you can download with unlimited downloads.
It is a really awesome tool especially if you'e someone who's trying to up your creative career
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you wanna jazz up their stuff. They have a lot of different assets for you to choose from.
Check them out at Storyblocks.com/hallease.
I also really love that they have this program called Re:Stock where they're actually working
with BIPOC creators and creators of the LGBTQI spectrum as well to reframe and reshape how
we see stock footage and, you know, have folks who look like me doing regular degular because
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in your creative career. Check them out at storyblocks.com/hallease when you're ready.
This is the mini-pod I use now nine times out of ten. I love this little tripod because it truly is
a miniature traditional tripod. This is a carbon fiber tripod. It is definitely
heavier than the GorillaPod and the Manfrotto. But considering
it's functionality for me I'm just like, it's fine. That's my arm workout for the day.
The other thing I really like about this is again it is a fully functioning tripod just teeny tiny
(laughs). It comes with extensions as you can see. I also love that with this one it's height
is actually right even with my face. If I put my camera on here I can actually truly put it
on a table and vlog. Usually with the GorillaPod or the Manfrotto PIXI, I gotta be here to make
sure I'm even with it. This one, camera sits I'm sitting talking to it. It's amazing. Love that.
Other thing I really like about this one is, again, you have the ability traditional tripod to
get it pretty low to the ground considering it's a traditional style tripod. I can get it down to
here but we can get this sucker low if we want to which I really enjoy. Just to give it some
negatives so y'all can see that I'm not playing favorites (laughs) but something I will say
with this tripod that has been frustrating is that when I am shooting vertically ...
So, say I wanna shoot vertical video for IGTV, IG stories, if you're a TikTok person or whatever,
be careful with tipping with this one. A rule of thumb by the way with tipping is you always want
to have the camera whenever possible, have one leg be as lined up with where the camera's facing
as much as possible and that kinda helps minimize tipping. The other thing to do is just to
raise one a little bit up and then adjust your camera accordingly to make it straight again.
Just keep that in mind. That is something that I've had to experience a couple times
with this camera when trying to shoot vertical video using my bigger mirrorless
on this guy. Just really tipping over is kind of the thing you have to worry about with
most mini-tripods 'cause the weight distribution is just gonna be harder.
The other thing I find really interesting is how tine-ty, how teenty, tine-ty this head is.
Like the plate. Look how small this plate is. Downside of the plate, you need some kind of
quarter screw situation to get this on and off. Very frustrating. I hate that. But it does
also come with a little loop on the tripod head as well. That way, if you wanna loop
something through and dangle it from your bag or something like that, maybe have some
kind of carry strap attached to it, you can do that. I really like that aspect of this tripod.
I will say, this one obviously is the most expensive. I think a lot of that price comes from
the fact that it's carbon fiber. But, the thing I really enjoy about this is that you are truly
getting your money's worth with this. You get what you pay for. It's carbon fiber,
it can really hold a lot of weight, it can really get low to the ground, it can really
enable you to film. The other thing I really love about it, too, is it's still pretty small.
It's still pretty tiny. It's god a good grip in your hand and I just put this in my camera
bag and go. This has really become my new go to mini-tripod. This has really enabled me
to want to film more. Which again is the goal. Whenever you're looking for gear,
you wanna get something that is gonna make you want to go out and film, that's gonna make it feel
fun for you, feel seamless for you, to get you excited. That's the point.
They're all awesome in their own way. Now for you, it's just about figuring out which one
meets the most of your needs at the lowest price point. Right? Because if you don't need to spend
the money, don't. That's just me. That's how I live my life. If I can do it for cheaper,
I do. In the comments below, let me know which mini-tripod you might be interested
in. Let me know in the comments below. I will link to all of them down below as well.
That way you can look at them make your own decisions, so on and so forth. Again,
I am Hallease endeavoring to persevere as always. If you're new here and have made
it this far in the video, hi. Thank you. Please consider liking subscribing, all that fun stuff.
Big shoutout to my Patreon production team, patreon.com/hallease. There you get early
access to videos. As well as private weekly vlogs from me. It's a good time. Shoutout to
y'all. Thank you Patreon producers. Again, I am Hallease and I will see you when I see you.
Welcome to the gun show! (laughs)