Caring for Wheel Mounted Tripods

When working with a tripod on wheels you have to take care to maintain its principle foundations. Instead of just a regular digital video camera tripod, this stand is designed to maintain motion throughout. This makes it more than a single function object that must be cared for in a unique way.

The first thing that you have to watch for when a tripod is mounted with wheels is that its balance remains steady. Since you are constantly moving and the wheels are not as stable as a normal stand you are going to encounter issues with balance. If it has a level on its hydraulic head you have a leg up, and this should be checked and calibrated against for each use. Check and double check the leg length and look to see if there is anything peculiar about the wheels. If they are air inflated rubber tires any lack of air pressure could create an equal balance problem.

The wheels on the bottom of the tripod will become incredibly useless if they do not roll smoothly. To do this you have to make sure that every component surrounding the wheel is fastened securely and is free of issues. The tires need to be looked at specifically, and if there is damage in any one of them they should be the first thing to be replaced.

Maintaining the wheel based tripod is easiest if you are careful with it in normal environments. Try to keep it on pavement or wood surfaces, both for quality of image stability and longevity of the video equipment. If you are on “off road” surfaces you are going to encounter even more problems in the long term.

Make sure the wheel brakes are adequate at all times. You are going to need to go from motion to stability in image quickly and you have to be able to rely on these. They can suffer wear and tear faster than most areas of the wheel tripod so they should be watched closely.