Small, high-quality tripods for lights?

Hey guys. I'd love to get my lights off of my camera, and am wondering if any of you have suggestions for small tripods that can each hold 1-2 lights. I suppose gorilla pods can be used for this, but they won't be able to get off the ground very high. Some sort of small, extendable tripod would be best, with a ULCS ball or two on top...

 Eric,

how high you need it?

Look at the head Andy Morrison made: http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...9&hl=tripod

Look at the ULCS Tripod here: http://www.ulcs.com/access.html and the arms up to 3' here: http://www.ulcs.com/cinema.html

ULCS build a lot of "strange" connectors sou you might use them to build a ULCS Tripod.

If you need it higher, well a good aluminium photo tripod with plastic locks and Andy's ball head will do the trick.

Chris

Thanks for the links! I suppose a couple of Gorilla Focus tripods with a ULCS adapter on top would work. I'm also thinking of using a small aluminum tripod -- I'm seen some prototype of legs coming out from various companies (Backscatter and XIT404 both seem to be playing around with expandable legs), and those might be better than a Gorillapod. Ideally, everything would have quick release clamps and plates on them; I've been trying to convince people to standardize around Arca Swiss, just like we use on land...

Eric,

Don't think they make a Gorilla tripod that withstand the salt water. I made a pretty good one from using ultra light arms and head.

Steve

I've used a Gorillapod Focus u/w with no issues arrising. The same can't be said for the Manfrotto ball head though which contains mild steel components... I note that Joby now make ball heads for the 'pods and I did ask them whether they felt they would survive a saline environment. Their reply was not convincing...

Thanks for the links! I suppose a couple of Gorilla Focus tripods with a ULCS adapter on top would work

The plastic gorillapods, certainly withstand seawater well - but float slightly, so are unstable with a heavy light on top of them. I use them with a weight attached - which makes them a pain to transport underwater:

The addition of ball, clamp and then ball back to the light gives quite a lot of extra height.

The aluminium gorillapods do sink.

Alex

Aquatica do a tripod if thast works?

Gorillapod SLR Zoom (pictured in alex's shot) is my favorite for strobes, but is positively buoyant. SLR Focus is negatively buoyant, but overkill for strobes.

Ultralight had extension legs with their tripod on display in long beach.

You could mount a traditional ultralight arm on the top of the gorillapod, but it gets unstable if you move off of the center.

I wouldn't recommend either of the Joby ball heads. I have both, neither is particularly solid.

Eric, there is only one tripod for you. The blingest of bling tripods:

http://www.netwave.or.jp/~shioya/skd002.htm

That looks pretty cool Drew, thank god for google translate...

How much are they?

Nice, Drew. I'll take 2!