kylelowe

First Impressions: Sachtler ACE

I just received my Sachtler ACE yesterday (shame on UPS for leaving it on my door step without requiring a signature) and I really am enjoying the little beast.

I have worked with Sachtler tripods before and I think they’re great, they’ve just always been out of reach for me financially. When they announced this tripod last year at IBC, I knew it was the one for me.

I used a much larger Sachtler last year for the Sony Behind The Lens contest along with the EX3 that Sony sent me. It was great; it had about eight drag levels and was super solid. Also, my buddy Andrew Toschi has a medium sized Sachtler that I always enjoy using when I help him with a project or rent it from him.

In comparison to my other experiences, the ACE feels pretty lightweight. But that isn’t necessarily a disadvantage. If you follow my work, I mainly shoot HDSLR cameras and don’t often have terribly huge rigs. A big tripod would be overkill for my (usually) run-and-gun style setups.

This tripod is laid out just like it’s bigger brothers, with simply less control. There are only three levels of drag for pan and tilt each, but this doesn’t bother me at all. I have found that I often make my way to the middle setting for everything.

I like that the Ace uses the Manfrotto style base plates so that I can interchange tripods quickly if I’m ever shooting with Brendan Fantz (which is quite often).

Like what Philip Bloom said of the ACE, it feels a little cheaper than the larger Sachtlers, but I expect this since it’s now the cheapest Sachtler available.

I really enjoy this little tripod and will probably be shooting with it soon. I may edit this post if any more thoughts pop up.

You can order the ACE from B&H (and it’s finally in stock, I had to wait four long weeks for mine!). I got the floor spreader model because I needed a tripod that could get really low to the ground.