My good friend Rick has produced a video about a little known company called Ronford-Baker who make world class tripods, I say little known as I have never heard of them myself till today.
Pro video blog…Produced by Philip Johnston DoP/Editor
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It’s extremely unusual here to see a set of sticks on a film set that are anything but Ronford-Baker.
Haven’t seen many of their heads since college though.
I am astonished that Philip (HDW) has never heard of Ronford Baker. Many years ago it was always said that film cameramen used Ronford Baker while video people used Vinten or Sachtler. In those days I was a film man and had a Ronford Baker tripod… the Rolls Royce!
HDW : I have always been a video man, Vinten and Sachtler were all the rage but until today I have not come across Ronford-Baker, they may be the Rolls Royce in film but don’t seem to have kept up with the new trends towards smaller heads for the newer large sensor cameras the same way Vinten, Sachtler and Manfrotto have.
When I started in TV back in the mid 19080s, all the tripod heads at our station were the ‘L bracket’ F7 type heads which would rotate the camera through a neutral axis. I didn’t realise how special this all was until quite some time afterwards.
As they cater for ‘big iron’, I’ve not really seen them in my world, but good to know they’re still going strong.
I still see F7 heads once in a while. They’re popular on some shoots as they can be positioned very low to the ground when mounted on a dolly.
Having recently been into Arri (London), I was interested to know when asked, their tripods (grip) used are also Ronford-Baker.
After Ron Ford and Harry Baker split up, I seem to remember Ron Ford ran a grip facility at Shepperton Studios. Am I correct… or just going senile?