American Cinematographer - December 2004 - 106

Runner's operation, it became quite

Manfrotto calls it "the
tripod" because of its
unique design; it can be fully opened and
extended or completely closed in less
simple to

use.

world's fastest

than four seconds.

NOTECARDS

ART

Release

stands

for

Advanced

Technology, which is at the core
design. Once I read

of the Road Runner's

the instructions and learned the proper

of opening and collapsing the
tripod, I began to grasp its ingenious
design. In its properly collapsed stage,
all of the legs are firmly interlocked with
a well-designed system of pegs and
holes that prevents any separation or
flailing about of one leg, as often
happens with many tripods. To open the
Road Runner, you hold the handle at the
top, step down on the foot below that
handle, place your other hand on the top
of the other two legs' upper stages, and
then simultaneously lift with the handle
and push down on the upper stages; the
tripod extends, unlocking all the legs in
way

one

swift motion.
Manfrotto recommends that you

extend the

legs completely before
spreading them apart. Once you start to
open the legs, the stages lock firmly into
place. It turns out the reason the release
levers

are

inside and at the bottom of

the lower stages

Order a set of 12 today at

www.thiesc.eoin

is that when you
collapse the legs together, the spreader
engages those levers to release all the
stages, and the tripod collapses neatly
and tightly together with those specially
designed pegs that lock the legs
together. It's pretty cool in theory, and
once you've had some time to practice, it
works very well. The spreader is sturdy
and can expand to increase the tripod
footprint and lower the head a bit with
preset locking groves that firmly secure
the spreader in place. There is also an
adjustment in the center of the spreader
that allows the spreader to be collapsed
to tighten up the footprint. This adjust¬
ment firmly locks that raised spreader
position in place without slipping or
needing sandbags on the legs to hold
them in place. The 524 is ready to
receive
with

a

75mm.

a

ball head of either 100mm or,

supplied inner reducing ring,

To

collapse the tripod, you fold
legs in, the spreader engages the
levers inside, and you guide the stages
down into their locked position. It takes
some practice to make sure all the inter¬
locking parts slip into their right places,
but once you get it down, this is an
incredibly versatile tripod that is light
and sturdy.
I discovered that if you end up in

the

a

situation

with the

lower stage

extended and the upper stage

fully
collapsed, as you attempt to close the
tripod, the legs will not lock in place.
The upper stage has to be slightly
extended for the pegs to correctly inter¬
lock. This little technicality tripped me
up several times as I tried to collapse
and store the tripod.
With the 519 Pro Video Head and

all stages

collapsed with the spreader
expanded to the maximum, the 524 has
a camera-base height of 23 W. With the
stages fully expanded and the spreader
parallel to the ground and in its
"normal" expansion, I got a camera
base height of 65V£", which is a pretty
nice range all around. Because it's
constructed from carbon fiber, it's very

light and easy to move. The spreader is
permanently attached to the legs in a
mid-level position, as opposed to being
on the ground. This allows the tripod to
be placed firmly on uneven ground -
even

stairs.
The 519 Pro Video Head is a nice,

compact head designed for
to 19.8

payloads

up

pounds (9kg). It comes with two
tension springs, a blue spring designed
American Cinematographer - December 2004

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2004
