When I was talking about sourcing local weights earlier I was talking about stabilising the tripod. On the base of the centre pole of Frank is a sprung weight hook. I occasionally use this in high wind or if I need to tie him down in a rigging situation for safety reasons. Sourcing weight locally means you don't have to carry extra around with a bulkier tripod. I normally carry an empty sandbag and fill it with rocks, sand, mud or whatever I can find and then attach it to the base. Be careful though - if it's hanging too loose then the swinging of this may ruin what you're trying to achieve - make sure your weight it touching the ground!

With regards to the toughness, Frank has taken a decent beating. It's not that I don't look after my kit, I just expect it to survive the occasional fall, trip or being trod on by a half-blind director. Over the past 4 months Frank has also been in many varied environments including shoots in Morocco, Jamaica, Cyprus, Wales and my back garden.

He's been flown many thousands of miles whilst sitting in my peli cases and abused by baggage handlers. He's been loaded with much more weight than I should probably have used. He's been sat in temperatures of 38 degrees celcius and not broke into a sweat once. All of this and without complaint, he's still standing and I certainly have a bromance thing going on.

The Air Hed

This is 3 Legged Thing's own Ball Head which comes separately from the tripod but I believe can also be bought together as a package and I thought I'd say a few words! Firstly - the weight it can take and hold true is amazing. I've had a full moco pan and tilt set up on it with a camera and big old lens on it and it's fine. The tightening knobs are perfectly placed and are smooth in action. It also holds a few different plates as well as the snazzy 3LT one that comes with it. If you follow me on Instagram you'll notice I've been using a variety of plates as it's easier to leave them on as I'm using a menagerie of kit.

In Conclusion

I really am impressed with Frank and 3LT as a whole - I love a good bit of engineering and Frank has not failed to deliver! It's taken me a while to do this review as I like to fully explore a bit of kit before I recommend it and typically, they've just released the next generation of kit so expect another one soon! The only downside to 3LT is that they don't make anything called Chad yet...

For a bit more footage, here's the video we shot in Morocco - Timelapse and Hyperlapse shot with, on or using Frank.