ONE day, ONE shoot, ONE Hybrid tripod

Written by Alice Greenfield, Shot by Alice.

York Road Studio was designed to be an incredibly versatile creative space, that’s why I also need versatile equipment such as the Manfrotto ONE Hybrid tripod .

With Foundlight Productions I use both styles of Manfrotto ONE Hybrid tripods: the aluminium and the carbon .

The aluminium lives in the studio, and the carbon gets to travel a bit more for external shoots as it’s lighter to transport. In reality they both get used constantly, but that’s the general split: the aluminium is my “always-ready” workhorse that’s set up, and within arm’s reach, the carbon is the one I grab when I’m loading the van, moving fast, or trying to keep weight down without losing rigidity.

I find both tripods offer extreme flexibility for any shooting situation, and that flexibility becomes even more valuable when the shoot is moving quickly.

For this dance shoot in the studio, I had a lot of different scenes to set up in just one day and I needed to move extremely fast, there’s no time to slowly reconfigure stands, swap systems, or wrestle with gear. I needed something that would let me keep momentum between takes, and the Manfrotto ONE Hybrid tripod was the versatile tool I needed to make that happen.

Dance is a brilliant test for any setup because it instantly exposes what’s practical and what’s not. You’re dealing with speed, rhythm, blocking changes, and depleting talent energy. You might be shooting wide, then tight, then suddenly you need an overhead perspective, then you want to drop low and skim the floor to exaggerate movement and create energy. On top of that, it’s not just about capturing the performance, it’s about shaping the light, controlling background texture, and staying responsive.

Whether I needed to capture high angle shots, switch to a slider within seconds, or drop super low to capture shots, the Manfrotto ONE Hybrid tripod made this possible.

A big part of that is how the tripod supports a “flow state” on set. When I’m working fast, I’m not thinking about the tripod as a separate piece of equipment, I’m thinking about the shot. The ONE Hybrid tripod becomes an extension of the process: reposition, level, lock, record. Repeat. And that matters when you’re trying to keep a dancer energised, keep the lighting consistent, and keep the crew moving with confidence.

The ONE Hybrid tripod had a use for every single scene. Sometimes that meant traditional tripod work: stable framing, smooth movement, repeatable height changes between setups. But just as often it meant stepping outside traditional tripod limitations. Mounting a light to pan smoothly across mylar foil. Mounting a projector to throw shapes into a corridor made of dust sheets. Supporting a slider so I could add subtle motion without rebuilding the entire set up. Supporting a gimbal while the tripod legs are attached to a video dolly. Getting a high angle without a complicated rig. Dropping into a super low angle to make the floor feel cinematic and amplify the dancer’s movement.

And then there’s vertical. More and more shoots are requesting this format, cinematic wides for the main film, but also verticals for social cutdowns, behind-the-scenes, and teaser content. The ability to flip the 500X head  to shoot verticals with the push of a button is a genuinely practical time-saver. It keeps the camera secure, keeps the framing deliberate, and avoids that familiar moment where you’re trying to improvise a vertical solution when the clock is ticking.

The overall satisfaction with the ONE Hybrid tripod is its speed. The XTEND legs make it incredibly quick to adjust height, and that speed translates directly into more takes, more angles, and more creative options. When you’re jumping between setups, height changes happen constantly, eye level, chest level, waist level, floor level, overhead. If every adjustment costs you time, you feel it. But when adjustments are quick and predictable, you stay focused on performance and composition rather than the tech.

The XCHANGE plate  is another detail that supports this fast-moving workflow. It means you can easily switch between the 500X head and your next setup with the flick of a wrist. That sounds small, but on set it’s huge, especially on a shoot like this where a single idea can turn into three variations. I can go from locked-off stability to slider movement without turning it into a ten-minute reset.

But it’s also the smaller details and the thought that has been put into this tripod that become incredibly useful while working in real conditions. The rotating level bubble is a simple one, but it’s the kind of feature you appreciate when you’re shifting positions quickly and you need to confirm level at a glance, from whatever side you’re working. The side level lever for fine tuning the level helps you land the frame precisely without over-correcting.

The removable centre column is a big deal for super low shots, those floor-skimming angles that make movement feel dynamic and immersive. And the Easy Link accessory port is exactly the kind of practical feature that turns one piece of equipment into a small hub, because on a modern set you’re always attaching something: a monitor, an accessory arm, a small light, a transmitter, or whatever the shot demands.

It’s all of these details that bring this tripod together. The ONE Hybrid tripod doesn’t just “hold the camera”, it supports the way I actually work. It encourages fast decisions because it’s quick to reconfigure. It supports creativity because it makes unusual angles and alternate rigs feel normal. And it keeps the shoot moving because it removes friction in all the places that usually slow you down.

York Road Studio is built for versatility, and this dance shoot was a perfect example of that: multiple scenes, shifting needs, constant movement, and a pace that demanded equipment that could keep up. The Manfrotto ONE Hybrid  tripod did exactly that, reliable, adaptable, and genuinely designed for real-world set speed. When a tripod can move as fast as the ideas, you spend less time adjusting gear and more time capturing the moments that matter.