There are 4 common styles of tripods you will see in broadcast

1. Studio Tripod

This is the most common style of tripod you will see out in the field.

Comes with two arms for attaching zoom and focus controls.

Features great stability and offers one or two stages for extending the legs.

The plate attaches to the camera and then locks in the rail system atop the tripod head.

This style is designed for lenses up to 26x in a studio configuration.

ENG Tripods are light and very low maintenance when setting up.

Designed so camera operators can move quickly from one location to another.

Their purpose is to help camera operators out in the field to get a steady shot or to frame an interview.

These are mainly used by news videographers when doing segments on the road, away from the studio.

These heavy duty tripods hold up around 200 Lbs. of equipment and are the standard tripod for box lens setups.

When building with this style of tripod, it is very important that you are not building alone because this equipment is very heavy and awkward.

The legs and head come in two separate pieces. These are mainly used in live sporting events and in big event spaces.

These heavy duty tripods hold up around 100 Lbs. of equipment and are the standard tripod for EFP lens setups.

Comes with two arms for attaching zoom and focus controls.

Similar to the Mitchell Base Tripods, these types of tripods also come with a detached head.

42x lenses are the most common lens size.