Manfrotto has completed its ONE platform with a set of legs built specifically for video: it is called ONE Video, and it ships as a kit with the new 502X fluid head. The announcement landed on 2-3 September 2026, with the public debut at IBC in Amsterdam. The aluminium kit with the 502X costs $599.95; the version with the lighter 500X head sits at around $520.

What is actually new here

The real news is not the head, it is the legs. ONE Video has no centre column: height comes entirely from the leg sections, and all sections deploy together thanks to the patented XTEND mechanism. Anyone who has set up a video tripod in a tight location knows how much time goes into releasing three flip locks per leg, three times over. Here it is a single movement.

The leg profile is not round, and that serves one specific purpose: torsional rigidity. On a slow pan with a long lens, it is torsion that makes the frame wobble, not weight. Add levelling integrated at the base, so you are not redoing the horizon one leg at a time, and an XCHANGE mount that lets you swap head or slider without stripping half the setup.

The real numbers

  • Kit weight: 4.7 kg
  • Safety payload (UNI/PdR 105:2021): 8 kg
  • Maximum height 149 cm, minimum 28 cm, closed 79.7 cm
  • 3 sections, leg angles at 20 – 50 – 81.5 degrees, flip locks, removable rubber feet with spikes underneath
  • 502X head: 75 mm flat base, tilt from -70 to +90 degrees, continuous fluid drag on both pan and tilt
  • Variable-step counterbalance, optimised at 4.4 kg at a 55 mm centre of gravity
  • 504PLONG-type plate with side loading, 3/8″ anti-rotation Easy Link attachments
  • Padded bag included. Designed and made in Italy

Our take, as a rental house

Read those two payload figures carefully, because this is where people get it wrong. The stated safety payload is 8 kg, but the counterbalance system is calibrated at 4.4 kg with a 55 mm centre of gravity: the 502X is built for a mirrorless or a compact camcorder, not for a cine camera with a matte box and PL glass. A Sony FX3 with cage, monitor and a 24-70 sits on it comfortably. A stripped-down Sony FX6 is already at the edge of the counterbalance range, and a Canon EOS C70 in full documentary dress depends heavily on how much you hang off it.

For us the strongest feature is the 28 cm minimum height with no centre column: for low shots in a kitchen, a workshop or on a work table, that is normally the point where you have to bring out a separate mini tripod.

The 149 cm maximum, on the other hand, is a genuine limit if you shoot interviews with a standing subject and want the camera at eye level with the legs spread wide. Do the maths before the shoot day, not on set.

Buy or rent

Let us be honest: at $600 a video tripod is not really a rental item, it is something a full-time shooter buys. Renting makes sense in two cases. First: as a second or third camera support on a two-day multicam shoot, where buying two more cannot be justified. Second: a production flying into Abruzzo that would rather not check in supports, which are bulk and weight at full airline rates.

If you need support for a heavier configuration, the conversation changes completely and you need a head from another class: in that case take a look at the full range in our equipment catalogue, where we carry supports and heads rated for complete cinema bodies.

One last practical note: the Easy Link points on the leg are not a brochure detail. Mount an arm there with an Atomos Ninja V or a small light and you have removed one stand from right next to the camera. On a tight set that is space you get back, and by the end of the day it is one less thing to move at every setup change.

Full specifications on the official Manfrotto page; coverage of the announcement with the first hands-on photos is on Newsshooter.