Some of the small often overlooked features that make this product even more user friendly are the bubble level that is built into the head and the neat little retractable "tripod holding hook". The bubble level is obviously self explanatory, but I was really liking the "tripod holding hook" because if you are shooting a more run and gun project and don't have time to put it back in the soft case, it wraps around and holds the sticks together nicely.
This photo is an example of the highest position the sticks will go to.
Depth of Options
When looking at buying a tripod, one of the things I always look for is a good range of height variation. Can it shoot fairly high and more importantly how low can I get the whole thing? This feature was very important on the project (World of the Depleted Day 419) we tested the stick on because we wanted to show dynamic heroic upshots of the actors. A good portion of the shoot, the camera was at waist level or below and the Libec proved to perform best at these heights. When I looked up the specs in preperation for this review it stated that the maximum height was 61" and that the minimum was 30". I am not sure that number is entirely accurate. It seems that when you adjust the spreaders to their widest that you can go at least as low as 24", maybe even lower. This could just be wild speculation though because I can't go back and try it to prove that as a fact (we have already returned the sticks) and it was a really long day in the basement of the art annex.
In this image we can see the custom balance adjustment plate.
Performance
The LS-55(2A) does very well at keeping up with higher end sticks. It is very steady when panning to follow the action and fairly rock solid when locked off. There is a bit of play in the pan before the drag wants to engage. This could have been more of a problem had our camera package not been every gram of the allotted 22lbs. Make no mistake, when you have a HVX200 with a 200mm to 80mm zoom lens on a Redrock M2 35mm lens adapter and a full matte box plus an onboard monitor, tilting said camera can become scary.
