Manfrotto ONE Hybrid Tripod and 500X Fluid Head: NAB 2026 Hands-On

by Johnnie BehiriApril 28^th, 2026

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At NAB 2026, Manfrotto walked us through the ONE hybrid tripod paired with the 500X fluid head, a system designed for mirrorless shooters who move between stills and video on the same job. The XCHANGE quick-release base, modular center column with Q90 mechanism, and portrait-mode head all aim squarely at the speed and versatility problem hybrid creators face on set.

Manfrotto first introduced the ONE last summer at BILD Expo in New York, where Manfrott’s Paolo Frison walked us through the development story. You can read our first look from that show here and our more detailed launch coverage and comparison against the Sachtler FlowTech and Peak Design Travel Tripod here. The system is now shipping, and NAB gave us a chance to see it run through the full demo with Sofia Braccio, Senior Product Manager Video from Manfrotto.

The hybrid problem that the ONE is built around

The pitch hasn’t changed since launch: mirrorless shooters increasingly carry one camera body that handles both stills and video, but until recently, they still needed two tripods to support that workflow. According to Sofia, the ONE is Manfrotto’s answer for filmmakers and photographers who don’t want to choose between bringing the photo sticks or the video sticks to a job. The legs, the column, and the new head all share the same XCHANGE interface, so a slider or a different head can drop onto the same base without tools.

That hybrid framing also runs through the leg design itself. The aluminum and carbon fiber versions, both manufactured in Italy, use a non-round cross-section that Manfrotto says combines the rigidity stills shooters expect with the torsional resistance video pans require. Total payload on the legs alone is rated at 15kg (33lb), which gives plenty of headroom over the 5kg (11lb) limit on the matching head and leaves margin for heavier video-only configurations down the line.

Single-lever leg deployment

The most immediate thing you notice in person is the leg-release system. A single lever on each leg unlocks all sections at once, so the tripod opens to working height in a couple of seconds rather than the section-by-section sequence twist locks normally demand. Closing it down is just as quick.

For run-and-gun mirrorless work, that’s the kind of small time saving that adds up across a shoot day. It also lowers the threshold for repositioning between setups, especially when switching between stills and video angles on the same shot.

Modular center column with Q90 and ground-level mode

The center column is where the most engineering shows up. It can be raised conventionally for higher shooting positions, leveled with a single gesture using Manfrotto’s leveling base, or shifted into the Q90 horizontal position for overhead and product shots. The same hardware that handles stills work also serves food, flat-lay, and tutorial setups.

The lower section of the column also detaches without tools via a dedicated lever, which lets the tripod sit fully splayed for ground-level shooting at a working height of just 19cm (7.5in). That’s useful any time the column itself would otherwise hit the ground and stop you from getting the camera lower. At full extension, the system reaches 181cm (71.3in), and the folded length comes in at 81cm (31.9in), which keeps the closed footprint compact enough for travel.

The XCHANGE system

Above the column sits the XCHANGE base, which is the connective tissue of the whole concept. It’s a twist-lock interface that accepts the 500X head directly (no adapter plate needed), and it also accepts an XCHANGE plate with a 3/8″-16 screw, so any other head, slider, or support that takes a standard thread can be brought into the system. The plate includes anti-rotation teeth that lock the head securely in place once mounted.

The XCHANGE plate is sold separately as well, which means you can fit an existing slider, ball head, or fluid video head with one and move it freely between the ONE and any other rig that has an XCHANGE base. Sofia framed this as the part of the system that gets requested most often after demos: a way to standardize quick mounting across all the supports already in your kit, rather than committing to a single interface across the entire ecosystem.

A 3/8″-16 Easy Link socket on the side of the upper casting takes Manfrotto’s anti-rotation accessories, so an articulating arm with a monitor, microphone, or small light can attach to the tripod itself rather than adding a separate stand to the setup.

The 500X fluid head

The head launched alongside the tripod is the 500X, a 60mm flat-base fluid video head with on/off counterbalance, fluid drag on both pan and tilt, and a sliding camera plate. It’s rated for payloads up to 5kg (11lb), which covers the typical mirrorless rig with a lens, monitor, and on-camera microphone, plus a few accessories.

The 500X is XCHANGE-ready out of the box, so it drops onto the ONE with a click and locks into place via the anti-rotation teeth. It can also live on any other XCHANGE-compatible base, or attach to any standard 3/8″-16 mount, which keeps it useful across a wider gear ecosystem if you ever pair it with non-Manfrotto sticks.

The headline feature on the head is the hinged plate that swings the camera from landscape to portrait orientation without remounting. That’s a direct response to the volume of vertical content mirrorless shooters now produce alongside their horizontal work, and it’s the kind of small mechanism that removes friction from a part of the shoot day that usually involves loosening a quick-release clamp and reseating the camera body.

The kit ships with a smaller camera plate that Manfrotto designed specifically for compact mirrorless bodies, while the company’s standard longer plate remains available as a separate accessory for users who already work with that format on their existing rigs.

Pricing and availability

The ONE system is shipping now, and Manfrotto offers it in four configurations. The aluminum legs alone are $499 USD; the carbon fiber legs alone are $719 USD. The aluminum kit, which adds the 500X head and a carrying bag, is $679 USD. The carbon kit with head and bag is $879 USD. The 500X head sold separately runs around $220 USD, and additional XCHANGE plates are available as accessories so the system can be expanded across existing supports.

For full specs and the complete configuration list, head over to the Manfrotto ONE product page.

Are you in the hybrid-shooter camp who’d genuinely use one tripod for both photo and video, or do you still prefer dedicated sticks for each? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!