Reader's Comments - Index of - Free

Tripods -- Cheap and Compact
Leg angle is controlled by anodized aluminum bars with friction clamps. Very
slick. Too slick. The friction clamping mechanism can slip a bit - not enough to
spill a normal camera/lens load (35mm or most MF gear), but enough to mess up
your careful alignment on that Monarch butterfly you're trying to photograph. The
trick is to set those metal spikes (outdoors) or grippy rubber feet firmly after you've
got the leg angles set the way you want. No worse than fiddling with a Benbo and,
IMHO, less hassle than the Benbo. I'm considering roughing up the anodizing on
those friction bars to minimize the slipping.
The head can be attached to one of the legs, thoughtfully provided with the
appropriate bolt; or to the bottom of the geared elevator post. The other two legs
have accessory shoes for mounting doodads like Slik's Long Lens Support, flash
accessories, etc. These aren't standard flash shoes so you'll need to buy Slik's
adapter.
The tilt/pan head - a combination affair for the still photographer and casual
videographer - is very smooth for still work and only relatively smooth for video
work. It won't satisfy a videographer who wants a buttery, well damped fluid head,
but it only costs half the price of a minimally satisfactory Bogen/Manfrotto video
rig. I don't care for the twist-lock pan handle - sometimes it jabs me in the neck. I
keep saying I'm gonna take a hacksaw to it and trim about half the over-long handle
away. All the other knobs and such are just fine.
The quick release would amuse Kirk and Arca-Swiss afficianados. It consists of a
sort of metal button post that attaches to the camera and fits into a round (dime
diameter) hole in the tripod head. A flip-out plastic lever cams the post into
position. This rig is vice and virtue. You don't want to carry your precious gear
around mounted on this tripod - snag that flip-out lever on a branch and find out
just how rugged that F5 and 80-200/2.8 zoom really are. OTOH, if you discipline
yourself to take the camera off the 'pod before moving it, the QR is the quickest,
slickest thing around. When I last shot a wedding I mounted the QR posts on both
camera bodies and switched between handheld and tripod shots with ease. These
aren't just quick release posts - they're quick mounting posts too, quicker than
anything else out there.
Best sub-$100 tripod going, IMHO.
Image:SlikU212DX.JPG
-- Lex (perpendicularity consultant) Jenkins, March 12, 2002
Here's the tripod that Herbert Keppler calls the perfect travel tripod:
http://www.photo.net/equipment/tripods/cheap (12 of 15)7/3/2005 2:21:28 AM