Please suggest me a light Travel Tripod

chouglez

chouglez

Messages
3,824
Edit My Images
No
I currently have a Manfrotto 190 PROB and with ball head which becomes a tad bit heavy to lug around. Please suggest me a light travel tripod. Budget around £100

Many thanks.
 
I have a Mefoto Roadtrip and the difference in carrying that and it's lightweight head compared to the 190 x-pro b is amazing, especially on a long walk in the hills, highly recommended.

It is light, but also very stable for its size, and sits nicely in the side pocket of my rucksack, as opposed to carrying it in my hand (or my wife's) all day!
 
david357 said:
I have a Mefoto Roadtrip and the difference in carrying that and it's lightweight head compared to the 190 x-pro b is amazing, especially on a long walk in the hills, highly recommended.

It is light, but also very stable for its size, and sits nicely in the side pocket of my rucksack, as opposed to carrying it in my hand (or my wife's) all day!
Click to expand...

Hi David,

Thanks for your reply. Have you tried a dSLR (70D or similar) with 70-200 2.8 lens attached on the tripod? Wonder if it will take the load and still be sturdy?
 
chouglez said:
Have you tried a dSLR (70D or similar) with 70-200 2.8 lens attached on the tripod? Wonder if it will take the load and still be sturdy?
Click to expand...

I used the roadtrip with a D800 with 70-200 f2.8, no problems.
 
You can take very long exposure sharp photos with a heavy camera on aa most unsuitably light tripod if there's no wind and you wait long enough for it to stop wobbling before firing the shot with a wireless remote. I've done that in museums and churches. I've also been unable to shoot on top of a hill in a wind so fierce that it was hard to stand up and the sturdiest most heavily weighted and tethered tripod wouldn't have been still enough. It's all question of trade offs. You can increase the sturdiness of a light tripod a lot by keeping the centre column down, not extending the final leg sections, and hanging your gear bag off the weight hook on the column bottom.

If you like the Mefoto Roadtrip but think it is a bit too flimsy, you can just move up to the very similar but bigger heavier & sturdier Mefoto Globetrotter. If that's not too big & heavy :-)
 
chris malcolm said:
You
If you like the Mefoto Roadtrip but think it is a bit too flimsy, you can just move up to the very similar but bigger heavier & sturdier Mefoto Globetrotter. If that's not too big & heavy :)
Click to expand...

I've got the Globetrotter CF, it's been to Iceland twice & all over the UK. Not got a bad thing to say about it :)
 
Benro IT15 is a considerably cheaper option, have one and do recommend it. Does all the stuff of the Mefoto ones at half the price and iirc Benro used to own Mefoto
 
I use a Benro A1682T travel tripod. I used to wedge a Manfrotto 190 diagonally across the suitcase, but this fits better. It's fine for city night photography, but the 190 was much more sturdy, you could use it in the open countryside. I've been on Shetland for the last week and on the coast its been very windy, no way would I use the Benro there. I did think about using my wife as a wind break, but she wouldn't stand still for me in the rain. Light, small and sturdy don't all go together.
 
Depends where you're going. In cities, I use an ARRI superclamp - can clamp to railings, benches, sign posts... and is rated to 15kg, can add a tripod head. Costs about £20 with a 1/4" and 3/8" spigot (more if bought from a photography shop).
 
Thank you all for your kind advise. Much appreciated.

Doing some more research today, all arrows point to Mefoto from a travel tripod stand point.

The CarbonFibre ones are around 100 quid dearer and wonder if it's worth spending that kind of extra money for about 200-300 gms less weight to carry?

Any one has a Mefoto carbon fibre ones and could vouch for them?
 
My best travel tripod is Gitzo series 3 or series 2, and if you want a lightweight head then i recommend you to go with Markins Q3Traveler.
 
chouglez said:
Thank you all for your kind advise. Much appreciated.

Doing some more research today, all arrows point to Mefoto from a travel tripod stand point.

The CarbonFibre ones are around 100 quid dearer and wonder if it's worth spending that kind of extra money for about 200-300 gms less weight to carry?

Any one has a Mefoto carbon fibre ones and could vouch for them?
Click to expand...

I dithered for ages on CF or not CF after all it's £2 a gram difference ! But after a lot of wallet pondering I bought the CF on the ground of i'd hate to have bought the cheaper option with the thought of less weight always on my mind
 
Last edited:
mrgubby said:
I dithered for ages on CF or not CF after all it's £2 a gram difference ! But after a lot of wallet pondering I bought the CF on the ground of i'd hate to have bought the cheaper option with the thought of less weight always on my mind
Click to expand...

Thanks Brian. CF seems the way to go
 
I have the Mefoto Globetrotter in aluminium. The carbon fibre version seemed only a little lighter for a lot more money, and googling for lots of comparisons of aluminium vs CF I formed the impression that the metal one stood up to being knocked around better. On a holiday in Sicily I had no problem trudging up steep hills in hot sun with that tripod and a few lenses. But I saw no other tourist photographer with a big camera and a tripod. I chatted to several who were amazed that I could manage to walk around all day with that weight. So how much you can comfortably carry is clearly very personal. When I retired (early because of failing health) I couldn't even carry a DSLR for more than a mile without needing a rest. An exercise programme of walking as far as I could while gradually increasing the weight of the gear bag sorted that.
 
I have the Sirui as my travel tripod. Very light, have used it with my 300mm 2.8.. Works fine.
 
I also have the manfrotto 190 PROB and was after a travel tripod, I opted for the Manfrotto Befree (aluminium) for two reasons.

Firstly because I find it convenient to keep all my quick release plates/heads the same although if you're travelling and only taking one tripod it's easy enough to switch about. Also after having a look at a few I found the rigidity vs weight was better than the others in the shop at the time.

I've just taken the tripod all around the Baltic for the summer and found it did the job very well, tucked into my bag for flights with no issues etc. It's definitely no replacement for a bigger heavier tripod but a fantastic compromise (y)
 
Velbon ultra rexi l
 
Not 100 quid but another new Befree user, ULTRA light and as said also in my case the same PL200 plates as my main tripod :)
 
A very lightly used BeFree could be advertised in the Accessories Classified section for £100 if required......
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top