Beginner Travel Tripod wanted

Darloboy68

Darloboy68

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Matt
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Hi, hope you can all give me some advice.
I need to purchase good quality tripod and head to take with me to the USA however, I also need to be able to use it for landscape photography. So it needs to be both compact but very stable. :tumbleweed:

I've had a look at the Manfrotto Befree and the Red Snapper but i'm still open to any other suggestions!

Many thanks.

:)
 
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Have a look at the Mefoto range, I've got the CF Globetrotter & I'm very happy with it
 
I've just bought a benro it25 from Jessops at £75....reviews all look good, I'll post back when it arrives
 
I have the Manfrotto Befree Carbon, Love the compact size and weight for carrying but am not major impressed with the stability at full height,
found myself not extending the legs too much and almost laying on the floor, Hope this helps
 
Do you have a budget? Something from Redged maybe?

I just received a TSC-525 from them and I’m actually very pleased with it. I normally use a Gitzo GT3542LS but I wanted something for more casual use that I could actually walk around with for a day without it killing me. The size/weight/stability ratio is really good; I haven’t seen anything else quite like it.

By the sound of it you’re going to want something more stable than the Redged TSC-525 though, so maybe the TSC-531? A Gitzo GT1542T would probably be perfect but it's about twice the cost!
 
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Difficult question to answer without knowing your budget - and you're likely to get a wide range of suggestions.

I bought a Feisol carbon fibre tripod some years ago and it has been a fantastic bit of kit - small, lightweight, stable and able to handle a heavy lens and camera combination.
 
I have a giottos vitruivan it folds up into my suitcase and travels to the usa with me every year. it folds up small and is very stable
 
Interesting thing. I've got a similar dilemma, got a red snapper carbon tripod but would have to put it in my suitcase for travelling. Got a few trips planned this year so was considering something for travelling. I was looking at the carbon Manfrotto Befree range
 
Hi, thanks for all your responses. Budget wise, I'm looking around the £120 mark.
 
I have the metal befree and can't fault it lovely piece of kit easy to use, light small and stable enough for my northern lights shots.
 
The mefoto globetrotter is about £160 but it does hold 12kg.

Your kit might not weigh 12kg but if it's windy it's useful if you can also hang a heavy bag from the tripod for stability.
 
broc said:
How heavy was your camera/lens?
Click to expand...
5d mkii and samyang 14mm for the northern lights have also used it occasionally with the 24-105mm I'm not a big tripod fan so unless it is essential I don't use it! Hence only buying one just before our trip to Iceland!
 
From my personal experience i have found using travel type tripods not to be very good and I've used the manfroto befree, red snapper, grottos vitruvian & Montana, main problem is most of them aren't very sturdy, they don't extend enough or its difficult to find a small head with 360 degrees panning. Unless you really need it to go in a suitcase or bag I would just get a good carbon or lightweight tripod instead, failing that gitzo do a very good 4 or 5 section tripod which is compact and light, it's really not worth scrimping on a good tripod as as you soon realise what a waste it can become. That's my opinion for what it's worth.
 
Thing is, I have a 055 but that's heavy and for home/ video use, I have a resnapper with a manfrotto head and that's perfect, but too long to go into my small suitcase and I doubt they'd let me take it as hand luggage on a plane, so I need a small, light tripod for occasional travel use. (Yes I know a third tripod, but they'll all have different uses)

I've got Venice and California to Vegas planned for this year, so something suitable for those night shots. Doesn't have to be super sturdy, it's to fill the gap
 
Redged tripods are fantastic on a budget, if you can find one in stock still as they just gone bust.
 
One other consideration - how many sections need to be released to get it to full height. The shortest, lightest designs often have too many which means it takes forever...
 
Thanks All, Managed to get a new Manfrotto Befree for £80.00 and I'm very pleased with it. Thank you for all your input.
 
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