Robert Watcher
Well-known member
Although I don’t often use a tripod in my travel and street photography, last December Before heading back to Central America, I decided to see if there was something available that was truly compact, light weight and most importantly durable. Something that I could use from time to time that would support the very small and lightweight needs of my Olympus micro 4/3 gear.
There were a lot of inexpensive light weight tripods available at box stores, but if my choice was one of them I wouldn’t bother. At the other extreme were a lot of quite expensive specialty compact travel tripods being promoted as the best options on review websites, on YouTube and photography forums. But again if my choice was one of them, I wouldn’t bother. Been making out fine without having to spend any money.
One day I noticed an online ad from a guy selling damaged box tripods from Manfrotto. I am a long time user of Manfrotto tripods and lightstands, so the ad caught my attention. The problem was that I had never heard mention of this model on any of the reviews, and so was sceptical. Nevertheless, I met up with him and got a hands on feeling of it’s usefulness.
So a couple things that were significant for my needs, was that it easily fit in the center pocket of the simple backpack that I have on me every day as I walk the streets. This is not a camera bag, but a simple Swiss Gear pack that I picked up for $20. It has pouches galore - a pocket for my iPad, half pocket in front for my camera when I don’t have it strapped to my wrist, side pockets that hold a couple extra lenses or chargers when I want to take them along, as well as perfectly sized pockets for our thermos’ and ultimately a tripod of some sort - as well it is a space to load up groceries for the mile walk home.
There were a lot of inexpensive light weight tripods available at box stores, but if my choice was one of them I wouldn’t bother. At the other extreme were a lot of quite expensive specialty compact travel tripods being promoted as the best options on review websites, on YouTube and photography forums. But again if my choice was one of them, I wouldn’t bother. Been making out fine without having to spend any money.
One day I noticed an online ad from a guy selling damaged box tripods from Manfrotto. I am a long time user of Manfrotto tripods and lightstands, so the ad caught my attention. The problem was that I had never heard mention of this model on any of the reviews, and so was sceptical. Nevertheless, I met up with him and got a hands on feeling of it’s usefulness.
So a couple things that were significant for my needs, was that it easily fit in the center pocket of the simple backpack that I have on me every day as I walk the streets. This is not a camera bag, but a simple Swiss Gear pack that I picked up for $20. It has pouches galore - a pocket for my iPad, half pocket in front for my camera when I don’t have it strapped to my wrist, side pockets that hold a couple extra lenses or chargers when I want to take them along, as well as perfectly sized pockets for our thermos’ and ultimately a tripod of some sort - as well it is a space to load up groceries for the mile walk home.


