Kenro Ultimate Travel

£139/$210 A leaning tower of a travel tripod

Apivoting centre column is usually off-limits for travel tripods. Their lightweight build makes them more prone to toppling over when using the centre column as a horizontal boom. That makes the Kenro unique in present company, but it’s also about a third heavier than most competing tripods on test.

The Kenro has chunky 4-section legs and was an early adopter of 2-section extending centre column design. In this case, however, the combination does more than enabling an uncommonly tall max operating height of 190cm. At the centre column’s max extension, you can pivot it through 90 degrees and feed it back through the retaining bracket to enable the horizontal boom feature. A secondary panning lock screw is also fitted to the clamp. The ball head is chunky and features an independent panning lock and two spirit levels, but no adjustable friction damper.

Performance

The controls operate with smooth precision throughout, from the twist clamps on the leg sections, through the springloaded leg angle locks, to the main clamp and pan-release on the ball head. Overall, it’s a solid tripod that delivers good rigidity and performance, but is something of a heavyweight.