PIVOT POWER

Some tripods have an added attraction of a pivot facility for the centre

The Kenro and both Manfrotto tripods in this test group have the advantage of a pivoting centre column. This enables you to raise the centre column, rotate it through 90 degrees from its vertical orientation, and lock it into place as a horizontal boom. Benefits include the ability to shoot with ultra-wide-angle or even fisheye lenses, without the tripod feet creeping into the frame. A pivot facility is also useful for macros, where you need to position the front of a lens very close to the subject. Also, coupled with multi-angle tripod legs, a pivoting centre column enables low-level shooting without the need to invert the centre column, or switch to a short column. The Kenro comes with a secondary short column as well as a pivot facility, to keep options open.