LIGHTWEIGHT TRIPODS

The latest lightweight tripods have gone from strength to strength, and can be incredibly compact without compromising their operating height and load rating

Any outing is likely to be more pleasurable without a cumbersome tripod in tow. Conventional tripods tend to be big, heavy and unwieldy, so we often leave them at home, where they’re of no use whatsoever. By contrast, lightweight or ‘travel’ tripods are made to be compact and easily manageable. Traditionally, though, they’ve often been flimsy, relatively unstable and too small to enable a comfortable operating height.

The new breed of travel tripods aim to give you the best of both worlds. The vast majority have legs that swing upwards for stowage, so that the head is encircled by the feet. This reduces the folded height by around 8cm to 10cm. Some models also include as many as five sections in each leg and a two-section extending centre column, reducing the folded height even further, while still enabling a useful maximum operating height.

All of the tripods we’ve chosen for this Super Test are sold as kits, complete with heads. Ball heads are by far the most common, as there’s a further space-saving advantage, without the need for multiple locking levers that stick out from the head, or need to be removed to pack the tripod away. That said, the latest Manfrotto Befree kit bucks the trend with a slimline 3-way head, while the Peak Design tripod features a novel integrated head. Either way, they’re not short on sophistication and many heads feature independent panning locks and adjustable friction dampers, in addition to the main locking knob. Let’s take a closer look.