Photography News 16

Tripod guide

The best lightweight legs around Pick a light, strong and fully featured tripod and you’ll see the benefit in your shots CARBON-FIBRE TRIPODS

Benro C2970F Versatile Transformer £199 Offering flexibility in shooting positions, the C2970F is suited to photographers who need to work at awkward angles or get close to the subject – as with macro and nature work. The centre column quickly switches from vertical to horizontal, and unlike many can be locked in place anywhere through its swing. Add in its adjustable legs, which can be independently locked at three angles and you can shoot in small spaces, on uneven surfaces or at ground level (minimum vertical height is 39cm). Maximum height is a respectable 179.9cm (149cm without centre column extended) and it’s strong (maximum load is 12kg) and light at 1.64kg. Elsewhere, there are rubberised leg locks that aid water and dust resistance and it comes with a choice of screw-in rubber feet or stainless steel spikes, so you can work more easily on a range of surfaces. There’s a hook for adding ballast, and one of the legs is complemented by a thick foam rubber sleeve to give a more comfortable carry (especially in freezing conditions) and you also get a durable shoulder strap and case.

Slik Pro 724 CF £170

Proving a tall, solid and adaptable shooting platform at an affordable price, the Slik Pro 724 CF has four-section legs and weighs in at only 1.4kg. A maximum shooting height of 163.6cm can be reached (131.1cm without the centre column extended), and while the centre column can be removed and reversed for inverted ground-level shooting, its lowest vertical arrangement is 18cm. The whole package folds to 47.3cm, making it an easy enough fit for suitcases or holdalls, and its leg locks are of the twisting type, allowing you to loosen all three at once for quicker setting up. At 5kg, it doesn’t have the highest load rating of the tripods featured here, but that’s more than enough to take a typical enthusiast DSLRand lens. For abetter footingonawkward surfaces, the Slik Pro 724 CF’s legs can be independently locked at three angles, and the centre column carries a hook for attaching a counterweight in windy conditions. Neoprene grips are used on all three legs for a more comfortable carry, and a bag is included along with a three-year warranty.

Words by Kingsley Singleton

Spending all your money on a top-of-the-line camera, then using it on a sub-standard tripod is like buying a Ferrari then rocking up at Honest Dave’s Caravan of Remoulded Tyres to get its shoes: a terrible idea. Like tyres on a car, the tripod is what’s connecting your camera to the ground, and anything less than a stable platform will cause problems, especially if you’re shooting at very high resolution or using telephoto lenses. But good, solid tripods don’t need to be heavy and cumbersome. In fact, carbon-fibre tripods provide all the stability you need and weigh as much as 40% less than similarly spec’d aluminium versions, so they can go anywhere you do. Carbon fibre won’t glue itself to your hands in freezing temperatures, or get stupidly hot in direct sunlight, either. And while the higher cost of materials involved does make picking the right one all the more important, if they’re taken care of, these high-spec models will last a lifetime. In this guide you’ll find ten great options, which vary in cost and features offered. Some include heads, but when buying enthusiast and pro-spec tripods like these it’s more common to choose the head separately, basing it on your style of photography. Assess your own photographic needs before matching them to one of the options here. Some pack down small for easier transportation, some offer greater height, or speed of set-up, some offer more stable support… but they’re all great pieces of kit in their own right. Carbon fibre tripods provide stability andweigh asmuch as 40% less than similarly spec’d aluminiumversions

SPECS

LEG SECTIONS 4 MAXLOAD 5kg WEIGHT 1.4kg

LEG SECTIONS 3 MAXLOAD 12kg WEIGHT 1.64kg

MAXHEIGHT 163.6cm MINHEIGHT 18cm CLOSEDLENGTH 47.3cm

MAXHEIGHT 179.7cm MINHEIGHT 39cm CLOSEDLENGTH 64.5

CONTACT www.sliktripod.co.uk

CONTACT www.kenro.co.uk

Photography News | Issue 16