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Kathmandu Compact Tripod (442g) ReviewOverview
Camera gear is in some ways the bane of my life. It is the only stuff that I carry that tends to be both heavy and non-essential. What is even worse is that when you are not carrying kit you can be sure that it will be then that you miss the best photos. Last weekend I was in my local Kathmandu looking at the sale items and saw they had this tripod at half price. At £22 I thought it was expensive but at £11 it was worth a shot. From the specs above you can see that as a tripod it has a usable height for most things and at 35cm is small enough to fit in or on the outside of most packs. Naturally this tripod has reduced weight by using thinner and shorter tubing than your normal full-size tripod and this has a big impact on the stability of the tripod as you extend the legs. At minimum height the tripod is rock-solid and I would trust it with a 35mm SLR *. With one section extended the max working height is 69cm it is a little less stable but stil good enough for a 35mm SLR *. With two sections extended the working height is 88cm and the stability is still very good and would still cope OK with an SLR *. With all the leg extensions extended it is definitely more wobbly (at 106cm) but is still usable with an SLR *. Now at last we can look at the tripod used with a light digital camera (which is why I bought it). We are now into a completely different league. The reason that tripods are so bulky and heavy is that they are used with bulky and heavy cameras that need lots of support. It follows that if the camera weighs nothing then a skinny tripod will be just fine... * When using an SLR with this tripod it would be preferable to use a remote trigger or a timer to prevent any risk of camera shake. Indoor TestingBefore taking a trip into the hills I thought it would be sensible to test everything indoors first where conditions can be controlled. Placing my 35mm SLR onto the trip shows that even with a normal lens on the camera the tripod is being pushed a little. It is still usable but would require a trigger or a timer to prevent me inducing any judder into the setup. In real life if I was using an SLR I would take something much heavier to support the weight. Back in the real world everyone is using digital cameras and these weigh only a fraction of the weight of a traditional SLR. Therefore the tripods needed do not need to be anywhere near as bulky. To test the stability I used a Nikon Coolpix L6 in Macro mode and in poor light and deliberately underexposed by 2 stops. This was enough to give me 'camera shake' warnings and so valid for the test. I took several shots at different exposures and all were perfect and showed now signs of shake even when blown up to several times normal size. Outdoor TestingClick on image to see at full size a I went to the Lake District to take some winter photos. This tripod went with me to be tested. The camera shown is a Canon Powershot A80 - a not-so-compact digitcal camera. The tripod (in the supplied pouch) fits very nicely under the compression straps on the pack and is easy enough to unpack from there. As has already been mentioned it is not a heavyweight tripod and there is a noticable bit of wobble when you put pressure on the tripod to take a shot. In practice however this is not an issue. I have taken some low-light photos using the tripod and the results have been good. Early ConclusionsI think this will be a good light tripod for the modern digital photographer. For SLR users they will have to treat the unit more tenderly but the payoff is a compact tripod at a low weight. Overall then, it it is good at what it does for what it is but is never going to replace a heavyweight tripod for some people. But, as a tripod for use with lightweight digital cameras it works very well. It has occurred to me that it would be possible for me to knock up a very light sectional tripod out of stock tubing but the probable weight of 300g might not be worth the extra hastle of assembly and practicality. |
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