Use:
The tripod is a pleasure to use. The legs slide in and out very smoothly/easily, and with one short throw of the locks (1/4 twist), all the leg sections can be unlocked at once due to the anti-rotation locks. That the last leg section rotates does not matter because there obviously isn’t any sort of twist lock on it. Pulling on the shortest leg with a smooth tug extends the whole leg. Once the legs sections are retuned to the closed position, all of the leg locks can be similarly locked with another short throw.
The legs can fold over the ballhead and center column to fold this tripod down to a compact size. It’s rather incredible.
The legs are very stable for use with wide to short-telephoto lenses, but the difference in stability between being put in low-angle positions with only one or two legs extended vs. the tall position with all legs extended is definitely noticeable when the camera is mounted and I try to manually induce vibrations into the system. At lower positions and less than full leg extension, the tripod is VERY stable with 5D and 135L.
Full leg extension, with the center column extended is obviously less stable, though I had no trouble making sharp images with MLU and the 135L combination; I would not use this tripod at full extension, with center column up, with the 5D + 135L in strong wind. Adding weight to the center column significantly increased the stability. This is NOT a long-lens tripod, and its intended use is for my 5D, 24mm, 35mm, and 135mm (on rare occasions). I may add a 16-35mm. With those lenses, the tripod excels in all positions with a little care.
I’m not a huge fan of the rubber grip/locking mechanism on the center column. I would prefer a solid, molded “knock-off” wheel style locking mechanism—but I assume the rubber leg-lock style is used to keep the weight down.
Unfortunately, there is no stock way to do something like the ground-set on a Gitzo. You can remove the center column and flip it upside down, though it’s a bit of a pain to do this. That said, the 14” minimum height limit is fine for me.
One thing I noticed myself doing is not fully tightening the center column at times. This is stupid for a couple reasons, but I found myself doing it because the center column takes a decent amount of resistance to slide up and down—and the groove in it that prevents it from turning gives the false impression that the column is locked. It’s not a big problem with the column down (which is how I mostly shoot), but the whole system is more stable when the column is locked down securely.
This tripod is LIGHT, and folds down super compactly. I can throw it inside (!) a regular backpack with some cloths and two lenses and not notice I even have it in there. I don’t hesitate to take it with me.
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