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Archive 2016 · 3 Legged Thing Roger - The Good & The Bad

  
 
matthewm
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · 3 Legged Thing Roger - The Good & The Bad


I was recently in the market for a small, light(ish) travel tripod. My wife and I booked a trip to Iceland and I realized that I didn't have a small tripod. Being that I switched to a three-lens Fuji setup some time ago, I really didn't need a large tripod anymore at all. After a little research, I ordered a MeFoto Road Trip. It sucked. The head movements weren't as smooth as I'd like, most notably the panning movement which had no dampening at all. After one day of use, the legs were gritty and started to bind up. This was after about 25 minutes of use in my yard.

I returned it promptly.

Enter the 3 Legged Thing Evolution 3 Pro Roger Aluminum Tripod with Airhed 3 Ball Head. For the sake of my typing and your reading, I'm callin' it Roger from here on out. Just a day after returning my MeFoto to Amazon, B&H put out a notice that they were offering $140 off of Roger, making it just $20 more than the MeFoto. Comparatively, there's no contest. Roger is better in every way, except that it's a tad heavier. Keep in mind that Roger typically sells for $370 so it should be better. But on sale at roughly the same price? Bingo.

The first thing you notice about Roger when unboxing him is the heavy duty canvas case. I don't usually use a case for my tripods (I strap it to the side of my Gud bag and it rides there), but it's a nice case and, if I were packing it in my checked luggage or traveling with it long distances in the car, I'd pack it up in its case for safe-keeping and also to keep all the pieces and parts together.

Unpacking Roger from his case, you find what I like to describe is a "less conventional color scheme." I've read online that some find the 3LT tripods to be positively ugly. Personally, I dig it. It's a nice departure from the standard black and gray. The cappuccino-colored joints contrast nicely with the electric blue head (which happens to be one of my favorite colors anyway). The little pops of copper in some of the hardware, QR plate and knobs are funky and fun and I like it. It'll probably get you some attention, but that attention might be a good thing, especially if your subject is a little uneasy. Bust out a funky fresh 3LT tripod and use it as an icebreaker.

My next impression was not a good one. I ordered two of these and the first one I opened was broken in a couple of places. First, I noticed that when I unfolded the tripod, the bottom section of two of the legs slid out. "No big deal," I thought. "They probably didn't get tightened at the factory." Nope, they required a LOT of force on the releases to get them to stay put and even then, I could pull them out. Hm... Maybe a maintenance thing and something I could possibly deal with. But setting up the tripod, I noticed that the bubble level in the head was bone dry. Not a bubble to be had. Feeling it with my fingernail, I found a sizable crack in the plastic. There's no way this happened in shipping so it had to have been used or dropped or something. I promptly requested a return/exchange for that one at B&H which is currently pending via UPS.

The second one, was perfect right out of the box. The legs are in four sections and, coming from lever locks, I worried about the twist locks, but 3LT built them to require about 1/4 turn to loosen/tighten the leg sections and you can get at least 2, if not all 4 loosened all at once. It's faster than I thought it would be and is a great deployment. Also, coming from a 3-section tripod, the fourth section is nice for fine-tuning the height, especially for tabletop shooting, which I do a lot of with my review blog. The legs offer a few positions, giving you plenty of options and even the center column is in two sections making it very versatile. The only thing it lacks is a horizontal mode. I liked that on my Manfrotto tripod(s) and miss it here. It's handy for getting in a weird spot or for getting that tripod flat to the ground. My solution? I also employ a couple of small tripods (a Giottos pocket tripod thing which is fantastic and an Ultrapod II) both of which are used infrequently but fill a certain niche when I do need them. It'd be nice to be able to get the legs flat with the head sitting on the legs without any sort of extension to get the camera low to the ground. And you can do dirt stuff with this tripod because the legs are sealed unlike the cheaper MeFoto legs which got all gritty from one use (to the point that one of the leg locks wouldn't even tighten down all the way).

Speaking of the legs, one of the three legs is marked with a copper-colored ring. This leg unscrews and becomes a monopod. I think MeFoto implemented this much better, but 3LT did a fine job as well. I almost never use a monopod, but I suppose it might be fun for shooting video or something to get a slightly different perspective. I don't shoot with long lenses where I need the monopod support so it's one of those 5% use scenarios. For that little bit of use, it's fine.

Folding the tripod up is a cinch. After you collapse the legs, you pull out the stops at the top, extend the center column and the legs fold up around the head. All the handy movements on the head make sure the legs fold in tight and the whole package is like 15" long. It'll fit alongside most backpacks and the smaller size will be a welcome feature for anyone who has strapped a full-size tripod to their bag and hit their head on it when looking up. Also, it makes it so your pack isn't top-heavy.

The head is perhaps the shining star of this tripod. First, and you can call me superficial all you want, it looks awesome. Blue and black and coppery orange. Yep. Sign me up. It's Arca Swiss compatible, making it compatible with all my existing QR plates, brackets, etc. Nothing new to buy. No funky system. No brand-specific, overpriced plates. It's also PeakDesign compatible, although I have zero experience with their products and don't care to use them as they don't offer anything I particularly find interesting for my needs. YMMV and if you're a Peak person, this tripod works with your stuff. The ball movements are extremely smooth and feel great. There's one knob for the ball movement (versus a knob to loosen the head and another knob to adjust tension, which is cumbersome, in my opinion). Loosen it a little and you get subtle, tight movements. Loosen it a lot and you get easy, fast movements. The panning functionality is extremely well-damped. Maybe too much. It's SMOOOOOOOOTH and feels a lot like a fluid video head. And, perhaps the BEST component of the head is the QR clamp. There's a bubble level to get the clamp level, but then the clamp has a built-in panning function!! I'll wait a second for you to think on that.

YOU DON'T NEED A LEVELING PLATE! You level the clamp, pop your camera in-place and pan for video or panoramics and you're level. So nice. And, the clamp is just as well-damped as the base of the head.

There are some other goodies provided with this tripod like rubber feet which can be swapped for spiked feet (included) and a little carabiner clip for attaching a weight or your camera bag to the center column. A nice touch. You get a sticker and that sweet little carry bag with a removable shoulder-strap and a lay-flat handle for hand-carry. The tripod is SMALL, but it extends over 6' fully deployed. Way taller than I'll ever need.

All-in-all, I'm super pleased with the (working) Roger. The other one was, I'm sure, a fluke and B&H will make it right. I just gotta hope it gets turned around and back to me before my trip at the end of the month. I'm getting antsy... I'd recommend you check out the 3LT lineup. At full price, it's a good value for travel (or daily use with smaller systems). At sale price, it's a tremendous value and definitely worth picking up if you're in the market for a smallish tripod with an enormous feature set.

Hope this is helpful! Hit me up with questions, comments or concerns. I'll do my best to answer.



Mar 14, 2016 at 01:46 PM
jharter
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · 3 Legged Thing Roger - The Good & The Bad


Thanks for the review. What is the folded length of the Roger?

I have a 3LT Brian that I use for travel. It is bigger than the Roger I think.

I keep trying to find a travel tripod with the shortest folded length that will support my heaviest gear (Sony A7rII with a 70-200/4). My goal is that the tripod fit in any carry on I own including harassed spinners without having to be packed diagonally. My Feisol is a bit too long. My 3LT Brian is about right, extends to ~7 feet, but is not as solid as I would like. I just picked up a Sirui T2205-X carbon fiber tripod with 5 leg sections and folded length of just 14.6 inches. I think it will be the winner. It is adequately solid. It is a little short so I have to stoop a bit with the center column at minimum height. The leg diameter is more stout than the 3LT. Both are more solid than my friend's MePhoto.



Mar 14, 2016 at 07:42 PM
matthewm
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · 3 Legged Thing Roger - The Good & The Bad


jharter wrote:
Thanks for the review. What is the folded length of the Roger?

I have a 3LT Brian that I use for travel. It is bigger than the Roger I think.

I keep trying to find a travel tripod with the shortest folded length that will support my heaviest gear (Sony A7rII with a 70-200/4). My goal is that the tripod fit in any carry on I own including harassed spinners without having to be packed diagonally. My Feisol is a bit too long. My 3LT Brian is about right, extends to ~7 feet, but is not as solid as I would like.
...Show more

Folded length of the Roger is 15.6", I think. So a little longer than the 14.6" of the Sirui. But very sturdy and over 6' tall at it's full extension.



Mar 14, 2016 at 07:44 PM





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