trstahly wrote:
No offense but best you have owned, you really do not have much experience with it if you just got it last night just curious how much experience you have with it so far? What conditions, wind, vibration, ease of use, experience with the head and locking mechanisms I am sure many would like to know more about how it works and is to use.
Just playing around with it in the house at this point, but I don't think I need to go to Patagonia with it to tell it's more stable than the couple Sirui travel units I have and have had. It's nicely compact as well, and I prefer the cam locks to twist locks in this case. Height it pretty much where I need it to be most of the time. The big downside to me is in vertical orientation as I don't use an L-bracket and you pretty much need one for vertical panos, so I'm not sure what I'll do there as I hate carrying extra gear or switching plates in the field. I like having the tool built into the leg. Lots of nice little touches.
Overall, it seems it'll do 98% of what I need it to and will encourage me to carry a tripod more than I do now due to the size and the easy strap attachments. The included bag is the nicest I've ever seen come with a tripod too. Time will tell with more use, but initial impressions are positive for me.
I don't know how people can effectively and efficiently use cameras/short lenses vertically on ball heads without L brackets. They just go together. The only times I would not use an L bracket would be with teles that have a mounting foot or handheld.
EB-1 wrote:
I don't know how people can effectively and efficiently use cameras/short lenses vertically on ball heads without L brackets. They just go together. The only times I would not use an L bracket would be with teles that have a mounting foot or handheld.
EBH
Totally agree. My L-bracket lives on my landscape camera. Never would I flip a ball head over onto it's side for vertical images.
L-brackets stay on my Sony bodies (A7R3 and A9) too because in addition to always being able to quickly attach to a tripod/monopod, it also makes the cameras more comfortable to hold (gives my pinky a place to rest). So win-win 😊
I never trust and buy anything from Kickstarter. I only buy things from reputable retailers and manufactures where I can return if items are not as expected or defective. People say "buy cheap buy twice" and I agree.
Got mine last night and it weighs 2 lbs and 15 oz without the plate. My RRS Sony A7R4 L plate and it's a good tight fit. I like the size and weight, and yes the head is odd but also got the head replacement part and so if I just hate the included head I could use any of the heads that I have.
So for satiability seams by grabbing 2 legs and twisting shows some flexing BUT not as much as I was expecting, but when you push down towards the center causes much more flexing but that's not would happen when using it because your camera weight would be divided by the 3 legs. I so far not dispointed with it overall and do realized with the Sony A7R4 I will use the 2 or 5 second self timer to give the tripod time to dampen when pressing the shutter button. I don't care that Peak Design says it will support 20 lbs that does not matter but I am confident that it will hold my A7R4 and the 200-600 without wind and the self timer.
I will be doing vibration testing with my A7R4 and a few of my lenses. Nobody should expect this tripod to be a sturdy as a bigger and heaver tripod! The quality seams good and any less I would say DON'T BUY but it's quite and I know what I am talking about as I have had many tripods and have had the FLM German made tripods.
Ok I got board and so I grabbed my Sony A7R4 & Sony 200-600 and my Peak tripod at max height, about 60 feet way at 600mm and zoomed in a max and moved the head about 2 inches up and spread the legs out for better support then just placing the tripod on the floor, NOTE: this was done with a basement below this floor so just walking caused lots of vibrations later I will do in on cement for more real testing.
I found that 2 sec and 5 sec were un usable and at 10 sec delay was good, in fact I tried a 5 sec delay and the IBIS and got better results than without but the winner is IBIS off and a 10 sec delay. Then I moved the head to the top and it was noticeable worse, mind you this is at 600mm and max magnification on the back of the LCD.
I also blew on the back of the camera and noticed it moved and took about 5 seconds to stop. So my thinking placing a camera bag in the center column will help as it can't hurt but again this is a very compact tripod with a kinda cool head. I do what to add my RRS BH-40 head to this tripod and see if the Peak head is causing more time to stop vibrating?
So again for a less then 3 lbs and small I think it beats any other $600 carbon tripod in it's class but I will repeat on cement and expect less time for vibrations from pressing the shutter button to die down quicker. Of course using a remove shutter release will let you to not need more then a 2 sec or a 0 sec shutter delay, but my concern is on windy conditions then don't extend the center column more then 1.5 to 2 inches and don't extend the last 2 legs as those are the least sturdy sections, but not as tall but for the a do all super compact and light tripod not bad. I also have a Lefoto CF tripod under 3 lbs that for $300 is a great small quality tripod and looking forward comparing.
cengell wrote:
So again for a less then 3 lbs and small I think it beats any other $600 carbon tripod in it's class but I will repeat on cement and expect less time for vibrations from pressing the shutter button to die down quicker. Of course using a remove shutter release will let you to not need more then a 2 sec or a 0 sec shutter delay, but my concern is on windy conditions then don't extend the center column more then 1.5 to 2 inches and don't extend the last 2 legs as those are the least sturdy sections, but not as tall but for the a do all super compact and light tripod not bad. I also have a Lefoto CF tripod under 3 lbs that for $300 is a great small quality tripod and looking forward comparing. ...Show more →
I don't have the 600 mm lens so I can't test like you did, but I did with a 135 mm prime. My conclusion is similar, if you need a travel tripod and understand the trade offs that come with a travel tripod, it is a very compact and easy to carry solution. The PD travel tripod works best with the center column down as far as possible and with counter weight. It is also more stable than any of my other travel tripods, especially the Sirui.
If you need ultimate stability, then this class of tripod is not for you as they all have compromises (i.e. the CenterColumn website is accurate)
I stated elsewhere that I thought that it is priced high for what it is. I stand by this conclusion. It is a exceptional $450 travel tripod ($500 shipped was really pushing it). If I were to buy it at $600, I would definitely move my budget up and buy a RRS tripod *unless* you really need the size. Even for me, I bought it for the size and still feel it is priced too high at its retail price and that the $500 KickStarter price was on the high side. I do like mine quite a bit, it is very easy to carry with me in situations where I would normally not take a tripod at all.
I’ve been playing with my PD TT inside the house. I set it up on my concrete, basement, floor with the center column raised to a minimum (just enough to use/tilt the ballhead as desired). I used a Sony A7R3 and the largest/heaviest lenses at my disposal. Focused at a point with maximum magnification on. I rapped one of the tripod legs with my knuckles and timed how long it took for the vibration to stop on the screen. The results I got were:
Less than 2 seconds with a 16-35GM @35mm
Less than 2 seconds with a 24-70GM @70mm
Less than 5 seconds with a 200-600G @600mm
There was obviously no wind, but under good weather conditions, I expect the tripod to perform well with my non-white lenses. I also use Sony’s bluetooth remote, which really helps with any tripod.
I played with my friend's CF PD tripod recently, but without camera. It is well designed and should be fine as a travel tripod. The weak link is the skinny lower leg section. Lots of flex. Seems nowhere near as stable as my RRS TQC-14 and more like my 3LT-Brian which also has the skinny terminal leg sections. Also, the tripod feels remarkably dense - dense enough that I didn't believe the weight specs. I am sure they are accurate but the thing is really dense.
The head is clever and works like a scaled down and more plastic Arca Swiss P0. The ball head will function with just minimal elevation of the center column.
One thing I might not like but could not verify - I usually hand carry my tripod with two legs against the center column and one leg splayed out for hand carry. With round legs that is comfortable. Not sure how comfortable the PD polygonal legs are with hand carry.
Just got my Peak Design travel tripod. It’s better than I had expected. I’ve had Gitzo carbon fiber tripods since they were first offered, and really right stuff ball heads also since they were first offered. . . . This thing rocks! . . . Better built than I’d hoped. The ball head is very secure, no drift at all. The legs extend more quickly and more easily than any tripod I’ve owned - Gitzos, Bogens, various others. Haven’t found a perfect tripod yet. $500 or whatever I paid (i don’t remember exactly) seems very reasonable. . . . Check it out yourself. We’ve seen evidence in this post that some won’t like it. I would be surprised if some don’t love it.
Got my PD travel tripod a month ago. It is the aluminum version not carbon fiber. I've used it a few times, seems to work fine. Of course there are tradeoffs but so do other travel tripods. Its not intended for heavy equipment. To me the biggest benefit is the compact size. I can throw it inside a camera case more easily than an other I've tried.
Of course I have a smaller investment than those who bought the carbon fiber version which seems to be everyone else in this thread. Maybe my expectations are lower! I did not feel the small weight difference was worth the large cost difference. Possibly the aluminum version is more issues? Most likely I will avoid using the smallest leg section when possible. Not a major hardship on a unit this small.
