Tripod Reviews

This tripod has one glaring flaw...the center metal post screw mounts into an aluminum head screw hole. I used this tripod about five times before the head was completely stripped, and I never applied much pressure to the head mount. Very poor design of an otherwise nice tripod!

This is a high-end Velbon tripod, but if you have a few extra dollars and take photography seriously, it might pay to get this one.

The height is great and overall body construction is EXTREMELY solid. Not rickety at all. The pan head pans smoothly and the legs lock easily and firmly. Invest wisely in this Velbon. :)

I think it will be handy in some situations around the house (eBay Pix). It definitely helps use ambient lighting in low light situations. I can't "picture' using it out and about. I think it would slide right off the hood of your car (older Volvos excepted.) Something non-skid on the feet would be nice. Will there be a rock or wide ledge available at appropriate height and distance from your subject? Maybe useful if you take pictures of lawn worms or want to snap Puxatawney Phil while you are lying on your belly like the rugged photo-journalists we are. Yes, I'm off to cover breaking world events with my Mighty Mizco! See you there, bring tofu! Please know my tounge is in my cheek and that I noticed some reviewers seemed unclear on the concept of a VERY short tripod. Peace.

Fluid heads are found on professional tripods and allow butter-smooth pans and tilts damped by heavy oil or grease. This is just an inexpensive tripod with a plastic head. It's good plastic, but it flexes. For the money, it's perfectly okay, but don't expect to put a camcorder on it and get a jerk-free pan.

It's reasonably compact and light, and the legs are metal with snap-lock type leg locks. Just don't put your Calumet view camera on this thing and try to make like Ansel Adams. For anything the size of a Canon G-series digital camera or smaller, it's fine. The nylon carry bag is a nice little plus.

I bought this product recently in order to tape a few of my childrens' soccer games. I found that it's light weight was usefull, but the supposedly easy length adjustment was not as advertised. I found that the product was difficult to use in this way and caused way too much shaking for my vid cam. I also had problems with the rubber leg mounts that seemed to "scuff" the tiles at home. But I did like the the solidity of the product when correctly positioned. I would suggest you search elsewhere unless the price comes down from $89.95

As soon as I received the tripod, I unpacked it and started to unfold it for tripod use. Did what I was told to do (ie instructions on tripod)and promptly broke one of the legs.

This is not a Bogen or a Gitzo or even a Slik, nor did it cost as much!

In all fairness for a kid starting to take the step from snapshots to photography, this mono/tri pod might be just the ticket!
Adult Photographers, pay the money for quality!

I really liked the usefulness of the Hakuba monopod 10 and its slender, compact size. Great for travel. The main telescoping sections are all metal. But, here's the big BUT -- the two non-telescoping flip-out short legs are plastic. Both of mine now have small cracks where the legs are attached to the main monopod shaft. This occured under the weight of a Nikon FM and a plastic-barrel telephoto lens, not a very heavy load.

So, if you want a slender monopod, it's fine. But as a tabletop tripod, I'm afraid this isn't the best choice -- not until Hakuba makes those two short legs of the same metal as the main monopod.

If you don't expect much out of this tripod, it might work for you. The head basically doesn't allow for any positioning of the camera. I bought it for a small camera, and it works all right, but the mount on my Canon S100 is on the side, so it has trouble balancing the camera. Since I can't really point the camera on the tripod, it's useless for macro work. I'm actually not sure when I'll use this.

For the price, it might be worth it, but I would suggest you go with a real tripod (even a small one), you'll be much happier.

I have been looking for a cheap minipod for a long time (and saw a Bogen at a local camera shop...). So I bought this one AND the Tiffen on Amazon because they were both really inexpensive and I wanted to see the difference between the 2. (To be warned: on the back of the cardboard package, it says "Tiffen," so even though it is branded "Kodak Gear," it's probably made by Tiffen.)
To describe it (in lack of a picture of the item): it's very light (all plastic), folds into a blunt wedge about 6" long, and provides only limited amount of movement, though it might not be stable with a very heavy camera. The Tiffen miniphotopod, by comparison is substantially heavier (mostly metal), larger (~8" long x 1" thick cylinder), provides pretty much 3-D freedom (ball/socket joint) of motion, though not necessarily more stable.
The Kodak Gear minipod works very well with a nikon coolpix (I have the 950), though you will not be able to position the camera vertically due to the design of the mount (basically a pivot hinge) such that the camera hits the legs of the tripod before getting to the 90degree tilt. If your camera's tripod mount is near the edge of the camera, you might be able to use this minipod to shoot vertical pictures.
For conventional photographers: be advised that you will probably need a table of other high surface to shoot off of, or else your face will be pressed against the ground, trying to see through the tiny viewfinder of the camera!! For digital photographers: pretty much the same holds true, because the LCDs are not easily seen from an angle, especially in bright sunlight. For Coolpix and similar (2-piece digital camera) photographers, this tripod is excellent, since you can screw the camera to the minipod, then tilt the LCD to a nice viewable angle, lock the tripod at that angle, then rotate the lens to capture your image!
I just came back from vacation and this minipod let me take so many pictures of my family and me--which might not have been possible without it, or much more difficult to say the least.
All in all, I would give this minipod 5.5 of 5 stars for coolpix950/990/995 photographers (3of5 stars for general photographers), because of weight/portability/size/usefulness with my camera equipment. A full-sized tripod will obviously give you the best performance, if you can lug it everywhere, but for spontaneous self-timer portraits of yourself (and those close to you), this minipod is the way to go.

They claim a maximum magnification of 420. I have the following accessories: UWA 4.7mm eyepiece, SP 6.4mm eyepiece, Barlow 2x and the erecting prism.

Due to the poor quality of the mirror/reflector I can only magnify up to 114x (the standard 26mm with the 2x Barlow).

I do not get a clearer nor a better image with the Ultra Wide 4.7mm eyepiece and the 6.4mm eyepiece also has the same effect: a larger image but with very poor clarity.

We had our new ETX 105 inspected and tuned by the astronomer at the Arkansas Observatory. The optics were measure at 1/8th wave and were rated as A++. Only slight tub alignment was necessary to optimize optical performance. Meade has a reputation for excellent optics - especially with the UHTC coating. This is probably the biggest reason to choose this brand! The optics are all made in the USA at Meades Irvine California factory. Most other scopes in this price range are made in China and have inferior optics.

If the previous reviewer has experienced poor optical performance he should contact Meade as this is not what most owners report. That said, at lot of factors affect your ability to view distant objects, such as Saturn, clearly. Not the least of which is the atmospheric conditions where you are viewing from. I have viewed the moon through this telescope using a 6mm objective and found the image to be very sharp. The same night I viewed Saturn and found it to be somewhat fuzzy.

For a good idea of what the capability's of this scope are see the pictures taken through it at:
http://www.thedirks.org/astro/

The biggest problem with these scopes is there Vertical and, to a lesser extent, Horizontal gears used for tracking objects. Often they have a lot of backlash and can easily become stripped as one tends to over-tighten the Vertical locking mechanism to compensate. Instead the Astronomer rebuilt the gears in our scope so that they now work perfectly. The Arkansas Observatory, which houses a large Meade Telescope of its own, offers this tune-up service for around $250 per scope.

An excellent source of information about these scopes along with pictures taken through them can be found at: http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html.

For information on haveing a Meade or other brand of telescope tune-up by the Observatory click on "Services" at: http://www.arksky.org/

In less than a year all three plastic latches just fall apart. I thought it is just my bad luck but before ordering a replacement I checked reviews and found that I am not alone. I will try to get more expensive Meade #884 Deluxe Field Tripod, though its cost is approaching the price of a new scope :-(

Sorry to be so brutally Honest.
I didn't like this flimsy construction of this product.
I'd never trust my nice telescope on it. It wobbled and lacks any kind of center stabilizing cross bracing.

I'm going to hope the Deluxe model offers the quality and stability I am seeking.

I have had this tripod for a year and have been very pleased with it. I have used it in my back yard, in a field, and at the beach, and I have found it to be sturdy enough for my AT60 telescope. I thought at first it felt too light to be sturdy, but that has not been a problem. The snap-on shelf for eyepieces and such made me nervous, too, that it would break in the process, but again, after a year's use it is just fine. The holes for the bolts to attach the scope are a little hard to get to at first, but once found the bolts go in without difficulty. More advanced observers may have reason to complain that I don't know yet, but this tripod meets my needs just fine.

Use a little bean bag instead.

Leica makes great cameras, butnot great tripods.

This is a small stand for your camera, but you could easily use somethign else. It's also very unwieldy to carry around due to its shape. It's just not functional enough as a mini tripod.

Skip it.

I have to admit that I do not own this particular item. I examined it in a photo store and decided not to buy it. How can I put it nicely. It is not really a tripod. It is more something like a little stand for a small, light camera, which allows the user to tilt the camera slightly using the integrated, simple ball and socket joint. I am sure it can make a great display stand for any Leica camera on a bookshelf, because of its red dot logo. I am not sure however how usefull it can really be as a tripod. I asure you though that it is a beautiful piece and that it can be seen as a collectible item. From a practical standpoint? One could think of better solutions. :*)

When I spotted this as an accessory to the Bushnell Binoculars I bought the picture is misleading so you think that the mount and the tripod come together as a package. That is not the case. Now I have to order a tripod. They could have done a better job at letting you know that for $50 you only get the mount and not the tripod (which by the way goes for $15-$23 - thats what led me to believe the mount and the tripod came together). Bad job Amazon.

I purchased this "universal" tripod adapter for a Brunton binocular that I've owned for many years. I needed something to take the load off my arms as I watch great blue herons for long periods of time...they're nesting at a nature preserve.
Unfortunately, I discovered that the loop portion of the velcro which was supposed to secure my favorite binos to the mount would not work because the binos only measure 5" across (to fit my face) and the sticky loop part was positioned out on the outer ends of the straps! So I actually removed the velcro loop parts on both straps, repositioned them closer to the mount part of the adapter, and resewed it on a sewing machine using a heavy duty needle. This keeps my binos very secure. Apparently wider binoculars would not experience this problem. Works great now!