Tripod or not on trips

To recap, I have two tripods:  a Manfrotto MKC3-P01and an OPUS OT-1104BH.  I love both.  They are not the best and you know you are compromising when the price is affordable.  You know what I mean--you make an adjustment, you let go, and the camera tilts down a bit.  It's a bit annoying but you learn to compensate for it.  Anyhow, these tripods have gone to faraway places with me, but often, they stay in my backpack.

On a recent trip to New York City, I decided not to bring a tripod.  I knew I'd spend most of the time walking around during the day but given that days end about 4:30pm at the time, I also knew I'd spent quite a bit of time walking in the dark.  It would make sense to bring a tripod.  I decided against it however.  First, I was doing a lot of walking.  Any weight I could save meant a world to me toward the end of the day.  I decided instead to rely on the camera's ability to work with high ISO settings, and to work with existing street structures to prop against or rest on, and whatever else I could use.

Many photos turned out a fuzzy but some turned out not too bad.  I had to do some sharpening for night shots:

Manfrotto MKC3-P01 tripod

So, my trip to Nova Scotia is over and I had a chance to take the Manfrotto MKC3-P01 tripod along.  I have to say I like this tripod a lot.  It is definitely not as sturdy as my Opus tripod but it is hiking-friendly.  I did a number of hikes in a couple of national parks and roamed around towns and cities carrying the tripod on my bag or holding it in my left hand.  I'd give it a good plus for being lightweight.  Because it was light, it was more likely that I would take it along on a long hike and it was worth it.  It got me some pictures I wanted.

The tripod is simple.  It has a ball head and four leg segments.  The ball head was useful to have.  I can make minor correction to the camera angle for composition.  However, I found it hard to adjust the camera for portrait shots.  The camera was heavy and would sag quite a bit after I locked down the tripod.  I would then have to compensate by either adjusting the tripod legs or readjust the camera on the ball head.

Notwithstanding these above issues, I give this tripod two thumbs up!

Tripod for travels

As I'm planning my trip to Nova Scotia, I remembered how I was traveling in Costa Rica with my tripod.  I used my OPUS OT-1104BH tripod perhaps only once back then and it was somewhat big and heavy to lug around.  Because of its size, I had to keep it in my larger backpack (inside its cardboard box for easy retrieval and stow-away.)  The benefit of having a tripod that heavy was diminished by the fact that I did not carry it around on my outings.  I did not mind so much that it was heavy (sturdy).  It was not hiking long distance.  It was that it was too big.

A couple of days ago, I purchased a Manfrotto MKC3-P01 tripod off someone on Craigslist.  The tripod is rated for 1.5kg load capacity, just barely enough for my D7000 and my heaviest lens.

The MKC3-P01 has a ball head.  Once tightened with the knob, it feels quite solid, enough for 1.5kg at least.  One thing I do not like about the ball head however is the quick release plate that is sold with it.  There is no safety locking pin that I see on the OT-1104BH.  I think it is possible to release the plate by accident and see my camera dropping to the ground.  I will have to be careful with the release lever!

Anyways, the specs are as follows (taken from Manfrotto's website):

SPECIFICATIONS

	centre column	rapid
	closed length	40.0 cm
	Color	black color
	column cross section	three-faceted
	column tube diameter	22mm
	front tilt	0° / +90° head tilt
	leg angles	21°
	leg cross section	oval
	leg sections	5 number
	material	aluminum legs and technopolymer
	maximum height	165.0 cm
	maximum height (with centre column down)	136.0 cm
	minimum height	45.5 cm
	panoramic rotation	360 degrees
	plate type	quick release - with 1/4" screw
	quick release	yes
	load capacity	1.5 kg
	weight	1 kg

What I learned from Costa Rica, part 4

This is about traveling with a tripod.

How do you carry your tripod around? Inside your backpack or outside? One way or another, your tripod would have to be stored inside some luggage bag for the flight because it may not be allowed to be carried as a carry-on on the plane. When you get to your destination though, how should you carry it?

In Costa Rica, I read that theft levels are on the increase. It made me uneasy to carry any camera gears on the outside of my backpack. You are just drawing attention to yourself. If they see a tripod, they might think you have more valuables on the inside of the backpack. So, my tripod was stuffed in my 60L backpack, away from prying eyes, most of the time.

Fully compressed and disassembled (the vertical column can be removed), my OPUS OT-1104BH tripod can fit in virtually any backpack. It's quite small. However, I thought it would be easier to keep the vertical column and the ball head on at all time so I can draw the tripod out of the backpack and use it instantly. My backpack contains my clothes though. It might be easy to draw the tripod out but to re-insert it back into the backpack would be challenging. My solution was to use the box the tripod came in. The box felt bulky but it works really well. The rigid structure of the box reserves space in my backpack so the tripod can easily go in and out of the box whenever I need it.

Two caveats of using the box are: it does take up probably twice as much space as the tripod itself and the double layer of cardboard materials add on more weight. However, the box keeps my clothes and everything else inside the backpack clean and dry from the dirt and sometimes water on the tripod.