Ian Furniss Photography » Blog Archive » Travelling Light

Travelling Light – mini-tripods

The past few days i’ve been having a bit of a clean-up, putting a few things in order and generally trying to get organised. Unfortunately i’m one of those people whose idea of filing something away is to throw it over my shoulder, secure in the knowledge that I then know where everything is “It’s over there! …erm…somewhere!” . This means it can be a bit of a major operation when a clean-up happens but, when it does, at least I get to rediscover things i’d forgotten about and how useful they are. Mini-tripods are one such thing.

I want to begin this post with a caveat because as much as I like a shortcut or a quicker and easier way to do things, there’s no point in doing anything where a shortcut means you’re compromising quality. If you want to go out in the hills and shoot landscapes then you need a tripod that can stand up to wind and the elements. Simple as that. What i’m talking about here are those days when you’re out and about in a city or in a building somewhere. Whenever I travel I take one of my main full-size tripods with me. I rarely use it, but I like to have it there just in case. The reason for rarely using it is that it’s simply too big and bulky to be carrying around all day and that’s where these little fellas come in.

My first port of call is a wonderfully cheap but quite sturdy tripod from Velbon, the CX Mini (You’d have got a picture but unfortunately I was using it for the next shot so the link will have to do). At £30 it’s not going to break the bank and at 64cm extended (a little over 2ft in old money) it also gives you a bit of height as well.

Next up (on the left) is something of a cheat because it’s not actually a tripod at all, it’s a flash-extension. This is something I now have almost permanently attached to my main Dslr. It fits in the same way as you see here, straight on the bottom where a tripod would normally sit and it also takes a standard fitting for a quick-release plate so there’s no need to remove it if you should want to mount it on a tripod at any time. As you can see it’s hinged so if you do take it off, it will fold up and fit in your pocket with ease. The real beauty of it though is that whilst you might not need flash on a hot summers day, it gives what I think is a much better and more stable holding position that makes panning a breeze and my handheld speed at least one stop better, maybe two.

Alongside it on the right is an example of a somewhat standard and pretty useless mini-tripod. You could use it for display or at a pinch for a small compact but to be honest, save your money and spend it on rakija. That way at least when you wake up you won’t care that you didn’t get the shot.

Something far more robust and useful is what you see above. It comes with a ball head which makes positioning and adjusting it straightforward and quick and in most situations it’ll be fine. The downside to it is the same as for most mini-tripods and that is, if you put your 70-220 f2.8 or anything bigger on the front, you’ll be picking it up off the floor. Mini-tripods are no substitute for their bigger brothers & sisters. They’ll get you out of a tight corner sometimes when you’re desperate, but they aren’t a replacement.

The one above is something I tend to use with a remote or timer when i’m looking for a ground-level street shot or if i’m in a building where I think a full-sized tripod may cause problems and get me thrown out. Having said that, if you go into a church or mosque or any other place and someone tells you ‘No tripods!’, don’t take liberties. Try asking and showing or demonstrating first and if the attendant says no, respect that. With the mini-tripod above the legs are contained inside and drop out when you unscrew the bottom. They’re then held in place by screwing the base back in which takes a couple of seconds and usually by doing that and then placing it on the floor or on a table, the attendant can see it’s no more intrusive than you are and you’ll be ok. Diplomacy, tact, and lots of smiling is the important thing there of course but again, if they say no, accept that and start ramping up the iso.

All the mini-tripods i’ve shown here except for the Velbon are small enough to fit in your trouser pocket, the Velbon is small enough to go in an inside coat ‘poachers’ pocket. Have a look around and if you find one that suits your needs they’re a great accessory to have. I used to miss quite a few shots in the late evening because the day had started out too hot to be carrying around a heavy tripod. Nowadays I may still miss the odd one or two, but for less than the price of a half-decent filter I miss a lot less.