The tripod is solid and strong and to be honest I bit heavier than I thought it would be, thinking I should have bought the carbon fibre version, but apart from that the tripod its a good tripod the latches on the legs are strong, its much bigger than my three legged thing tripod as that’s a travel tripod and I’m happy having both tripods as they both do a good job. The manfrotto tripod is more of a professional tripod and does a more heavy job.
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★★★★★
Barney –
They made this one so good, build quality is sturdy and you can feel the time they spent for this product. Very very worth your time and money. Perfectly durable and finish is just perfect. Would definitely recommend this to my friends or family and probably would buy it again.
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★★★★★
Paul –
Ordered from amazon warehouse deals on cyber Monday and got an incredible price from amazon, arrived a week later in original box and nicely packed as usual from amazon. Initial impressions were it was nice heavy and solid out of the box, Unfortunately the item was defective on arrival as I discovered one of the legs wouldn’t lock into place as one of the teeth that hold it has been snapped off. Somewhat troubling considering I would have been placing thousands of £ worth of gear on it which is why I settled on the 055 as it’s renowend for its quality however looking at this it doesn’t make sense for them to make one set of teeth weaker than the rest by seating a bolt between them. Legs also didn’t appear to be the same length. One leg seemed to be 10/15mm longer than the other two, I then noticed as per another reviewer’s 1 star review the locking clip was almost completely unseated, upon pulling the leg completely separated, absolutely shocking quality for a £200rrp product (See pics). I can’t buy a replacement till I am refunded but if I am completely honest I don’t think it will be a manfrotto now. Quite disappointed that I could not just opt for a direct replacement as it now means I will probably have to wait for about two weeks without a working tripod (a week for refund and another to order a replacement), first time I have been let down by Amazon in this regard. 🙁
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★★★★★
Scott Phillips –
I use this outdoors with a video camera and audio mixer mounted to it. It can get windy and I’m on uneven ground. This has some weight so I know it’s not going to be easy to knock / blow it over.
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★★★★★
Amazon Customer –
If you are into photography, this is an item you must have. It is very stable and sturdy and can hold a heavy lens, such as the Sigma 150-600 mm with no pain at all. The only con I can think of is its weight, that’s the reason for 4 stars. It is heavy, but is part of the reason it is so sturdy!
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★★★★★
M. Hadfield –
I’ve had this tripod for just over a year now and it hasn’t seen a great deal of use – other than in my home ‘studio’ and the garden. It is very heavy and while 30 years ago I used to carry a heavier Benbo everywhere, those days are long gone. I’ve bought the appropriate Manfrotto carry case and that makes it easier to carry quiver-style on my back, but that then means I can’t use a backpack for camera gear.
This tripod has three section legs, two of which have a thick rubber grip at the top. This makes it much more comfortable to carry by one of these legs, particularly in cold weather. I’m 5’ 11” and, with legs fully extended, I only need to lift the centre column a couple of inches to bring the camera to eye level.
Leg extension is restricted by click stops. There are three of these and then the leg moves out to horizontal. To move past these to allow the tripod to be lowered, or used on uneven ground, means pushing back a little on the leg and simultaneously pressing down on the silver lock button. With the legs fully extended this is simple enough. With legs at their shortest,the camera in place, and the legs splayed wide, I found it very awkward to move the legs past the stops. I found I had to lift the tripod, guessing where I wanted the legs and then trying to position it again. I have fond memories of using the Benbo to do the same thing – slacken the bolt slightly, re-arrange the legs and re-tighten the bolt. It was dead simple. The Manfrotto is not, and my major use of it is for flower photography so easy manoeuvrability at low levels is important to me. This tripod does not get my recommendation for ease of use for low-level photography.
The centre column comes up and out and tllts to horizontal. To get it out of its housing you have to press a little red button at the bottom of the column while at the same time pulling on the column. I strongly advise not to do this with the camera on the tripod. Getting it back down again afterwards is a struggle. You can’t get at the button, which seems to block the column’s downward progress. I’ve found that jiggling and pushing with a little force applied eventually pops the centre column back down again. Also you need to get at that red button to move the column from horizontal to vertical before pushing it back down. The trouble is bits of tripod get in the way of my fingers, so again it’s awkward/clumsy. It works, but it’s far from the elegance I would expect from Manfrotto.
With everything tightened up this tripod is rock solid. I have no complaints on that score. It does however have a slight flex if you push on the fully extended legs. No problem with steadiness with hands off and a cable release.
The leg extension clips are big and easy to use. My only problem with them is the deisgn makes them look as if they open the opposite way, so I’m forever grabbing the wrong end of the lever and wondering why nothing is happening.
I bought a Manfrotto video head for use with this and that fits and works perfectly. But for stills it doesn’t do portrait orientation so I have to resort to my Manfrotto small ball head for that. The tripod’s head mounting plate is a bit big for it and the tripod’s built-in spirit level gets in the way of the locking lever on the ball head. The spirit level rotates so it can be moved out of the way. Because the locking lever on the head hangs below the level of the mounting plate it has to be positioned horizontally in order to screw the ball head into place. These are minor niggles, but I would have expected a manufacturer of Manfrotto’s reputation to make all their bits and pieces fully compatible.
It’s an ok tripod, and solid enough for me. The centre column mechanism for shifting from vertical to horizontal (which you need to do if you have the legs fully splayed) is far from slick – but the whole thing is solid enough when finally adjusted. One other thing the centre column is not cylindrical so it doesn’t rotate to ease positioning of the camera when used horizontally.
I like its height, and although its heaviness is a problem for portability, it’s a bonus for solidity. I like that the legs splay horizontally. I don’t like the mechanism for rotating the centre column through 90 degrees. I like the rubber grips for carrying. I don’t like that the size of the base plate interferes with a Manfrotto head.
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★★★★★
ali –
Love this tripod good weight for me. The big issue i had with my other tripod was the hight and the thickness of the leg, the more section your tripod have the weakest it get, this tripod extand to my hight without senter culom i need lil bend to look in view finder with center culom up, i need to be on my toes to look in to view finder keep it in mind im 6’7. Pleaning to take this to my 3 weeks iceland tour in aug. I recommend highly, price is right its not to heavy for someone my size. I would say best travel tripod for landscaping photograper, i test it in windy situation, rain, in mountain, sult water.
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★★★★★
Barry G. Allen –
This is an extremely well designed and quality tripod. Everything is solid and stable. Excellent upgrade from the typical consumer tripods.
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★★★★★
C. Peabody –
As others have stated in their reviews. Because Amazon is not an authorized seller of Manfrotto, you can not register your products for the additional 7 years of warranty in Canada. A fair trade off given the quality and price.
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★★★★★
DiDef72 –
Very solid tripod. On the heavy side and perfect for lighter équipent (binoculars, star adventurer). Did not come with a transport bag. At this price would have been a nice addition. Overall I recommend this tripod.
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★★★★★
Usman.N –
I’ve been using this for my mothers cooking channel, it’s so strong and sturdy. the legs are made from very strong metal. the whole construction is fantastic and ultra strong. the construction is so robust that once the legs closed on my finger and it was hurting for so long. the legs can be extender to about 6 feet or so. the easy clips make it simple to open and close the ability to extend the legs. however these clips are very stubborn and require some power to open. the 90 degree extending arm is such a great help also which makes it easy to make over the head or top down view shots. this is SUCH a good product i can’t say enough! only down side is that it’s very heavy but that’s to be expected from a metal frame !
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★★★★★
Irisz –
Product. If you’re looking for a heavy duty, durable, quality stand for your camera, this.is.it. I’m a beginner film maker (small personal filming projects…. PG rated.. sorry to disappoint the R rated fans) , and I went all out and bought the best tripod and it’s excellent. I probably didn’t need the best one as this is more for people who are really serious about filming or taking pictures with their camera, and often. It was expensive but I had no complaints about this product.. unfortunately it’s just sitting back in the box as I don’t use it anymore. It’s a great tripod for anyone at all levels.
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★★★★★
Mr Gadgeteer –
Unless you are going hiking up a mountain or along an un-mapped river source this is has got to be the best tripod investment you will ever make. It is very solid , a good weight enough to shout “pah” at all but the most destructive winds.. in that case you would be hands on equipment . An easy carry for a couple of hundred meters at least. Every click and lock and lever, slide leg, dial, or turn screw is engineered to such precision that you will just smile at its quality. The horizontal beam system is just a joy to lock and unlock . Before buying it I had some reservations about the legs not being braced by a tri-bar but the click locking mechanism in full , mid and virtual flat positions dispelled any concern at the very first try and the leg slide locks are easy , solid , and will not let you down if a plumb weight makes you feel happy. There is a catch hook at the brace position as opposed to a hook at the base of the vertical rise tube which is locked by a comfortable and solid turn knob. My choice was the flat base head fixing rather than the half cup because it is easier to add a ball head from many makers than to need a flat base adaptor. . I registered ownership with the Manfrotto website including the bar coding and received a 10 year warranty. This only applies to the original owner and by registered agent sellers also, Amazon are a registered seller agent..Most photographic equipment insurers accept Manfrotto as a “Replace with New” maker should there be an accidental loss/damage to equipment or freight/baggage loss if ever !!! . My Lumix GH5 is in safe legs!
K. E. Murphy –
The tripod is solid and strong and to be honest I bit heavier than I thought it would be, thinking I should have bought the carbon fibre version, but apart from that the tripod its a good tripod the latches on the legs are strong, its much bigger than my three legged thing tripod as that’s a travel tripod and I’m happy having both tripods as they both do a good job. The manfrotto tripod is more of a professional tripod and does a more heavy job.
Barney –
They made this one so good, build quality is sturdy and you can feel the time they spent for this product. Very very worth your time and money. Perfectly durable and finish is just perfect. Would definitely recommend this to my friends or family and probably would buy it again.
Paul –
Ordered from amazon warehouse deals on cyber Monday and got an incredible price from amazon, arrived a week later in original box and nicely packed as usual from amazon. Initial impressions were it was nice heavy and solid out of the box, Unfortunately the item was defective on arrival as I discovered one of the legs wouldn’t lock into place as one of the teeth that hold it has been snapped off. Somewhat troubling considering I would have been placing thousands of £ worth of gear on it which is why I settled on the 055 as it’s renowend for its quality however looking at this it doesn’t make sense for them to make one set of teeth weaker than the rest by seating a bolt between them. Legs also didn’t appear to be the same length. One leg seemed to be 10/15mm longer than the other two, I then noticed as per another reviewer’s 1 star review the locking clip was almost completely unseated, upon pulling the leg completely separated, absolutely shocking quality for a £200rrp product (See pics). I can’t buy a replacement till I am refunded but if I am completely honest I don’t think it will be a manfrotto now. Quite disappointed that I could not just opt for a direct replacement as it now means I will probably have to wait for about two weeks without a working tripod (a week for refund and another to order a replacement), first time I have been let down by Amazon in this regard. 🙁
Scott Phillips –
I use this outdoors with a video camera and audio mixer mounted to it. It can get windy and I’m on uneven ground. This has some weight so I know it’s not going to be easy to knock / blow it over.
Amazon Customer –
If you are into photography, this is an item you must have. It is very stable and sturdy and can hold a heavy lens, such as the Sigma 150-600 mm with no pain at all.
The only con I can think of is its weight, that’s the reason for 4 stars.
It is heavy, but is part of the reason it is so sturdy!
M. Hadfield –
I’ve had this tripod for just over a year now and it hasn’t seen a great deal of use – other than in my home ‘studio’ and the garden. It is very heavy and while 30 years ago I used to carry a heavier Benbo everywhere, those days are long gone. I’ve bought the appropriate Manfrotto carry case and that makes it easier to carry quiver-style on my back, but that then means I can’t use a backpack for camera gear.
This tripod has three section legs, two of which have a thick rubber grip at the top. This makes it much more comfortable to carry by one of these legs, particularly in cold weather. I’m 5’ 11” and, with legs fully extended, I only need to lift the centre column a couple of inches to bring the camera to eye level.
Leg extension is restricted by click stops. There are three of these and then the leg moves out to horizontal. To move past these to allow the tripod to be lowered, or used on uneven ground, means pushing back a little on the leg and simultaneously pressing down on the silver lock button. With the legs fully extended this is simple enough. With legs at their shortest,the camera in place, and the legs splayed wide, I found it very awkward to move the legs past the stops. I found I had to lift the tripod, guessing where I wanted the legs and then trying to position it again. I have fond memories of using the Benbo to do the same thing – slacken the bolt slightly, re-arrange the legs and re-tighten the bolt. It was dead simple. The Manfrotto is not, and my major use of it is for flower photography so easy manoeuvrability at low levels is important to me. This tripod does not get my recommendation for ease of use for low-level photography.
The centre column comes up and out and tllts to horizontal. To get it out of its housing you have to press a little red button at the bottom of the column while at the same time pulling on the column. I strongly advise not to do this with the camera on the tripod. Getting it back down again afterwards is a struggle. You can’t get at the button, which seems to block the column’s downward progress. I’ve found that jiggling and pushing with a little force applied eventually pops the centre column back down again. Also you need to get at that red button to move the column from horizontal to vertical before pushing it back down. The trouble is bits of tripod get in the way of my fingers, so again it’s awkward/clumsy. It works, but it’s far from the elegance I would expect from Manfrotto.
With everything tightened up this tripod is rock solid. I have no complaints on that score. It does however have a slight flex if you push on the fully extended legs. No problem with steadiness with hands off and a cable release.
The leg extension clips are big and easy to use. My only problem with them is the deisgn makes them look as if they open the opposite way, so I’m forever grabbing the wrong end of the lever and wondering why nothing is happening.
I bought a Manfrotto video head for use with this and that fits and works perfectly. But for stills it doesn’t do portrait orientation so I have to resort to my Manfrotto small ball head for that. The tripod’s head mounting plate is a bit big for it and the tripod’s built-in spirit level gets in the way of the locking lever on the ball head. The spirit level rotates so it can be moved out of the way. Because the locking lever on the head hangs below the level of the mounting plate it has to be positioned horizontally in order to screw the ball head into place. These are minor niggles, but I would have expected a manufacturer of Manfrotto’s reputation to make all their bits and pieces fully compatible.
It’s an ok tripod, and solid enough for me. The centre column mechanism for shifting from vertical to horizontal (which you need to do if you have the legs fully splayed) is far from slick – but the whole thing is solid enough when finally adjusted. One other thing the centre column is not cylindrical so it doesn’t rotate to ease positioning of the camera when used horizontally.
I like its height, and although its heaviness is a problem for portability, it’s a bonus for solidity. I like that the legs splay horizontally. I don’t like the mechanism for rotating the centre column through 90 degrees. I like the rubber grips for carrying. I don’t like that the size of the base plate interferes with a Manfrotto head.
ali –
Love this tripod good weight for me. The big issue i had with my other tripod was the hight and the thickness of the leg, the more section your tripod have the weakest it get, this tripod extand to my hight without senter culom i need lil bend to look in view finder with center culom up, i need to be on my toes to look in to view finder keep it in mind im 6’7. Pleaning to take this to my 3 weeks iceland tour in aug. I recommend highly, price is right its not to heavy for someone my size. I would say best travel tripod for landscaping photograper, i test it in windy situation, rain, in mountain, sult water.
Barry G. Allen –
This is an extremely well designed and quality tripod. Everything is solid and stable. Excellent upgrade from the typical consumer tripods.
C. Peabody –
As others have stated in their reviews. Because Amazon is not an authorized seller of Manfrotto, you can not register your products for the additional 7 years of warranty in Canada. A fair trade off given the quality and price.
DiDef72 –
Very solid tripod. On the heavy side and perfect for lighter équipent (binoculars, star adventurer).
Did not come with a transport bag. At this price would have been a nice addition.
Overall I recommend this tripod.
Usman.N –
I’ve been using this for my mothers cooking channel, it’s so strong and sturdy. the legs are made from very strong metal. the whole construction is fantastic and ultra strong. the construction is so robust that once the legs closed on my finger and it was hurting for so long. the legs can be extender to about 6 feet or so. the easy clips make it simple to open and close the ability to extend the legs. however these clips are very stubborn and require some power to open. the 90 degree extending arm is such a great help also which makes it easy to make over the head or top down view shots. this is SUCH a good product i can’t say enough! only down side is that it’s very heavy but that’s to be expected from a metal frame !
Irisz –
Product. If you’re looking for a heavy duty, durable, quality stand for your camera, this.is.it. I’m a beginner film maker (small personal filming projects…. PG rated.. sorry to disappoint the R rated fans) , and I went all out and bought the best tripod and it’s excellent. I probably didn’t need the best one as this is more for people who are really serious about filming or taking pictures with their camera, and often. It was expensive but I had no complaints about this product.. unfortunately it’s just sitting back in the box as I don’t use it anymore. It’s a great tripod for anyone at all levels.
Mr Gadgeteer –
Unless you are going hiking up a mountain or along an un-mapped river source this is has got to be the best tripod investment you will ever make. It is very solid , a good weight enough to shout “pah” at all but the most destructive winds.. in that case you would be hands on equipment . An easy carry for a couple of hundred meters at least. Every click and lock and lever, slide leg, dial, or turn screw is engineered to such precision that you will just smile at its quality. The horizontal beam system is just a joy to lock and unlock . Before buying it I had some reservations about the legs not being braced by a tri-bar but the click locking mechanism in full , mid and virtual flat positions dispelled any concern at the very first try and the leg slide locks are easy , solid , and will not let you down if a plumb weight makes you feel happy. There is a catch hook at the brace position as opposed to a hook at the base of the vertical rise tube which is locked by a comfortable and solid turn knob. My choice was the flat base head fixing rather than the half cup because it is easier to add a ball head from many makers than to need a flat base adaptor. . I registered ownership with the Manfrotto website including the bar coding and received a 10 year warranty. This only applies to the original owner and by registered agent sellers also, Amazon are a registered seller agent..Most photographic equipment insurers accept Manfrotto as a “Replace with New” maker should there be an accidental loss/damage to equipment or freight/baggage loss if ever !!! . My Lumix GH5 is in safe legs!