Is this the Ultimate Budget Travel Tripod combo?

[Ghostfit]

Picked up the new K-20 ballhead awhile back ! ...boy, what a differences ! :thumbsup:

The K-10 is even better than my old G-20 ball-head ...the improvements that I can see are:

1. Less knobs as the friction knob is now replaced by a limiter indented disc on the face of the main locking knob.
2. Slightly longer stem on the knob for locking the mounting plate.
3. Horizontal and vertical leveling guage on the plate clamping device.
4. larger mounting plate (w/ the K-20) provided.
5. Main Knob is at the 'right' position i.e: facing back with camera tilted to the vertical position.

I met James and learnt quite alot from him, he told me that during their testing of the new ballheads, the K-10 outperformed even the G-20.

 

[Canonized]

A travel tripod is meant to.... travel with you - and get used.
So, as I had mentioned below, the SIRUI was my all round use tripod which I was able to mess around with, use in very tough conditions and carry up to places where tripods were not allowed etc. Here is an instance that shows that sometimes, a small portable tripod works by giving stability in a place where crowds can make it impossible to use one.

Shot with iPhone4 showing the SIRUI with my 5D2 mounted. One leg extended and two on metal fence on roof of TOP OF THE ROCK (or roof of the Rockefeller Building) in New York. BTW the photo clam head worked 100% perfectly throughout the trip. Apart from the hiccup of the loosened nut on the tripod, it took every knock and challenge like a pro. Water, sand, heat, salt, canyon rocks etc etc...

 

[Kenneth67C]

Thanks to Canonized, I've jumped on the bandwagon and gotten the Sirui T2205X.

I went looking around Xu Jia Hui, which is one of the shopping districts in Shanghai, but only found the T1205X with the G10 ballhead and was initially was quoted CNY1950 <>S$390. When I called another branch of the same store, I got a quote of CNY1550 <>S$310! Imagine that from the same store but different branch within the same building you could get such different quotes.

Not satisfied with the situation, I searched the web for Sirui T2205X and was directed to Taobao (local ebay), and here the prices were much lower. The T2205X with G20 was going for around CNY1500-1900. Sirui apparently doesn't sell their Tripods separately from the base in the local market, mostly you will find it sold as a set, so that's what I got. I figured I could get the Photoclam later.

So Canonized, thanks for the review and introduction to this VFM product. Great recommendation. :thumbsup:

 

[Canonized]

...
So Canonized, thanks for the review and introduction to this VFM product. Great recommendation. :thumbsup:

You are most welcome!

Here are a couple of shots with the set up....

 

[Daoyin]

Frankly Harry, with skills like you showed via these two shots above, any old tripod would have suffice. The first shot is magical.

 

[oceantoofar]

I am tempted to get this Benro C0190T with basic ballhead @ ard $490. I was quite impressed with the design, it's flat! Not the usual bulky triangular ones. When folded up, it's flat and weights 0.9kg together with ballhead. Super light and compact for travelling. Extends up to my shoulder level with the ballhead attached and it doesnt have a centre column due to its flat design.

http://english.benro.cn/TravelerFlat.aspx

Anyone used this before? Care to give some comments? Not sure if I should take the plunge and buy it. If you guys know of any tripod + ballhead that weighs less than 1kg please let me know. Tks!!

 

[daredevil123]

Late September I went to California, Utah, Arizona for a two week photography road trip. At my second major stop at Yosemite National Park, I suffered a major tripod disaster. My Sirui that had performed so well over the many trips until now - nearly collapsed completely when the screw and nut that holds each leg to the main body came loose. In fact, two of the three legs the screws actually was obviously loose. While I did not have any tool at hand, I tried fruitlessly to use my fingers to tighten the screws - which of course did not work. As I needed to use the tripod, I proceeded despite the tripod behaving as if it was about to collapse and was unstable. Fortunately that did not happen. What was a shocker though was when I came down the canyon on the first day, I found one nut completely missing from one of its legs when I prepared for the next day's shoot. That to me was a disaster as I did not have with me a backup tripod and did not have spares on me. But thank my lucky stars - the town had a complete handyman store and was able to provide me with a set of screws and nuts and an allen key set to tighten all the screws. The colour did not match of course but that is the least of my problems as long as the tripod was still serviceable and working. So on the second day of shoot at Yosemite, the SIRUI was working as good as before - but with unmatching screws. Something I plan to raise with the local resellers.

Lesson here? If you own a SIRUI, keep a close eye on the screw and nut of the joints of each leg. If you travel for some period of time, make sure you have an allen key to tighten the bolts. Otherwise, there is hell to pay if the bolts drop off. Carrying around a useless tripod on a trip is not funny.

Do I still recommend the tripod?
Yes but with a caution that you keep an Allen key handy.

Cheers

Good advice. In fact this is true for all tripod brands. screws coming loose is common in many tripods and other equipment. Always have an allen key on hand. They are small and light anyway. And most accessories use that same one size too, including my L plate screws.

BTW nice pictures from your US trip. Saw your "tribute to Ansel Adams" half-dome shots too. Nice...

 

[Canonized]

Good advice. In fact this is true for all tripod brands. screws coming loose is common in many tripods and other equipment. Always have an allen key on hand. They are small and light anyway. And most accessories use that same one size too, including my L plate screws.

BTW nice pictures from your US trip. Saw your &quot;tribute to Ansel Adams&quot; half-dome shots too. Nice...

Thanks very much for your kind comment. I shot several gigs worth of captures in Yosemite alone and have not the time to process them all. US National Parks are great places to shoot for landscape enthusiasts. But the problem with them is that they are hard to get to.

I am tempted to get this Benro C0190T with basic ballhead @ ard $490. I was quite impressed with the design, it's flat! Not the usual bulky triangular ones. When folded up, it's flat and weights 0.9kg together with ballhead. Super light and compact for travelling. Extends up to my shoulder level with the ballhead attached and it doesnt have a centre column due to its flat design.

http://english.benro.cn/TravelerFlat.aspx

Anyone used this before? Care to give some comments? Not sure if I should take the plunge and buy it. If you guys know of any tripod + ballhead that weighs less than 1kg please let me know. Tks!!

I just saw these flat designs a couple of days back and they look really good. Esp for packing to travel. But there is still some compromise because the design does not allow you to adjust for a lower angle shot. As for quality, I have not used it before so I cannot comment. BTW if a tripod and ballhead is under 1kg, it will not work properly - unless they are made from some super advance composites like 100% titanium (including all the nuts and bolts and joints).

Frankly Harry, with skills like you showed via these two shots above, any old tripod would have suffice. The first shot is magical.

Thanks Daoyin, wish that was true! I have used terrible tripods before and I learnt my lessons. Its not just about stability but also safety of your camera equipment. We all need equipment that we can trust otherwise the effort is wasted and worse potential gold images lost. So I would encourage the use of proper equipment that works - of course balanced with budget!

 

[oceantoofar]

I just took the plunge and went to buy it just now! I tried it with my D90+Tamron 18-270 (abt 1.2kg) and it felt ok. Not rock stable, but reasonably so. My previous tripod is a low end fancier at $60, and my long exposure shots were reasonably sharp. So i guess the Benro C0190T at $495 shldnt be worse right? the basic ballhead i got was B-00 (i just wanted the lightest), i tried all angles, potrait and landscape, all held the camera well. The camera did not slip or droop down when held at awkward angles....

when i tap the camera, it will vibrate a little, but after 1-2s, it becomes stable ... so i guess with a remote, that shldnt be a problem. havent tried it under strong wind conditions yet.. so cant comment on that....

I love the compact size and weight. and when hanged on my flipside 200, it looks perfect because its so flat and not too heavy.

Thanks very much for your kind comment. I shot several gigs worth of captures in Yosemite alone and have not the time to process them all. US National Parks are great places to shoot for landscape enthusiasts. But the problem with them is that they are hard to get to.


I just saw these flat designs a couple of days back and they look really good. Esp for packing to travel. But there is still some compromise because the design does not allow you to adjust for a lower angle shot. As for quality, I have not used it before so I cannot comment. BTW if a tripod and ballhead is under 1kg, it will not work properly - unless they are made from some super advance composites like 100% titanium (including all the nuts and bolts and joints).



Thanks Daoyin, wish that was true! I have used terrible tripods before and I learnt my lessons. Its not just about stability but also safety of your camera equipment. We all need equipment that we can trust otherwise the effort is wasted and worse potential gold images lost. So I would encourage the use of proper equipment that works - of course balanced with budget!

 

[Daoyin]

I just took the plunge and went to buy it just now! I tried it with my D90+Tamron 18-270 (abt 1.2kg) and it felt ok. Not rock stable, but reasonably so. My previous tripod is a low end fancier at $60, and my long exposure shots were reasonably sharp. So i guess the Benro C0190T at $495 shldnt be worse right? the basic ballhead i got was B-00 (i just wanted the lightest), i tried all angles, potrait and landscape, all held the camera well. The camera did not slip or droop down when held at awkward angles....

when i tap the camera, it will vibrate a little, but after 1-2s, it becomes stable ... so i guess with a remote, that shldnt be a problem. havent tried it under strong wind conditions yet.. so cant comment on that....

I love the compact size and weight. and when hanged on my flipside 200, it looks perfect because its so flat and not too heavy.

That was quick decision making. Please do us a favor and write a review when you have tried out the tripod extensively. It may be the next ultimate travel tripod. (Not budget though).

 

[Canonized]

That was quick decision making. Please do us a favor and write a review when you have tried out the tripod extensively. It may be the next ultimate travel tripod. (Not budget though).

I second that. Indeed, it would be timely and useful to read your review of the model.

BTW the original model that came out with a flat design was Cullman (which is different from the Benro design in terms of execution). Coincidentally Sirui has a copy of that and I wonder if anyone has done a review of that tripod on CS.

 

[daredevil123]

I second that. Indeed, it would be timely and useful to read your review of the model.

BTW the original model that came out with a flat design was Cullman (which is different from the Benro design in terms of execution). Coincidentally Sirui has a copy of that and I wonder if anyone has done a review of that tripod on CS.

IIRC, I think nightwolf did a review of it.

 

[tcnk]

bought T1005X yesterday at TKfoto at $160. Not bad short and light weight. Come with a casing also.