This review is for the Carbon fiber version of this tripod/monopod combination.
I decided that I would take a chance on this one since I was needing a second tripod.
I paid $99.99 for this item but typical prices for a name brand carbon fiber tripod without any kind of head can be more than $600 dollars like this Gitzo mondel: http://www.amazon.com/Gitzo-GT1542T-Traveler-Section-Cameras/dp/B004K6L3CE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423446177&sr=8-1&keywords=carbon+fiber+tripod
Conclusion first :)
This tripod is an outstanding value. The fit and finish is good to excellent. The mechanics of movement of all the moving pieces is smooth and easy to operate. And although I could not say that it is as good as for example a Gitzo in build quality or sturdiness, it certainly approximates about 80% of both quality and stability of the Gitzo and does some things that the Gitzo will not do.
Review:
I uploaded quite few pictures of my unboxing and then different closeups of the tripod. I had never owned a combo tripod/monopod and was curious about how that worked. If there is a negative to be pointed out it would be here in that there was no documentation at all included in the package. A small quick setup guide would have been nice even though the process was fairly easy to figure out and did not take me very long to do at all.
First of all was the included carry bag which was of excellent quality. It was well padded and had a sturdy zipper that seemed rugged and I feel will provide years of service.
There was also included a small allen wrench if you need to adjust the tension of the silver connectors that are located at the pivot points of the tripod legs.
When removed from the bag the tripod was shipped in a clear plastic baggy which was also a nice touch by Neewer. I was struck by the fact that there was also a draw string bag of some crush material very nicely textured to protect the ball head.
The tripod was packaged inside out. The legs are designed to fold all the way around backwards for storage in the bag with the ball head inside of them and positioned in a way that takes up the minimum of room. I measured the outside length of the tripod bag and it was only 21 inches long.
Folding the legs into position, you will experience 3 positive clicks of the spring loaded latch that retains the legs at one of three angles you can set them to. The settings are near 90 degrees, 45 degrees and approximately 30 degrees. The Gitzo tripods have a similar mechanism although the hardware on the Gitzo is much more robust and sturdy.
The length of the legs are adjusted by a quick twist of the rubber covered adjustment screws which means you can get this tripod unloaded and deployed in seconds as you can untwist all the locks at the same time once you get used to doing this. I have used this same system of tripod locking mechanisms on the Gitzo tripods and much prefer it to the lever catch type of retainment seen on other brands of tripods. Those latches seem to fail at the most inconvenient times, but the screw type that tightens with a quick twist I have never had fail on me.
And they take much less pressure to retain tripod height than you might think. My biggest problem when I first got my Gitzo was a tendency to overtighten those things. It just takes a slightly snug fit to get the job done. The Neewer model under review is about the same as my high dollar Gitzo in feel and retainment.
This seems to be a good place to comment on how sturdy this tripod is. The stated weight retention is 26.5 lbs. I am not really sure why makers of quality tripods like this one always under estimate what the tripod will hold. I think if I could mount a stool I could sit on my Gitzo while it was setup. I extended the legs as far as they would go on the Neewer and leaned into it with approximately half my body weight until the legs started to flex. I estimate that I was putting in excess of 90 lbs of pressure on the tripod at this point. So it will definitely handle the stated weight of 26.5 lbs.
As you look at the pictures you will notice a couple of the leg tips which are heavy duty metal points surrounded by a thick rubber foot that is threaded to the bottom of the tripod leg.
At first I did not think I liked these as I always want my tripods to only have rubber at the bottom, but I discovered that all you have to do is unscrew the rubber foot which will cover the metal tip. And as the rubber presses out against the side of the metal, it needs to do so under tension so that it will not just wind itself back down. This was a nice design touch. So if you prefer the metal tips leave the rubber screwed all the way in or you can adjust it the way you want without having to keep up with seperate metal and rubber tips. Perfect!
As to using this as either a monopod or tripod all you need to do is unscrew the leg which is covered with substantial foam rubber material at the top. You unscrew this from the frame of the tripod which as you can see from the pictures reveals a sturdy aluminum head with a large threaded hole and a smaller threaded hole further inside the leg. I puzzled over this for a bit until I decided to take the ball head off the top of the tripod. (This is where a small how to sard of instructions would have been nice).
In the picutes you will see a threaded shaft which can be taken out of the tripod body and then threaded into the top of the single monopod leg you took off of the tripod, along with a collar device which is placed over the threaded shaft and then the hex nut threaded down until it rests in a slot made for it in the collar. I think looking at the pictures will make this clearer than my explaination.
This is what locks the threaded shaft in place and then thread the ball head on top and voila! You have a nice monopod topped with an equally nice ball head.
As to the ball head look at the picures and you will see what looks like a well made ball head designed to handle light to moderate loads. I tested the ball head retention by mounting a Nikon D300 with a battery grip mounted on the bottom with an Arca style plate on the bottom. It had no trouble locking this heavy camera in place when the ball had screw was tightened. And again, I think it could handle much more than the stated 26.5 lbs of pressure. The fit and finish of the ball head was very smooth and professional and indeed was virtually as good as the Really Right Stuff BH-25 Pro. Yes I would put it in the same general class as the RRS ball head here: http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/Shop/BH-25-Ultra-Light-Ballhead/BH-25-Pro-Ultra-light-ballhead-with-B2-mAS-clamp.html
And considering that this ball head at the time of this writing was about 1.5 times more expensive by itself than the entire kit from Neewer you begin to see the value in this combination. And the ball head included in the Neewer kit has features the RRS ball head which is arguably one of the most well recognized manufacturers of fine ballheads and custom camera Arca plates and brackets in the business, does not have. The missing features are the drag adjustment screw that locks limits the rotation of the ball head and also the degree marks around the bottom of the ball head giving the photographer an idea how far the camera is rotating.
Another feature of the Neewer design is the inclusion of a level bubble which comes in very handy for those wishing to do panorama work and need to make sure the camera is level before panning the shot.
One other nice touch is the inclusion of an Arca Swiss plate for attachment to you camera. Usually in tripods of this quality the arca swiss plate for the camera is a seperate purchase this is a nice touch that certainly adds value to this package.
So in conclusion I would not hesitate to recommend this to any level of photographer whether a seasoned professional who needs a light weight backup to his/her more sturdy gear or someone just getting started in photography that needs a good value in a tripod.
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 9, 2015
This review is for the Carbon fiber version of this tripod/monopod combination.
I decided that I would take a chance on this one since I was needing a second tripod.
I paid $99.99 for this item but typical prices for a name brand carbon fiber tripod without any kind of head can be more than $600 dollars like this Gitzo mondel: http://www.amazon.com/Gitzo-GT1542T-Traveler-Section-Cameras/dp/B004K6L3CE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423446177&sr=8-1&keywords=carbon+fiber+tripod
Conclusion first :)
This tripod is an outstanding value. The fit and finish is good to excellent. The mechanics of movement of all the moving pieces is smooth and easy to operate. And although I could not say that it is as good as for example a Gitzo in build quality or sturdiness, it certainly approximates about 80% of both quality and stability of the Gitzo and does some things that the Gitzo will not do.
Review:
I uploaded quite few pictures of my unboxing and then different closeups of the tripod. I had never owned a combo tripod/monopod and was curious about how that worked. If there is a negative to be pointed out it would be here in that there was no documentation at all included in the package. A small quick setup guide would have been nice even though the process was fairly easy to figure out and did not take me very long to do at all.
First of all was the included carry bag which was of excellent quality. It was well padded and had a sturdy zipper that seemed rugged and I feel will provide years of service.
There was also included a small allen wrench if you need to adjust the tension of the silver connectors that are located at the pivot points of the tripod legs.
When removed from the bag the tripod was shipped in a clear plastic baggy which was also a nice touch by Neewer. I was struck by the fact that there was also a draw string bag of some crush material very nicely textured to protect the ball head.
The tripod was packaged inside out. The legs are designed to fold all the way around backwards for storage in the bag with the ball head inside of them and positioned in a way that takes up the minimum of room. I measured the outside length of the tripod bag and it was only 21 inches long.
Folding the legs into position, you will experience 3 positive clicks of the spring loaded latch that retains the legs at one of three angles you can set them to. The settings are near 90 degrees, 45 degrees and approximately 30 degrees. The Gitzo tripods have a similar mechanism although the hardware on the Gitzo is much more robust and sturdy.
The length of the legs are adjusted by a quick twist of the rubber covered adjustment screws which means you can get this tripod unloaded and deployed in seconds as you can untwist all the locks at the same time once you get used to doing this. I have used this same system of tripod locking mechanisms on the Gitzo tripods and much prefer it to the lever catch type of retainment seen on other brands of tripods. Those latches seem to fail at the most inconvenient times, but the screw type that tightens with a quick twist I have never had fail on me.
And they take much less pressure to retain tripod height than you might think. My biggest problem when I first got my Gitzo was a tendency to overtighten those things. It just takes a slightly snug fit to get the job done. The Neewer model under review is about the same as my high dollar Gitzo in feel and retainment.
This seems to be a good place to comment on how sturdy this tripod is. The stated weight retention is 26.5 lbs. I am not really sure why makers of quality tripods like this one always under estimate what the tripod will hold. I think if I could mount a stool I could sit on my Gitzo while it was setup. I extended the legs as far as they would go on the Neewer and leaned into it with approximately half my body weight until the legs started to flex. I estimate that I was putting in excess of 90 lbs of pressure on the tripod at this point. So it will definitely handle the stated weight of 26.5 lbs.
As you look at the pictures you will notice a couple of the leg tips which are heavy duty metal points surrounded by a thick rubber foot that is threaded to the bottom of the tripod leg.
At first I did not think I liked these as I always want my tripods to only have rubber at the bottom, but I discovered that all you have to do is unscrew the rubber foot which will cover the metal tip. And as the rubber presses out against the side of the metal, it needs to do so under tension so that it will not just wind itself back down. This was a nice design touch. So if you prefer the metal tips leave the rubber screwed all the way in or you can adjust it the way you want without having to keep up with seperate metal and rubber tips. Perfect!
As to using this as either a monopod or tripod all you need to do is unscrew the leg which is covered with substantial foam rubber material at the top. You unscrew this from the frame of the tripod which as you can see from the pictures reveals a sturdy aluminum head with a large threaded hole and a smaller threaded hole further inside the leg. I puzzled over this for a bit until I decided to take the ball head off the top of the tripod. (This is where a small how to sard of instructions would have been nice).
In the picutes you will see a threaded shaft which can be taken out of the tripod body and then threaded into the top of the single monopod leg you took off of the tripod, along with a collar device which is placed over the threaded shaft and then the hex nut threaded down until it rests in a slot made for it in the collar. I think looking at the pictures will make this clearer than my explaination.
This is what locks the threaded shaft in place and then thread the ball head on top and voila! You have a nice monopod topped with an equally nice ball head.
As to the ball head look at the picures and you will see what looks like a well made ball head designed to handle light to moderate loads. I tested the ball head retention by mounting a Nikon D300 with a battery grip mounted on the bottom with an Arca style plate on the bottom. It had no trouble locking this heavy camera in place when the ball had screw was tightened. And again, I think it could handle much more than the stated 26.5 lbs of pressure. The fit and finish of the ball head was very smooth and professional and indeed was virtually as good as the Really Right Stuff BH-25 Pro. Yes I would put it in the same general class as the RRS ball head here: http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/Shop/BH-25-Ultra-Light-Ballhead/BH-25-Pro-Ultra-light-ballhead-with-B2-mAS-clamp.html
And considering that this ball head at the time of this writing was about 1.5 times more expensive by itself than the entire kit from Neewer you begin to see the value in this combination. And the ball head included in the Neewer kit has features the RRS ball head which is arguably one of the most well recognized manufacturers of fine ballheads and custom camera Arca plates and brackets in the business, does not have. The missing features are the drag adjustment screw that locks limits the rotation of the ball head and also the degree marks around the bottom of the ball head giving the photographer an idea how far the camera is rotating.
Another feature of the Neewer design is the inclusion of a level bubble which comes in very handy for those wishing to do panorama work and need to make sure the camera is level before panning the shot.
One other nice touch is the inclusion of an Arca Swiss plate for attachment to you camera. Usually in tripods of this quality the arca swiss plate for the camera is a seperate purchase this is a nice touch that certainly adds value to this package.
So in conclusion I would not hesitate to recommend this to any level of photographer whether a seasoned professional who needs a light weight backup to his/her more sturdy gear or someone just getting started in photography that needs a good value in a tripod.
I decided that I would take a chance on this one since I was needing a second tripod.
I paid $99.99 for this item but typical prices for a name brand carbon fiber tripod without any kind of head can be more than $600 dollars like this Gitzo mondel: http://www.amazon.com/Gitzo-GT1542T-Traveler-Section-Cameras/dp/B004K6L3CE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423446177&sr=8-1&keywords=carbon+fiber+tripod
Conclusion first :)
This tripod is an outstanding value. The fit and finish is good to excellent. The mechanics of movement of all the moving pieces is smooth and easy to operate. And although I could not say that it is as good as for example a Gitzo in build quality or sturdiness, it certainly approximates about 80% of both quality and stability of the Gitzo and does some things that the Gitzo will not do.
Review:
I uploaded quite few pictures of my unboxing and then different closeups of the tripod. I had never owned a combo tripod/monopod and was curious about how that worked. If there is a negative to be pointed out it would be here in that there was no documentation at all included in the package. A small quick setup guide would have been nice even though the process was fairly easy to figure out and did not take me very long to do at all.
First of all was the included carry bag which was of excellent quality. It was well padded and had a sturdy zipper that seemed rugged and I feel will provide years of service.
There was also included a small allen wrench if you need to adjust the tension of the silver connectors that are located at the pivot points of the tripod legs.
When removed from the bag the tripod was shipped in a clear plastic baggy which was also a nice touch by Neewer. I was struck by the fact that there was also a draw string bag of some crush material very nicely textured to protect the ball head.
The tripod was packaged inside out. The legs are designed to fold all the way around backwards for storage in the bag with the ball head inside of them and positioned in a way that takes up the minimum of room. I measured the outside length of the tripod bag and it was only 21 inches long.
Folding the legs into position, you will experience 3 positive clicks of the spring loaded latch that retains the legs at one of three angles you can set them to. The settings are near 90 degrees, 45 degrees and approximately 30 degrees. The Gitzo tripods have a similar mechanism although the hardware on the Gitzo is much more robust and sturdy.
The length of the legs are adjusted by a quick twist of the rubber covered adjustment screws which means you can get this tripod unloaded and deployed in seconds as you can untwist all the locks at the same time once you get used to doing this. I have used this same system of tripod locking mechanisms on the Gitzo tripods and much prefer it to the lever catch type of retainment seen on other brands of tripods. Those latches seem to fail at the most inconvenient times, but the screw type that tightens with a quick twist I have never had fail on me.
And they take much less pressure to retain tripod height than you might think. My biggest problem when I first got my Gitzo was a tendency to overtighten those things. It just takes a slightly snug fit to get the job done. The Neewer model under review is about the same as my high dollar Gitzo in feel and retainment.
This seems to be a good place to comment on how sturdy this tripod is. The stated weight retention is 26.5 lbs. I am not really sure why makers of quality tripods like this one always under estimate what the tripod will hold. I think if I could mount a stool I could sit on my Gitzo while it was setup. I extended the legs as far as they would go on the Neewer and leaned into it with approximately half my body weight until the legs started to flex. I estimate that I was putting in excess of 90 lbs of pressure on the tripod at this point. So it will definitely handle the stated weight of 26.5 lbs.
As you look at the pictures you will notice a couple of the leg tips which are heavy duty metal points surrounded by a thick rubber foot that is threaded to the bottom of the tripod leg.
At first I did not think I liked these as I always want my tripods to only have rubber at the bottom, but I discovered that all you have to do is unscrew the rubber foot which will cover the metal tip. And as the rubber presses out against the side of the metal, it needs to do so under tension so that it will not just wind itself back down. This was a nice design touch. So if you prefer the metal tips leave the rubber screwed all the way in or you can adjust it the way you want without having to keep up with seperate metal and rubber tips. Perfect!
As to using this as either a monopod or tripod all you need to do is unscrew the leg which is covered with substantial foam rubber material at the top. You unscrew this from the frame of the tripod which as you can see from the pictures reveals a sturdy aluminum head with a large threaded hole and a smaller threaded hole further inside the leg. I puzzled over this for a bit until I decided to take the ball head off the top of the tripod. (This is where a small how to sard of instructions would have been nice).
In the picutes you will see a threaded shaft which can be taken out of the tripod body and then threaded into the top of the single monopod leg you took off of the tripod, along with a collar device which is placed over the threaded shaft and then the hex nut threaded down until it rests in a slot made for it in the collar. I think looking at the pictures will make this clearer than my explaination.
This is what locks the threaded shaft in place and then thread the ball head on top and voila! You have a nice monopod topped with an equally nice ball head.
As to the ball head look at the picures and you will see what looks like a well made ball head designed to handle light to moderate loads. I tested the ball head retention by mounting a Nikon D300 with a battery grip mounted on the bottom with an Arca style plate on the bottom. It had no trouble locking this heavy camera in place when the ball had screw was tightened. And again, I think it could handle much more than the stated 26.5 lbs of pressure. The fit and finish of the ball head was very smooth and professional and indeed was virtually as good as the Really Right Stuff BH-25 Pro. Yes I would put it in the same general class as the RRS ball head here: http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/Shop/BH-25-Ultra-Light-Ballhead/BH-25-Pro-Ultra-light-ballhead-with-B2-mAS-clamp.html
And considering that this ball head at the time of this writing was about 1.5 times more expensive by itself than the entire kit from Neewer you begin to see the value in this combination. And the ball head included in the Neewer kit has features the RRS ball head which is arguably one of the most well recognized manufacturers of fine ballheads and custom camera Arca plates and brackets in the business, does not have. The missing features are the drag adjustment screw that locks limits the rotation of the ball head and also the degree marks around the bottom of the ball head giving the photographer an idea how far the camera is rotating.
Another feature of the Neewer design is the inclusion of a level bubble which comes in very handy for those wishing to do panorama work and need to make sure the camera is level before panning the shot.
One other nice touch is the inclusion of an Arca Swiss plate for attachment to you camera. Usually in tripods of this quality the arca swiss plate for the camera is a seperate purchase this is a nice touch that certainly adds value to this package.
So in conclusion I would not hesitate to recommend this to any level of photographer whether a seasoned professional who needs a light weight backup to his/her more sturdy gear or someone just getting started in photography that needs a good value in a tripod.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 6, 2022
