ZOMEI Aluminum Portable Tripod with Ball Head Heavy Duty Lightweight Professional Compact Travel for Nikon Canon Sony All DSLR and Digital Camera

This is a great tripod for the novice to semi-pro. The included ball head is better than you get with many comparable clones. The bag is decent.I would not say this is a portable lightweight tripod. In fact, its quiet heavy at 3.71 lbs for just the tripod and ball head. However, you are rewarded with better stability and features vs other lighter similar design clones.The ball head on this tripod features three knobs vs just two knobs I have seen on similar clones. You have one for each degree of freedom, pitch, roll and yaw. Although, the pitch and roll knobs are not truly independent. Tightening on one does affect the other axis drag. If you want to lock it down, this one locks down very well. The yaw movement is very stiff, yet smooth. I expect it will loosen some over time. I can see you using medium weight setups with this ball head with no issues. Up to about 5 lbs will not be an issue. Above that you may be left for wanting.This tripod is pretty sturdy up to its maximum height extension. There is some camera shake at the maximum, and its best one extension level down from that. This is not an issue for me at 5'10". Plenty of height for me even when one extension level down. On the legs I find the twist to lock to be better and work faster than the flip to lock you see on many other clones. This a personal choice. The feet are just pieces of rubber and do not have spikes or anything like that.Overall, this is a keeper for me, even though I also own a slightly smaller and lighter clone version of this from another manufacture that works nearly the same way. This will be my out the car, in the backyard, at camp tripod. My other one will be for the back pack, on the trail, in downtown, etc. For this price, I would buy this one again.

I have tested several cheap range tripod for video or picture purpose, but I never tried a tripod of this quality. Everything is perfect on this one. Every single pieces look and feel high quality.You can really move every single piece on this tripod and really set the perfect shot. First, start by removing the release plate (see picture 1 and 2) and screw your camera on the screw. Then, you can fix your camera to the tripod by squeezing the release plate (see picture 3). You even have a little level bubble to make sure you are leveled. The only little thing I could say that I did not loved is the minimal amount of information provided with it. I mean for someone who did not ever used a tripod, I think it could be hard to figure every single use of each piece. But with some experimentation you will figure how it works even if you never used a tripod.The legs are well made as well. Twist lock work just fine and the feet will not slip because of non-slip rubber feet.Other than traditional tripod feature, you can remove legs and do monopod or walking stick. This last feature is not something I tried because I'm not convicted that this stick with this locking mechanism (twist lock) could stand my weight in a tricky hiking situation for example. But the manifold works perfect. It's a cool feature to have when you want to travel light, but still have a good method to make great pictures.I have included a few random pictures just to give you a good idea of this tripod.

Good value for money. Easy to use. Weight for height & quality good.

Once you are familiar with all the knobs and other features this tripod has You will love this tripod. Very sturdy and compact. A little on the heavy side but I chalk that up to how sturdy it is. Another reviewer mentioned it was like a contortionist. I would agree. You can get this thing into any angle or position. Which is a must when you want to get that perfect shot. Nothing is worse than knowing how you want to shoot something and not being able to get it. One of my favorite features is using it upside down for those super low shots. For those times when you are mounting a phone or other light camera you do not have to reverse the center pole. This is really handy for getting quick shots without setup. I can easily change tripod locations 50 times or more in a day so every little advantage helps. I wouldn't recommend taking it backpacking or throw it in a Camelpack and go mountain biking but it is small enough and I probably will. They do have a carbon fiber version that would be better for that. If I knew how much I would like this tripod I might have gone with the carbon model.

Very lightweight, comes with a carry bag for easy transport. Seems solidly built, although the camera mount part is plastic, it still seems pretty sturdy. I believe the manufacturer also has compatible metal mounts, so you could always replace it.Overall, so far so good!