Yesterday I bought a Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod. I needed a really good tripod that would be versatile enough for large format cameras as well as SLR cameras. After looking around for a bit, I decided that this Manfrotto tripod was the best choice for me.

The tripod that I already own (but left in NY) was a Calumet one. In short, the Calumet tripod SUCKS. It is heavy, bulky, and not as small as I’d like. I know that these types of tripods aren’t really meant for carrying around all the time, but the Calumet one makes it especially hard to pack away for a shoot.

The Manfrotto 055XPROB that I bought the other day is small, relatively lightweight for its class, and built exceptionally well. It also has a full set of features that make it worthwhile for any shooting occasion.

The tripod includes a level (and I also bought a head which has its own level as well, so now I have multi-directional level support) which is crucial for some of the stuff I’ll be doing. The tripod also has the ability to go completely flat with the ground (see photo below).

The ability to go completely flat with the ground is quite cool. I can shoot things in extreme angles without having to put myself on the ground. If you look at the next photo, you’ll see that the engineers at Manfrotto built this tripod for this task by incorporating a mechanism by which the stem of the tripod head can go sideways with a simple click of a button.

In a sense, this tripod allows me to shoot OVER and UNDER items on a table. It mimics the ability of a studio stand while still allowing me to be able to carry it around to other places easily.

I doubt I’ll ever use the Calumet tripod ever again after experiencing first-hand how much better this Manfrotto tripod is.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 8th, 2008 at 6:24 pm and is filed under Cameras, Personal, Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.