NEW! Outside TV show

Alex Honnold explores Nevada’s wild side

Watch now

NEW! Outside TV show

Alex Honnold explores Nevada’s wild side

Watch now

Image
Gear Guy

What’s a good, compact camera tripod for hiking and backpacking?

My husband and I just got a camera with a timer and remote control. We have a regular tripod, but need a good, compact tripod for hiking and backpacking. We've seen some that fold down to about cigarette-pack size, but are they any good? It's just a regular 35mm point and shoot camera, any recommendations? Linda Neve Incline Village, Nevada

Published: 

New perk: Easily find new routes and hidden gems, upcoming running events, and more near you. Your weekly Local Running Newsletter has everything you need to lace up! Subscribe today.

You mean cigarette carton, don’t you? That would be a good trick—a cigarette-pack size tripod.

As you pare down the weight and size of a tripod you’re obviously going to be sacrificing stability. But for a lightweight camera, and if you don’t try to do one-hour exposures of the Milky Way, a very light tripod would be fine. There is, for instance, the extremely good Gitzo Mountaineer Sport Carbon Fiber tripod. It’ll hold close to ten pounds, and extends to a useful height of nearly 5 feet, while weighing a non-unreasonable two pounds, ten ounces. But oh it’s cost—$500. Not practical, probably.

Better, I suspect, would be the Cullman Model 1002 Compact Tripod ($60). It extends to about three feet, weighs 19 ounces, and costs just $60. Another good choice is Gitzo’s Weekend Tripod ($215), which is a good quality, full-size tripod that weighs two pounds. But, you’ll need to buy a head for the Gitzo, something like Bogen’s 3028 head ($35).

Another option is to buy one of several tabletop tripods, with are very small and surprisingly useful. Bogen makes a little tripod, the Model 3007, which fits into a pocket yet supports three to four pounds ($60) on any suitable surface. I’ve found that table tripods also work well as supplements to handholding a camera. By placing the tripod legs against your chest, you can greatly stabilize a camera for slow shutter speeds.

Popular on Outside Online

sms