I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across the brand new befree from Manfrotto.
Check it out online at: Manfrotto.com
**click on any picture for a larger image**
A small lightweight, but sturdy tripod is one of those "holy Grail" items that has eluded photographers for years. Recently with the advent of Carbon fiber, companies like Gitzo have entered the lightweight tripod market with a vengeance. As long as you are willing to cough up over $1000 you too can enjoy one of the absolute best made, rugged yet lightweight tripods on the face of the earth. If you would rather not spend that kind of money at this point in your photographic life, then you will no doubt, be looking towards an aluminum tripod. The Manfrotto befree is one of the most recent entries into this market and while not all things to all people, it does a good job on most things and an OK job on the most important thing you want a tripod to do. (or in this case, not do)
The befree weighs in at around 3 lbs and is just a little over 15 inches long, folded for travel. It comes with a very smooth working ball head and a nice padded carrying case.
It's shown here folded, laying beside the carrying case and a standard sized Tamrac camera case for perspective.
Since I already have some of their products, I appreciate the fact that the befree accepts the standard Manfrotto base plates.
I love the way the legs are fully adjustable at any angle and they fold up completely backwards, to cover the center beam and the ball head which is one of the ways they are able to get it to fold up so small.
Here is the befree beside its big brother, the Manfrotto standard 055 model. Both have the legs fully extended and the center beam all the way down.
The ball head works smoothly and is very intuitive and easy to use, even if you are not used to a ball head. I mounted several camera and lens combinations, including some pretty heavy glass and it was secure, smooth, and steady on all of them. The ratchet on the adjuster is a nice touch so you can rotate it to any angle that is comfortable without releasing the ball.
The befree is a very good traveling companion, but it's not perfect. I had a few issues that I will discuss here:
- As far as I can tell, the ball head is not replaceable. Normally the head would screw off and could be replaced with a different one. This would be important if yours broke or you wanted to invest in a Gitzo or Really Right Stuff head, or if you just wanted a different one to match your base plates. I have an e-mail in to Manfrotto about this and it could be that the threads are tight, but I am scared to force it. I will update this blog, if I find out different.
- It doesn't come with a tension adjustment wrench. Not a big deal, they tell you to use a #25 Torx but not everybody has one of those. How expensive can a little wrench be to throw in the case?
- Fully extended, it is still below my natural eye level. Not a big surprise for a travel tripod, just a minor annoyance.
- It is a little "wobbly" when fully extended. This is a pretty big deal but not a deal breaker for me. I know that with small thin legs extended all the way out you are not going to get a rock-solid platform. It is nowhere near as steady as a standard tripod or a very high dollar carbon fiber travel tripod, but, and this is a big but, it is not bad. Better than any other aluminum tripod anywhere near its price, and much better than most travel tripods I have tried.
Final thoughts - If you need a tripod that you can easily take with you, and you know you do, the Manfrotto befree is not a home run but it is a solid double or triple that does most things well and some things very well. I suggest you find one and give it a try.
If you would like to know more about my opinions, or discuss it more in depth, or talk about where to get one, please e-mail me
e-mail me at: keith@keithlewisphoto.com
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As you may have found out by now, the head is replaceable. I use a 496RC2 for sturdiness, though it means I can't fold the tripod as compactly.
ReplyDeleteYes, I did discover that, thanks for bringing it to the attention of my readers.
ReplyDeleteI have a 400 mm 5.6L canon prime lens with a Canon 60D body.. so a total weight of 2 Kgs.. will be able to hold it? I do not intent on doing longer shutter speed.. May be use it occasionally to capture bird videos and bird photos.
ReplyDelete