Do you bring your tripod abroad? and which model?

How many of you carry a tripod abroad?

Do you own a lightweight one that use only abroad?

that may help me to choose between 190 and 055!

Thanks

None of your categories fit for me. I bought a monopod to take on my last safari. I didn't get one with it at all and ended up not using it. Also we were doing a fair bit of travelling and most of the time it was on the floor of the van with the others. However, at airports I tried to strap it to my camera rucksack. It got in the way and I also lost one of the adjustors! It was a fairly light one though. It would depend on what I was doing abroad as to whether I would now take my tripod. Sorry not much help!

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I have bought a manfrotto modo for my trips abroad, it does the trick even with my sigma lens attatched, with the battery grip, light weight and it looks the part as well so i am very happy with it

I use a 190CX pro4 carbon AT HOME as my main tripod as it actually copes with everything I can throw at it despite being quite light and compact.

I usually take it if I KNOW I am going to use it (ie I am intending to go out late in the evening) because even though its quite compact and not too heavy (1.8kg with a decent fluid ballhead) its still a lot to carry around all day when you DONT need it and you have to strap it outside your bag which means you keep knocking into things!

I also took it abroad once and sweated around Granada all day in 90 degree heat only to use it for 20 minutes. Also you HAVE to check it in on any flight which I hate doing as I lost my previous aluminium one a few years ago.

Now for emergency use and foreign travel (where I try and carry all my gear all the time) I use a Cullman Magic 2 compact tripod.

http://www.photographyreview.com/cat/tripods/tripods/cullman/PRD_84507_3114crx.a...

The second review above sums it up nicely. I use it with a Manfrotto 484RC2 (decent replacement head) and its a lot better than nothing, its light (1 kg all in) and it folds flat which means it fits perfectly inside my Thinktank Airport Antidote and in the laptop slot on my Urban Disguise 60.

If you do have to check it in (BA is OK with it but Easy Jet are not, nor are most German or French airport security desks - where IS the consistency???) then at only £100 or so its not as serious as losing a decent Manfrotto carbon!

Note I used it quite successfully for 15 second exposures at 300mm on the DA 55-300 on a calm night and it was fine, but I would not use it with anything much heavier, or in a stiff breeze. They could have made it better by using magnesium leg clamps and CF legs and I would happily pay the extra but there you go!

However if you HAVE a travel tripod (ie the Cullman) then you may as well get the heavier Manfrotto 55 for domestic use.

I only have one tripod, a Velbon CF640. It goes with me, packed in my suitcase. I need it for the Bigma, and can't afford the luxury of two tripods. You do have to check them - airport security sees them as a potential weapon, but tbh I'd rather check it, as I have enough to cope with with my photo back pack as hand luggage. I would have to take the tripod of the back pack every time I wanted something from it.

I am using Giottos 9351B and normally take it everywhere. The only problem when flying is its weight (3kg is a lot when trying to fit into 15kg limit ) and it hardly fits into my suitcase (64cm + head). Otherwise I am extremely happy with it.

I use a shop brand tri-pod when taveling. I mainly shoot sports and using a tri-pod is not needed.

The very few times I have need for a tripod (e.g. waterfalls) I think how grateful I am that Pentax SR serves my needs 99% of the time. No way I'd ruin a vacation by lugging around a tripod. (And this from someone just back from Niagara Falls!)

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