After getting my new camera bag, I sold my old one (thanks Andrew !) and got this tripod with the proceeds. Looking at the PDF on the UK distributors site (trust me: you don’t want to bother with the manufacturers site) they indicate that it’s not suitable for SLRs when using long lenses, but the collapsed size is just too good to ignore so I took a mild gamble at bought it anyway: mild in that my current tripod is around 20 years old and is so unstable it’s only marginally better than hand holding (plus it’s now got enough chipped or broken bits that trying to use it quickly results in needing to stop and add plasters to the cuts…)

The Slik Sprint series covers three types, but the stats for the Mini are:

• Folded length: 360mm
• Maximum operating height: 1100mm
• Maximum centre column extension: 210mm
• Maximum load weight: 2000g
• Tripod weight: 740g

This is small enough that when put into one of the Adventure 9 side pockets it only comes about 80% of the way up the bag: when wearing the backpack it’s still within my profile and so shouldn’t wreak havoc when walking around shops, for example. The legs do feel rather flimsy when being extended, but stiffen nicely when locked and they each have a 3 position top lock with infinitely variable angles between the stops, which is beautifully flexible. The ball head that comes with the tripod can be removed, and reveals a standard screw mount underneath so replacing the supplied head isn’t a problem (but oddly, not something Slik advertise).

Putting my 350D and Tamron 28-75mm lens on the tripod at full extension the head showed no signs of dropping after being left alone for five minutes. With the centre column fully extended there is a fair amount of spring noticeable when gently flexing the ‘pod, and I’m not sure if it’ll require mirror lockup to be used to get very long exposures to stay sharp. This isn’t a tripod for those who are happy to debate the pros and cons of leg shape and carbon fibre vs. aluminium – it is small enough to take along with my normal gear when my old tripod would have been left at home, and so I’m 100% sure that it will enable me to get images that I’d have missed, so by that metric it’s a winner.

It’s possible to unscrew the bottom section of the centre column to get the whole thing amazingly close to the ground (142mm according to the back of the box), and thanks to the leg positioning it is possible to get the ball head pointing directly down at the ground, and close enough that extension tubes could be used too.

The tripod comes with a nylon bag with handles and drawstring top, together with a generic instruction leaflet for the whole Sprint range which is clear an concise, but oddly the box has a combination of language agnostic pictograms (understandable), and English of the variety normally associated with Babelfish. Why ? I have no idea, but they’re classic phrases that could simply have been added for the humour value:

“The high-class feeling gray metallic paint is adopted.”
“The special round pipe containing magnesium in intensity and lightweight.”
“The small and compact ball head can be used with snap feeling is equipped.”

So is it any good ? If you have a compact with manual override such as the Canon Powershot G3, then the answer is an unreserved yes: it will certainly add a new dimension to your photography, especially allowing easy use of the inbuilt ND filter. If you have a lightweight DSLR such as a Canon 350D or Nikon D40 then (depending upon your choice of lenses) it could be a very useful (and small) addition to your bag of equipment. Heavier DSLR bodies will start to eat into the 2Kg weight allowance, and whilst a more capable head could be swapped out for the pre-installed one, I’d be wary that the flexing of the body would become an issue.

I bought mine for £35 + P&P from Bristol Cameras and think that for the money it’s the best budget tripod I’ve owned.

Since my last camera bag review seemed to generate so much interest, here’s another one !

Things have changed quite a bit in the last 17 months, and the main issue with my original Lowepro is that it’s no longer large enough for a day out with my family: the primary problem being that my youngest walks everywhere now so we don’t have the extra load space of a pushchair anymore. A secondary issue is longer holidays, particularly when camping. It’s more cost effective to take my laptop with me than to buy enough CF cards for 10 days away, but insurance becomes an issue – my car insurance for contents stops at £250, and all items must be kept in the boot. Nothing in a tent is covered (which is fair enough), but it means that in order to cover myself under my household policy^[1] I need to keep the items with me, so the new bag must:

1. be as anonymous as possible
2. be able to take my laptop as well as my camera
3. have enough load space left over for food and water for one day

My previous requirement of being able to put the camera away quickly in order to help small children has been replaced by the load space as it’s unfair for my wife to carry everything for the day out whilst I just take my toys. The food and water size doesn’t have to be sufficient for 4 adults and isn’t meant for hiking in a desert, but if you’ve ever gone around a theme park (Legoland/Disney World/PlasticTatMerchandiseWorld/etc.) you’ll know that it’s a struggle to find a drink that doesn’t contain more sugar than a jar of honey, and anything to eat that isn’t so processed it could be sucked through a straw.

Drawbacks: It’s not a sling bag. They are seriously useful, and are very fast to access and provide a comfortable working area for swapping lenses without having to learn to juggle, or put things down on nearby walls. Taking this bag off it’s also obvious it’s a more traditional design, meaning that laying the bag down to get into the camera compartment means getting the straps and back panel wet and/or muddy, which will transfer nicely to your back once the bag goes back on. There’s no integral full waterproof covering but this is available as an accessory (and could be stuffed into the laptop pocket if you’ve got less than the maximum 17″ machine in there).

Advantages: It has just enough space for food and water for my anticipated use, is well padded and looks like a normal backpack. The side pockets are nicely elasticated and will hold a table-top tripod head down quite securely. It has both waist and chest straps to prevent movement, and the front mounting points allow extra filters/memory cards/mobile phones to be attached at a helpful height. The laptop pocket is large, and will swallow my 12″ PB sideways, leaving room for something slim (and non-abrasive !) in there too – perhaps a survival bag for placing on wet ground before opening the bag ?

One thing that Tamrac don’t appear to advertise is that the top of the camera compartment/base of the load space is held in place by velcro and can be totally removed. This gives a whopping 50cm load height down the centre of the bag, albeit with minimal side support in the top section. I’m not sure I can justify a Canon EF 500mm f/4.0 L IS USM, but at least I can boast that my bag is ready for it

In a head-to-head comparison of the camera load space (pictures available if there’s demand), it looks to be more spacious, and is indeed much deeper which would be good for larger camera bodies than my 350D, however when packing everything into the Adventure 9 from the 200AW I was surprised to find myself left with a handful of bits simply ‘left over’. The lack of the front exterior pocket and top space webbing mean that a lot of the little extras (eg: blower brush, optical flash trigger, cable release, etc.) aren’t easily placed. Yes, it has a removable pouch, but if that’s used to store cables for the laptop (as Tamrac suggest) then the camera parts are left loose. It definitely needs an extra small pouch to hold these things, and I can see myself going for the SAS filter pouch too, as there’s no way to easily put my current filter collection in an easily accessible external pocket.

With my basic set of lenses, flashgun, 12″ PowerBook and associated cables the whole bag weighs in at 1st 3lbs (7.7kg) – add in two 500ml steel flasks in the elasticated pouches and that will be at least 1st 6lbs (9kg) without food, so carrying this pack around all day will do wonders for my fitness level.

So overall, for wandering around a town for a day by myself I’d stick with the 200AW or possibly move up to the 300AW in order to carry more equipment, but for time with my family where photography is a secondary activity it’s a great compromise. If the 300AW had a laptop compartment then I would probably have spent the extra on that bag as the Lowpro wowed me with it’s cleverly designed and supremely useful placement of all compartments, but especially with the offer I found at Morris Photographic (£69 inc UK delivery, whilst stocks last) this compromise bag was an easy upgrade choice.

[1] Yes, there are dedicated photo and laptop policies out there, but nothing compares even slightly to extending my household cover for my equipment: the nearest standalone policy was over 3 times as much.