A good travel tripod can be one of the most important pieces of kit you own, particularly if you're often on the move. Is this little tripod the new king of the difficult subset of tripods?
I'll be honest, I've had a difficult relationship with tripods. When I bought my first camera, I was given a 30-year-old tripod by a family member and thought that would do; it wouldn't. Eventually, I invested in a modern and reasonably expensive tripod and saw the error of my ways. As my photography evolved and I gravitated toward certain styles and genres, I had less call for a tripod. In fact, the only times I tended to need one were in my studio, which was easy, or when I traveled, which was difficult.
My go-to Peak Design tripod isn't huge, but it is cumbersome and heavy — which is what I wanted as I would often have a heavy payload atop it. That doesn't work at all when you travel, particularly on short trips, and lugging it around on my back was untenable. I often need to go on brief trips for work and a tripod is necessary, so it's an issue I'm wrestling with as we speak.
This Ulanzi F38 tripod reviewed by TKNORTH is not only lighter than Peak Design's carbon fiber travel tripod, but it's nearing half the price. The question is, is it better?
That looks like a pretty cool tripod. I'd be curious how to compares to other "best travel tripod" models over the years? I'm kind of shocked anyone is still designing the best camera bag or best travel tripod because we've had so many great ones over the years now, but I'm glad they are still trying to improve on the designs.