Test Results

The stiffness we see here is very good for a travel tripod, and excellent for a travel tripod with a center column.  This kind of performance is on par for what we have come to expect from Feisol.  It is still a travel tripod, and so we keep our performance expectations modest.  If you need more stiffness though, you are going to have to compromise somewhere and get a tripod without a center column, or a shorter or heavier one.

The damping though is somewhat poor as there is no pad on the top plate to help absorb vibrations.  The damping here is no worse than we have seen in similar tripods without any built-in damping capability.  This isn’t an issue for most use cases of this tripod, but will be noticed when working with telephoto lenses.

The stiffness and damping data are the averages of 10 trials for each measurement.  The reported error is the standard error, except in the case of the damping data. I have set the error in the damping at 10% as the standard error metric does not appropriately capture the error in fitting to the data.  All of the reported specifications are measured, with the exception of the weight rating. The tripod is measured at full height, with the center column (if applicable) down.

Bonus Data:

Given that this tripod has a two section center column, the stiffness vs center column height is something I would normally like to test, but didn’t have the time in this case.

Recommended Gear Limit

The exact gear limit is highly dependent on the external conditions such as wind, and technique, such as the use of a cable release.  Under perfectly still conditions using perfect technique, sharp images can be obtained using any tripod. Developing a consistent and broadly applicable set of guidelines for what kind of gear a given tripod can reasonably support is still a work in progress on this site.

Example Test Data

The following data is example raw data from the stiffness and damping measurements.  The relevant information with regards to the tripod performance is entirely contained within the stiffness and damping figures presented above.  The plots below are solely present so that the tested stiffness and damping figures are believed. Each plot and the corresponding Fourier frequency space plot correspond to one of the ten trials done on each axis to obtain the test results.  For a more in depth discussion on the meaning of these graphs, see the methodology section and the “understanding the test results” page.

Yaw

Beautiful data, sharp resonance.

Pitch:

Everything looks very clean with regard to pitch as well.