Manfrotto MKBFRA4-BH Compact Lightweight Tripod for Travel Photography (Black)

I took this tripod with me to the big island of Hawaii 2 weeks ago. I packed it horizontally into a laptop case by pac safe. The size was a definite seller for me. The ease of using the tripod was excellent. You do have to unfold the legs around the center column, then engage the levers that allow it to stand like a normal tripod. This took at the most, about 40 seconds to do. The more i used it the quicker it was to setup. The leg clasps are awesome, strong, sturdy, and reliable. I consider myself a advanced hobbyist, and not a professional. It survived the mixed weather of the island the day we drove around it. The inclimate weather provided challenges, but the robust construction, well appointed rubber feet, and ease of use made even my more challenging shots with a still camera. Video was a different story. There is not a fluid cartridge, so video shots in motion required the handler to loosen the ball head while maintaining contact with the camera body. You cannot pad the videocamera without holding the camera, it will just flop down, damaging your camera and the tripod. By no means was a fluid camera pan possible. Static video was great though. I have a canon vixi a hf g30, and r50. I used the r50 because it was lighter and easier to transport. While you can replace the ball head with a micro video head, it would require unscrewing the head if the legs were to be folded up for transport home. The mere 3 lbs of weight of the tripod sounds light, but it has substance, and feels solid in my hands. It is absolutely perfect for stills. I would HIGHLY recommend making this your travel tripod. The case is padded, thin, but padded. In my mind, the padding is enough to protect the tripod without making it bulky. To be honest, you kind of forget the padding is there. That is how well engineered the whole package is. The rubber grip on the upper part of one leg was a nice surprise. I could not see the rubber grip on the carbon fiber version that recently came out. I was debating getting both, the aluminum pictured here and the carbon fiber, but the aluminum is quite sufficient for travel. It's only 3 pounds! Get one. Ok, I'm done typing.

This tripod does exactly what it promises: A good, lightweight tripod for travel. It easily collapses into a size that will fit into carry-on luggage with room to spare. The legs flip to the open position quickly and firmly - just move the lever on each leg to the open position and flip it around. The locking levers on the sticks are nice and firm and don't have a ton of give when all of them are extended. The center column locks sturdily enough but like any tripod when it's fully extended things feel a bit tippy. TIP: The instructions show how to collapse the tripod with the head straight vertical...this ONLY works if you remove the QR plate FIRST (there are notches in the plate to allow the legs to fit around it). But if you want to store it with the QR plate attached with a little fiddling you can position the deck so it fits between the legs when they collapse. The ball head is sturdy enough for most travel uses. I have a Nikon D3 and it's fine with a 14-24, 24-70 and a 70-200/2.8 (collar mount). I even tried it with a 300/f4 not on the collar mount and it was sturdy enough - although you're not going to be shooting stars with it. One ding is the head is it has no real friction adjustment - the lock is your only friction. But it locks firmly with no real bounce so it's not bad for positioning. The quick-release has a locking tab to keep it from opening unexpectedly. You can trigger the tab with one hand with a little practice. Unlike other Manfrotto RC2 QRs this one does NOT lock open - you have to activate the tab both when mounting and unmounting the camera. It holds the camera steady when the lever is fully engaged - but you have to make sure it is or it'll wobble. Another ding is the QR locking lever is inexplicably plastic instead of metal like every other RC2 QR in existence. It will probably break if you drop the tripod on it and I would be wary using it in extremely cold temperatures. It's a shame they didn't make this very important piece out of metal like every other component in the head. The pouch that comes with it is nice and compact and will keep your clothes from getting any dirt or oil from the tripod. It's a shame they didn't include a little sewn-in pouch to hold the included adjustment wrench - would have been a nice touch for a $200 tripod. All in all I'm happy with this tripod. It has a couple of flaws but they're workable. It's lightweight and fits in carry-on luggage - which were the primary constraints for me.

I received this just the other day and took it out the next day on a 6 mile hike through a local redwood forest. (A dark area to photograph!). I then used it at a beach area, and then took it to a small-venue concert last night and used it to hold my D90 for video recording. Here is what I found: This is a sturdy and well-built tripod. It can fold up into a neat and short package if you bring the legs 180 degrees around, but I find that extra step is not needed. It comes with a nice carrying case, but also not needed. I carried this through a 6 mile hike, with the camera attached and legs partly extended, and found it was a very convenient way to travel. I used a D90 with either the 16-85 VR lens or a 60 mm Micro and they felt very secure in the rc2 plate (or whatever it is called). I felt that with reasonable care I was not going to lose my camera and held onto strap also just in case. When I came to a potential scene, I simply extended the legs and set up. The idea of strapping it on and off the backback seemed exhausting and unnecessary.. The ball head works well, but required me getting used to it. It held perfectly with the above gear and even an SB900 speedlight attached - even in the portrait position. It moves pretty smoothly, but last night I took it to the concert place and I could not smoothly pan the scene while shooting video. (It clearly is not designed for video). If I left it alone or just changed the zoom it was great, however.To be honest I am thinking about one of Manfrotto's heavy, smooth, ballheads with the hand grip - like the 322, 324, or 327. It's just moree money and weight, however. By the way, I did use a timer or a remote clicker for all the shots. This rig is not like the big tripods that exists in studios. Tap on this to press the shutter and it oscillates. I can't imagine one that would not without being much, much heavier. The problem with tripods is that they are tripods and not nearly as convenient as shooting handheld. However, I am learning that there is no substitute for a still camera. This tripod will not disappoint you if you bring it home.

Firstly, I am writing this review for my uses a professional fashion photographer; and am happy with the Manfrotto BeFree Compact tripod thus far. Let me explain based off 5 weeks traveling to New York and Europe for Fashion Week: Pros: 1. Light - brought it with me, even when I wasn't sure if I'd use it. 2. Slim enough to be a monopod - photographer risers are packed tight and to be able to use it as a monopod at a show and then shoot the New York skyline at night was appreciated. 3. Carrying case attaches easily to backpack - and this fit snugly in my Profoto B1 traveling case. Neutral: 1. There were moments when I wished it would be just slightly taller; I can't much fault the tripod as it's designed to be light and portable and I believe the engineers maximized it's capabilities without compromising primary tripod elements (solid and strong). Cons: 1. Non-intuitive set-up - it takes a minute to learn how to operate this tripod and even trickier to describe quite how. The legs unfold 180 degrees (from up to down) from the fully collapsed initial 'monopod' position: - to switch to standard tripod mode, turn each silver dials to it's middle position - to switch to wide tripod mode, turn each silver dial to it's furthest position (the legs will be splayed further out) The main mast can be further extended by loosening the tightening screw at the leg intersection and lifting it up. Once you've gone through this a couple of times it becomes second nature and I appreciate the engineering elegance to it all (though it may be initially confusing). 2. Not strong enough to support countersink - this could support my Canon 5D mk II with 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS lens just fine but put much more weight than that on it and the legs will begin sliding in on themselves; on the plus, this is good news as it would be far worse if they bent. As a caveat on the height: I've used this a couple of times on commercial projects and found that it's maximum height is pretty much ideal for shooting industry standard models using the 70-200mm focal length.

Depending on what you mount on this tripod determines whether it is an okay or great tripod. My Canon T6i with a smaller lens works good.....barely. However, my Canon Mark III 5D with just about any lens is a different story. The ball head seems to be so smooth that it that it works against how it works - friction. I've considered roughening the ball head or plastic ring to get it to work better, but have decided to relegate it to a back-up tripod for cameras of less weight. For its price tag, one would think Manfrotto put this tripod through the wringer in regards to testing during it's development stage. With everything else on the tripod, it seems that they did, but, they must have had an intern develop the head. My three-star ranking takes into consideration the entire tripod, however, the most important part, the ball head, is a one-star failure. The legs of the tripod make setting up a shot tremendously easy with nearly any terrain / footing possible. However, before doing this, make certain that the tripod will hold your camera because you may be wasting your time. If you're wondering why I didn't return it, well, that was bad planning on my part. I ordered it for a trip (mostly for photographing) to Iceland. It arrived just prior to me leaving. I was kinda stuck with it. When I returned, it had so many scratches, I just decided to keep it under the premise that roughening the ball (with sandpaper) would make it work. I'll let you know how that turned out. Hopefully, it will be better than the trip did. FYI - don't try photographing the northern lights with a tripod that has a ball head that fails even if there is a 1 m.p.h wind hitting your camera because the frustration level is off the charts! Thanks for junk, Manfrotto!!!!

I love my big Manfrotto tripod, but it's heavy to lug around on a hike, and kind of big to pack in a suitcase or carry on board when flying. This compact tripod is a good compromise in size and "heavy duty-ness" when you need to carry it for hours in the hills or out in the desert. The included carry case, with shoulder strap, is very handy if I haven't got anywhere left to tie it on my camera pack. It isn't as tall as my regular tripod, but I'm willing to live with that. I leave the big tripod at home more often now, or use both when I'm shooting with both normal and infrared cameras. Because of the light weight, it's easier to knock over if you bump into it, so you might want to consider attaching a sandbag if that's a concern for you. UPDATE 10 Nov 2013: Just wanted to add that I used this tripod recently during a landscape workshop in Yosemite National Park. I learned that you DO NOT want to use it with the center post fully extended if your shutter speed is below 1/90. At full extension, even the slap of the shutter from a dSLR can introduce a slight vibration that is noticeable as minor motion blur in the image; the slower the shutter speed, the more noticeable. For snapshots or images destined solely for the Internet at screen resolution, this may not be an issue for you. For anything that is going to be used at large sizes, it's definitely an issue. This only occurred with the center post at full extension. At half extension, I didn't see this problem. I stand by my earlier statements and am not deducting any stars. This sort of thing is only to be expected in a lightweight tripod.

Manfrotto is known for building high quality products. This product is no different. The design is very well thought out. Easy and quick to open and set up means you won't be fiddling around wasting time and missing the shot. The attached ball head includes the RC2 plate. The specs says that it can support up to 8.8lbs. Tested it with a Canon 5D III and 70-200L lens and it felt sturdy. The legs are 4 segments long which allows them to fold away really short. The legs also have a lock for 3 different positions (1 closed position and 2 open positions) for quick set up. The tension for the leg segment locks as well as the leg angle selector are adjustable with an included key. Here's the cool thing about the tripod. The center column can be inserted upside down. This allows for low angle shots. It's really quick to do. Simply pull out the stopper, pull out the center column, then put the center column in the other way and plug the stopper in. This leads to one of the drawbacks of the tripod: The plug for the center column seems too flimsy to me, which is sad considering the high build quality of the rest of the tripod. If you plan to shoot with the center column on top this does not pose a problem. However if you want that low angle shot, I wouldn't feel safe. The stopper seems like it can only hold a couple of pounds weight. This and the fact that there is no level on the tripod keep it from a full 5 stars. So in conclusion... Pros: High build quality Supports full frame body with telephoto lens Handy carry bag Folds up small Light weight Cons: Cannot do low angle shots (at least not at full weight spec) No level All in all, a great tripod that will be more than enough for your standard outing.

Pros: Very light and compact for an aluminum tripod. Has enough strength to support a D800 + Battery Grip + SB900 + 24-70mm 2.8! Travel case is included. The included ball head is removable and can be replaced with any standard head that uses a 3/8" stud. The RC2 plate the ball head included was a plus for me as my other Monfrotto uses the same plate so now I have an extra. The small size of this tripod allowed me to easily attach it, without the carrying case, to my Lowepro bag...which has and integrated tripod mount, while keeping the total bag weight & balance to a minimum. Cons: Not a deal breaker, but having to flip the legs up and over to fit them into the included bag is time consuming and twisting the head into the correct position tends to cause some scratches on the leg assemblies. This can be avoided but requires some effort.

Manfrotto cumple con su prestigio de alta calidad con este producto. Sólido, compacto y ligero, es el compañero perfecto para el fotógrafo viajero. Las patas se abren de manera independiente, lo que facilita su empleo en terreno disparejo, y se doblan hacia arriba, alrededor de la cabeza de bola, lo que le permite ser muy compacto. La cabeza cuenta con una palanca de cierre grande y cómoda, con una placa de montaje rápido para la cámara. Incluye una resistente bolsa de transporte.

普段から5kg級の三脚を車の中に置いています。車から歩いて移動する際に、遠いと疲れます。 コンパクトで山登りでも使える三脚を探して迷いに迷ったあげく「値段・重さ・携帯性・耐荷重」のバランスが取れていたこちらに決めました。 水平器がついていませんが、カメラ(ペンタックス)に付いているので問題ありません。カッコイイ三脚です。そこそこ軽く、持ち歩きも苦になりません。 望遠レンズだとさすがに不安定ですが、用途で使い分けているので問題ありません。

Love this product, very compact and easy to transport inside my backpack.

Als Gelegenheits-Stativnutzer suchte ich zu meinem bereits etliche Jahre alten Manfrotto-Mittelklasse-Stativ (Modell PROB irgendwas) mit Action Grip-Kugelkopf (das stabil, aber leider auch recht schwer und sperrig ist) noch eine reisetauglichere Variante. Meine Anforderungen waren: - Geringes Packmaß, nicht mehr als 50 cm. - Möglichst geringes Gewicht, absolutes Maximum 2 kg. - Akzeptable Arbeitshöhe, so dass man zumindest nicht ständig in der Hocke arbeiten muss. - Flexibler Kugelkopf (man will keinen 3D-Neiger mehr, wenn man einmal mit guten Kugelköpfen gearbeitet hat), möglichst Panorama-fähig. - Tragfähigkeit deutlich über 2 kg, damit auch mal die DSLR mit Batteriegriff und dickem Telezoom sicher montiert werden kann (Billigstative, die meist schon bei 1,5 kg an ihre Grenzen kommen, schieden damit von vornherein aus). - Kompatibilität mit der Manfrotto-Schnellwechselplatte (an fast jeder meiner Kameras ist so eine Platte permanent montiert). - Möglichst geringer Preis, nicht wesentlich über 100€ (extrem leichte Carbon-Varianten fielen damit auch flach), und das am besten inkl. Tragetasche. Mit dem Befree habe ich, so glaube ich, die richtige Entscheidung getroffen: Mit gut 40 cm Packmaß, knapp 1,5 kg Gewicht (die Produktbeschreibung schummelt hier mit 1,4 kg etwas), knapp 150 cm max. Arbeitshöhe, bis zu 4 kg Belastbarkeit, Manfrotto-Schnellwechselplatte, mitgelieferter brauchbarer Tasche und einem Preis, der im Blitzangebot sehr akzeptabel war, erfüllt es alle meine Anforderungen. Die einzige Kröte, die ich schlucken musste, ist, dass der Kugelkopf nicht Panorama-fähig ist. Damit kann ich persönlich leben, aber wenn Panoramas Ihr Haupteinsatzgebiet sind, schauen Sie auf jeden Fall nach einer Alternative mit Panorama-fähigem Kugelkopf (z.B. das Rollei, s.u.) oder gutem 3D-Neigekopf. Der Qualitäts- und Stabilitätseindruck ist hervorragend. Für sein zierliches Packmaß und Gewicht bietet dieses Stativ eine erstaunliche hohe Stabilität und gute Handhabung, selbst wenn man eine schwere DSLR mit großem Tele draufsetzt. Natürlich geht da bei anderen Stativen mehr, aber ich suchte ja einen guten Kompromiss zwischen Stabilität, Reisetauglichkeit und Preis, und diesen Kompromiss erfüllt das Befree aus meiner Sicht nahezu optimal. Die Bedienungsanleitung mutet etwas wie eine Sammlung von Explosionszeichnungen für eine Mondrakete an, aber ehrlich gesagt, braucht man diese gar nicht. Ich bin allein durch Experimentieren zum Ziel gekommen. Die Mechanik (der 180°-Mechanismus für die Beine, die zwei verschiedenen Anstellwinkel sowie der Kopf, dessen Grundfläche so ausgespart ist, dass er zwischen den Beinen Platz findet) ist clever gemacht, da hat sich jemand erfolgreich den Kopf zerbrochen. Dass das Zusammenklappen nur dann so perfekt klappt, wenn die Schnellwechselplatte vom Kopf entfernt wird, ist für mich kein Nachteil, denn die Platte gehört eh an die Kamera, sonst ist nichts mit "Schnellwechsel". Einzig der Verriegelungsmechanismus für die Schnellwechselplatte ist etwas umständlicher, als ich es von meinem alten Manfrotto-Stativ gewohnt bin, aber das ist nur eine Kleinigkeit, an die man sich schnell gewöhnt. Alternativen, die Interessenten auf jeden Fall prüfen sollten: - Mantona Scout Dreibeinstativ: Zwar 100 g schwerer und 10 cm mehr Packmaß, dafür bis zu 5 kg belastbar, Manfrotto-kompatible Schnellwechselplatte, mit rund 70€ sogar deutlich günstiger, allerdings kostet eine Tasche rund 20€ zusätzlich, so dass es nach wie vor deutlich günstiger als das Befree bleibt, sich der Preisvorteil aber wieder etwas relativiert. - Rollei Fotopro C5i: Zwar 200 g schwerer, aber fast dasselbe Packmaß, sogar bis zu 8 kg belastbar, Panorama-fähiger Kugelkopf, etwas größere Arbeitshöhe, Tasche ebenfalls mitgeliefert, Preis in etwa identisch mit dem Befree; leider keine Manfrotto-kompatible Schnellwechselplatte, was für mich ein KO-Kriterium ist, sonst wäre vielleicht das Rollei meins geworden.

En mi búsqueda de un trípode ligero, pequeño, bueno y sin irse de precio para llevarlo de viaje, encontré el Manfrotto Befree. Desde el momento que abres la caja te das cuenta que desprende mucha calidad. La bolsa para mi gusto es una chulada, con una buena tela y cremallera y algo acolchada para los golpes. El trípode entra y sale de ella con mucha facilidad y resulta muy pequeña para llevarla encima. Resulta muy manejable en peso y tamaño y un detalle muy de agradecer es que las patas se pliegan en sentido contrario para proteger la rótula. Una cosa que no me ha gustado nada, es que la rotula no gira y por tanto no podemos hacer fotos panorámicas, fallo gordo. Decir que es de bola y que cierra estupendamente. Las patas por sí solas se deslizan muy bien, tienen cierres de clips y aunque el tubo más pequeño es realmente fino, dan sensación de aplomo y seguridad, esto es lo malo de un trípode de 4 secciones, sin embargo transmite bastante estabilidad. Una de ellas tiene una cobertura de goma para poder agarrar mejor el trípode con la mano o cuando haga mucho frío no notemos los tubos helados. La altura total me parece muy correcta para el tamaño plegado que tiene, no necesito agacharme mucho para poner el ojo en el visor. Como datos tenemos 40cm plegado, 1,43 de altura máxima y 1.4 kg de peso. El sistema de plegado es ingenioso ya que con mucha facilidad y rapidez las patas se invierten y la cabeza queda en medio. Ahorras centímetros y proteges la rótula de golpes. Una cuestión fundamental y el motivo por el que me he decantado por este trípode es su carga máxima. Sobre el papel: 4 kg. Mi equipo no pesa más de 2 kilos (Canon 5D Mark II+Grip+17-40) y lo soporta de maravilla. Quien apueste por Manfrotto, no se equivoca, sus productos son muy buenos en general, y no tienen sorpresas desagradables. Es importante tener un buen equipo que te permita por un lado mantener una cierta calidad en las tomas y por otro, que tenga una vida útil de calidad asegurada durante mucho tiempo. Decir que existen trípodes similares, pero el precio que les he visto es bastante mas elevado, en torno a los 200 € y de marcas que no he tenido hasta la fecha (Vanguard, Mefoto, ….) y que no se como se comportan por lo que prefiero apostar sobre seguro. Un par de cosas que mejoraría y no creo que encareciesen demasiado el trípode: un nivel de burbuja y un gancho al final de la columna central para colgar peso.