Manfrotto Befree Advanced review : Is this the best travel tripod
My in depth Manfrotto Befree Advanced review
Hello and welcome to my in depth Manfrotto Befree Advanced Tripod review, this is the aluminium version of the Befree advanced tripod and yes, there is also a Carbon Fibre version of it. The advantage of the carbon fibre over aluminium is… it’s stiffer and it’s also fractionally lighter, there isn’t a big weight difference though in the two.
The Aluminium version weighs 1,590g where as the carbon fibre version weighs 1,250g.
Now if you know me you know I love big solid tripods and when I opened the bag and saw this tripod for the first time I was kind of shocked by how small it was and also how thin it looked and yes I know tht’s the point of a travel tripod but I guess I just wasn’t expecting it.
You see I own three manfrotto 055 pro3 tripods as well as 4 other tripods and none of them are anywhere nearly as small as this unit. I guess I stupidly expect it to be a bit bigger but hey for a travle tripod it’s already scoring 10/10 for size.
You can read on for more information or watch my Befree Advanced review video below where I talk you through it all.
Now, if this comes across as being negative let me turn that on its head for you as after I started to play with it I kind of changed my mind and the more I used it the more seriously I took it.
Assembling the tripod is super simple and as you can see the tripod head and centre column are inverted so it has a smaller footprint.
The leg clips are here and these are for locking the tripod at specific angles. There is a nice solid click as you can here when the leg is lock in position then. To cloe it up simple push it back in and away you go.
Now you can get the Befree advanced tripods in a few different formatts with different heads and aluminimuim or carbon fibre and of with different leg locks then too. This model has the twist locks but you can also get the clip version. I generally prefer the twist locks as they are easier to use and you don’t have any screws fitted so less parts to rust or corrode.
To open out the legs simply twist and extend them to the length you want. This tripod has four sections, which helps to keep it as small and compact as possible then.
The centre column can also be extended to give you more height yet again. This is as you can see the full height of the tripod and for a travel tripod that’s more than enough in my eyes.
In fact it’s slightly too much as the centre column is the only slightly weak feature of this tripod as there is a slight bit of wiggle in it but that’s not a design fault its simply physics, nothing this compact is going to be as solid as a traditional tripod. If the column is left low though you have no issue. This slight movement is only going to be critical though if you are shooting longer exposures, for normal faster shutters speed it’s no issue at all.
For a bit of extra stability you can attach a camera bag to it here or leave your bag on the ground and attached a bungee cord to the bag and tripod so it pulls the tripod down. That should help make it more steady then.
Little did I think I would be saying this is but the Befree advance tripo is a solid little tripod especially considering its size. The funny thing here is we haven’t even gotten to my favourite part yet and that’s the ball head design.
Ball head
I love the ball head on the Befree Advanced tripod for one specific reason and that’s the friction control on the side of the ballhead control. I have other tripods with this control and I love it. For this one feature alone I can seriously see this tripod now becoming part of my real estate photography setup.
This friction control is something every tripod should have, you see there is a dial on the inside of the ballhead knob and when you adjust this dial it will adjust the least amount of tension applied to the ball head. Yes, that sounds complex but look at it like this. If I open the dial all the way the ball head goes completely loose when the the tension knob is released.
But when this dial is set right it will only allow the camera to be moved when a small bit of pressure is applied to it. So if I set it right the camera can be adjuted via slight pressure but when I let go it’s rocky steady and won’t fall over.
Use cases for this are like when you shooting indoors for real estate photography, you can quickly just release the right amount of tension and then adjust the camera to get it level and fire off your shot, everytime you move depending on the floor surface of course you will probably have to relevel so this is a nice time saver.
It’s also really handy if you are shooting landscapes as you will be shooting on different surface elevls constantly so being able to quickly adjust the head is great.
I truly love that feature…. Please note if you change lenses you will need to adjust the tension slightly as the weight could be balanced differently on the ball head then
How I will use the Befree Advanced tripod.
Yes, you guessed it I will be using it as a travel tripod (that was obvious) and for my real estate photography for it’s size portability and features and finally I will also be using it as a light stand on fashion and portrait sessions on the beach.
With its lightweight design and highly adjustable legs it’s going to be far more usable than any light stand on the beach or on rocks or uneven surfaces.
The only way a light stand would be better is if you need a lot more height of course.
Overall I can see this tripod being incredible for me going forward.
Review Conclusion
The Manfrotto Befree Advanced tripod is super compact, lightweight, versatile and crazily it still manages to be fairly rigid and provides a great level of support for your camera. Which considering it’s folded up size is a minor miracle.
I love this little tripod and it’s a massive thumbs up for me the only thing for you to thin about now is which version do you go for?
See you out there,
Kieran.
Manfrotto Befree Advanced review : Is this the best travel tripod
My in depth Manfrotto Befree Advanced tripod review and how this tripod has worked for me in the ral world and how I plan to use it going forward.
4.6