0:10
A little over a year ago, I gave you a
0:13
review of Freewell's travel tripod,
0:16
which pretty much stays in my backpack
0:19
all the time because it is the smallest,
0:22
most lightweight travel carbon fiber
0:25
tripod that I've ever tested before.
0:27
Well, Freewell is back and this time
0:29
they are moving up into more serious
0:32
territory with their new real
0:35
multiripod. Essentially, what they have
0:37
done is try to give you the most ways
0:40
that you can configure a tripod
0:43
possible. And so, we're going to take a
0:45
look today at whether or not they have
0:47
been successful in making what I would
0:49
consider a mediumweight tripod here that
0:53
is very robust. that will support up to
0:55
a 20 kilogram or 44 lb payload and gives
0:59
you a tremendous amount of versatility
1:01
and it is priced very reasonably. You
1:04
can have it for under $280.
1:07
Does that make this new tripod worth
1:09
buying? Well, we're going to jump in and
1:11
take a look and find out. Now, I
1:14
regularly use tripods in basically two
1:16
different flavors. I have got the big
1:18
bad boy here, which is the Robus RC8860.
1:22
This is the tripod that I use for my
1:24
lens reviews when I am doing my chart
1:27
testing. I'm going for the absolutely
1:29
most stable tripod possibly in this guy
1:32
obviously. Um, forget having a center
1:34
column. It's already as tall as me just
1:36
with its basic leg assembly. It's a
1:38
hardcore tripod for that particular
1:40
purpose. My other flavor I typically use
1:42
is this HP. This is the W28S.
1:45
I have told you for a long time that
1:47
it's the predecessor was my favorite
1:50
tripod and this one was even better. So
1:54
essentially what we have got is a tripod
1:56
that falls a little bit in between these
1:58
two but it is probably closer to the hy
2:01
than what it is to this. In fact, even
2:03
though all of the legs are thicker and
2:06
the stability is a little bit higher
2:08
here on the Freewell tripod, it actually
2:10
weighs in because of lightweight
2:12
materials, it weighs in at a total of 20
2:15
g less when you consider the tripod
2:18
itself, just the sticks, which is a
2:20
little bit lighter than what this is.
2:22
And then a little bit slightly heavier
2:24
ball head assembly here than what is on
2:26
the HP, but the end product is about 20
2:29
g lighter for this assembly right here.
2:32
And so we are right um I believe we're
2:34
in the 1650 g range or so 1.65 kilos for
2:39
this under well under four lbs about 3
2:42
12 lb. And so still very very
2:43
lightweight but remarkably stable. But
2:46
again, the real advantage here is not
2:49
just in the basic kind of tripody type
2:51
stuff. I mean, yes, it'll do all of the
2:53
kind of things you would expect. And
2:55
here, compared to my hapy tripod, it
2:58
will get up pulled a little too far.
3:00
It'll get up just a little bit higher as
3:02
you can see. But, you know, already I'm
3:04
up plenty high for any kind of practical
3:06
use. But really, where the strength of
3:08
this particular tripod in comes is in
3:11
its ability to configure it in a variety
3:13
of different ways. So, let's take a look
3:14
at that. All right, let's take a look at
3:16
a couple of the different modes you can
3:18
access here. So, as far as reversing the
3:22
uh tripod, you can see that there's a
3:24
little bit of a tool here, but you're
3:26
going to need to screw that off and then
3:28
loosen this if you want to take that
3:30
out. And then, of course, you can do the
3:31
traditional reversing where you uh
3:34
thread that in from the bottom. And and
3:36
so you can have then you can put you can
3:38
lock it back down here. And it's
3:40
typically smart to put this back in
3:42
because it also serves as a lock to make
3:45
sure that it's not going to slip down
3:47
through there, you know, with the weight
3:49
of your camera at any point. So, that
3:51
will allow you obviously to do the
3:52
inverted type shooting. That's of some
3:55
value. Some people will do that. It's
3:57
not necessarily my favorite form of
4:00
shooting. And so, um, it's pretty rare
4:02
that I invert that. With this tool right
4:05
here, you can uh screw that out and you
4:07
can just loosen off a bolt in there and
4:11
that will allow you to remove that. So
4:13
obviously now you've eliminated the
4:16
lower section there which this can just
4:18
thread back into this. Now you can just
4:21
lo that down. And so obviously the
4:24
head's going to stay in place. And then
4:25
you can do uh even with this you can
4:28
shoot obviously at low angles if uh your
4:31
desire is to you know to get down and to
4:34
shoot like that. You also have the
4:36
option then however to take off the main
4:41
legs which just unlock up here. You just
4:52
and you've got basically the mini legs
4:55
that will produce you more of a tabletop
4:58
tripod. So maybe if you're working in a
5:00
smaller space and you don't want to use
5:02
those main legs, uh you can use these
5:05
instead. And so it's going to give you
5:06
some versatility of not only going flat
5:09
like we just saw with that, but also in
5:11
this case, you can then rotate these
5:14
legs into standard positions.
5:20
And so you can set it up like this. You
5:23
do have one short extension on these
5:26
mini legs. And so that you can get it
5:28
out like that. And so that is actually a
5:31
really stable and strong uh tripod
5:33
there. And then so obviously you've got
5:35
some flexibility on how far down you're
5:37
going to go with those. And so that in
5:40
itself obviously can be useful to get
5:42
you down low. Now you actually have
5:44
another option with uh any of these. You
5:47
can take this off. You can take that
5:49
head off as we just did a moment ago.
5:54
You're going to use that same tool right
6:03
that is screwed off. And now with any of
6:05
these legs, you can screw on like this.
6:09
And you're going to have your monopod.
6:14
One other interesting thing about these,
6:16
however, is that if you take the rubber
6:19
screw on down here at the bottom and you
6:22
unscrew that, you ex expose the spike,
6:25
which obviously you can use for typical
6:28
uh surfaces where you want to kind of
6:29
embed down into the ground a bit.
6:31
However, you can then also pop this onto
6:34
the top of this, extend these down to
6:36
whatever height works best for you, and
6:39
now you have trekking poles. And so, um,
6:42
if you're in a difficult place to hike,
6:45
you can pop those off. You can have the
6:46
trekking poles to be able to dig in and
6:48
give you nice lightweight stability. You
6:50
can do that with two of those. Have two
6:52
trekking poles. And obviously, then
6:54
you're also carrying less weight on your
6:56
back. And so, again, very, very
6:58
versatile different options that you can
7:00
do with this to quickly
7:04
uh reverse all of that and you're back
7:06
in business. So, we can see that there
7:09
are a lot of different ways to configure
7:11
the tripod. Obviously, that's really
7:13
what it's all about. It is a 5in-1 multi
7:15
tripod after all. But to give you a few
7:18
basic other specs before I kind of give
7:19
you what I like and what I don't like in
7:21
terms of the stick portion itself, it
7:27
g or 2.8 lb. The ball head itself, which
7:30
is user replaceable if you wanted to use
7:32
a different ball head, it weighs in at
7:34
uh 380 grams or 0.84 pounds. So, a total
7:39
between the two of 1650 g or about 3.6
7:44
lb in total. Now, as far as the ball
7:47
head itself, it is it is a basically a
7:51
kind of two-tier 360°ree panoramic head.
7:54
And so you have the typical adjustment
7:56
here where you can rotate at the base of
7:59
the ball head itself. But then also you
8:01
have a secondary uh adjustment here
8:04
where you can also rotate here. And
8:06
where that becomes useful is that if you
8:09
happen to be shooting in a vertical
8:11
position and so you've dropped down and
8:13
even dropped down into this position
8:14
here, you still have the ability to
8:17
loosen this off and rotate 360° to make
8:21
sure that you're shooting at the angle
8:22
you like. Now, as far as the basic
8:25
controls here, it is very much designed
8:27
around the whole like knob system. And
8:30
so, what one thing I do find is that
8:32
sometimes just when I'm going to grab
8:34
because a lot of times these two main
8:36
knobs end up over the top of each other,
8:38
you have this smaller knob down here
8:40
that allows the center column to move up
8:42
and down. So, it's basically just the
8:43
locking for that. And then this is your
8:45
main ball head movement uh knob. I will
8:48
say that I do appreciate the fact that
8:50
it's got varying degrees of tension.
8:52
It's not just loosening it off and
8:54
everything is immediately loosey goosey,
8:56
but um as you the more that you loosen
8:59
it, the more that there is uh less
9:02
tension within the ball head itself. And
9:04
so you actually do have a little bit
9:05
more varying degrees of control there.
9:08
And so the other thing that I I prefer
9:10
on the HP tripod is I love their locking
9:13
mechanism here. Here you have a
9:15
traditional just screw screw down to
9:17
tighten rotating that knob itself.
9:20
There's a spirit level here in the
9:23
actual head itself. Though, of course,
9:25
the problem as always with that is by
9:26
the time you mount a camera on there, uh
9:29
you're not going to see that anymore.
9:31
And so, while it's okay for your initial
9:34
uh setup, if you're trying to get
9:36
everything perfectly plum, once you put
9:38
it on there, if you need to make any
9:39
kind of angle adjustments, you're not
9:40
going to be able to see that spirit
9:42
level any longer. That's unfortunately
9:44
pretty much par for the course. So, uh,
9:47
how about things that I like and things
9:49
that I don't like. First of all, as far
9:52
as things that I like, I think that this
9:53
has great stability for such a
9:55
lightweight tripod. It really feels like
9:58
more of a mediumweight tripod in terms
10:02
of the stability, but it's actually
10:03
operating in the travel tripod weight
10:07
class essentially. And so, uh, very nice
10:09
in that regard. Price is fantastic. Um,
10:13
I was really pleasantly surprised when I
10:15
saw the price. I, you know, they had
10:17
sent me their pitch of the tripod itself
10:19
and I didn't know the price. I was
10:21
thinking they were probably going to
10:22
come back in the 400 roughly range. And
10:25
so, the fact that this comes in at MSRP
10:28
of $280, but you can get it even less
10:31
with the discount code. That feels like
10:33
a really fantastic value. And again,
10:35
while I love the HP tripod, you know,
10:38
this bad boy is more in the 500 plus
10:41
range. And so, you know, that's a lot
10:44
more chunk of change if you're
10:46
considering on that. Obviously, it gets
10:48
good marks for versatility. You can
10:50
configure this in a variety of different
10:52
ways. And it's, you know, I find that in
10:55
general, particularly once you figure
10:56
out how to do things, you actually can
10:59
assemble and disassemble things really
11:00
quite quickly. And the only tool you
11:03
actually need to set up any of those
11:05
modes is really just this little
11:08
screwdriver type tool that is located
11:12
right built into the tripod itself. And
11:14
so as far as needing to carry additional
11:16
tools with you, you really don't need
11:17
that to do any of the configuration on
11:19
that. So, you know, that's great. I
11:22
appreciate that. It does feel very
11:25
wellmade as far as, you know, tripods. I
11:27
I have had issues with certain tripods
11:29
in the past, particularly when it comes
11:31
to these joint locks like this. Um,
11:34
everything I can tell so far, it seems
11:36
to be sturdy and obviously they are
11:38
trusting in their engineering in terms
11:40
of the strength of these legs because
11:43
the fact that they can be used as
11:44
trekking poles means you're going to be
11:45
putting weight and friction onto those
11:47
as you go. And so these locks are
11:49
obviously designed once you've gotten
11:51
them down tight, they are really locking
11:53
in place and are secure. I also think
11:55
that the design looks good. These little
11:57
bit of chrome accents just adds a little
11:59
bit of style to it. Of course, there's
12:01
the carbon fiber here and then also, you
12:03
know, the foam on two of those legs,
12:06
which probably the ones that I would
12:07
recommend using for your trekking poles
12:09
if you're going to do that. All good. I
12:11
like the look of that. I do appreciate
12:14
the versatility that is here in the head
12:16
and particularly, you know, I've
12:17
reviewed tripods before Peak Design
12:20
where their travel tripod did not have
12:23
panoramic control. Here we actually have
12:25
dual pan panoramic control. So, that is
12:27
really really fantastic. Some things
12:30
that I don't like, I I have seen better
12:33
angle locks um than these before.
12:36
They're not bad and they look good, but
12:38
I just find that sometimes they are a
12:40
little bit stiff. Although it does seem
12:42
like as I've used it, they are loosening
12:44
up and so maybe that is a complaint that
12:47
is becoming less of a complaint. But uh
12:50
anyway, one thing I prefer the design
12:53
with the integrated uh phone clip that's
12:56
built right into the head itself. Uh
12:58
this has a clip that's integrated into
13:02
the QR plate that comes with it and so
13:04
you can utilize it for that. It's just
13:06
to me not quite as intuitive as the HP
13:08
design. I also will note as a final
13:11
criticism that as if you're looking,
13:13
this is not being marketed as a travel
13:14
tripod and it definitely doesn't
13:16
collapse down quite as tight as what
13:18
travel tripods do. You can see here that
13:21
it's about 11 uh centimeters longer than
13:24
the HP tripod that I regularly use. And
13:26
it only gives you 7 cm of additional
13:29
height. And so if you're really about
13:30
compactness, that's not good math that
13:33
you have, you know, a bigger package to
13:35
produce less significant in terms of
13:38
overall height. And so, you know, one
13:41
thing to to bear in mind there. So, my
13:43
conclusion is this does feel like a
13:46
great bang for the buck tripod. If
13:48
you're looking for versatility and
13:50
stability, you know, the the lightweight
13:52
of carbon fiber, but without the huge
13:54
price tag associated with some, I feel
13:57
like this is a great value. Um, and so
14:00
the whole package you're getting, it's
14:01
good value for money. I wouldn't say in
14:03
my mind that it's quite as innovative as
14:05
the HP in terms of some of the
14:07
engineering features. There's just a lot
14:09
of really great thought that goes into
14:10
this. But again, you were looking at a a
14:13
tripod that, you know, basically cost
14:16
about 100% more in the HP. And so, um,
14:20
this feels like really good value for
14:22
money. So, at the end of the day, if you
14:23
are looking for a versatile tripod that
14:25
also happens to be lightweight and
14:27
stable, well, check out the Freewell
14:30
Real 5in-1 Multiripod. It might just be
14:33
your new best friend. As always, thanks
14:35
for watching. Have a great day and let
