Well, not really; matte black, actually.
My never ending search for the perfect travel/field tripod has landed another
new one chez Moose.
Waaay back, I had a Velbon Max i 343e, which I quite liked with my 300D. Then came the 5D, and the little tripod and
small Velbon QR plates weren't up to the task.
Then the Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 came to the rescue, with A-S style QR. Now that I've gone µ4/3, it's bigger and heavier
than I need. Still a first rate tripod, but I found myself not using it. Recently, I've been carrying the 343e again, in
spite of the fact that I dropped it on a rock and one leg won't collapse all the way.
Now Velbon's done it again. They've combined the newish idea from others of allowing the legs to flip 180 to store
parallel to the center post with an improved version of the single twist, multi-section legs they tried before.
The result is only slightly heavier than the 343e, much smaller collapsed, much more solid, much more flexible and
incredibly quick to deploy and un-deploy.
The legs are amazing. Assuming they keep working properly (5 year warranty!), they are both quick and precise. Untwist
the rubber foot, and it makes little clicks. One click, pull, and you get one section extended, two clicks for two
sections, and so on. Six sections, but more stable than the 343e's four.
I've used about three times, including the close-up of the mini OM-1 I just
posted, and am liking it a lot so far.
They sell it in four packages. For The US (& Canada?), they seem to have decided we need big QR plates, and sell one
with pan head and one with ball head with a big plate system, which is ridiculous on a µ4/3 camera body; WAY too deep.
For at least Asia, they continue with their small plates, which is the type I've been using. I could have bought a ball
head one with the small plates from Japan, but not in time for our trip. For less money, I bought the pan head US one
from B&H. I've wanted a half decent pan head anyway, and I've put my old Velbon QR head on the tripod for most use.
This is the one I bought.
<http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/769662-REG/Velbon_UT_45L_UT_45L_6_Section_Aluminum.html>
B&H has a new shipping option. For anything over $50, they offer free expedited shipping, UPS three day select. This is
a huge improvement for those of us far from them, and makes them competitive with Amazon for me.
My tripod arrived in three days, instead of a week or more or paying extra.
Three Legged Moose
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What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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