NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Photo Tripod Kit with Monopod, Carrying Bag, 3-Way Head, Quick Release, 3-Section Legs Lever Locks, Geared Centre Column, Load up 3kg, Aluminium, for Canon, Nikon, Sony, NGHP004

In the market for a new tripod because the Dollar General one made out of cardboard and hope wasn't working too well. When the missus pointed to a bunch of good reviews about this National Geographic tripod I scoffed. I was all like, "It doesn't cost enough to be that great and we all know how THEY skew the reviews and ratings. I barter there's deal betwixt National Geographic and Amazon (like the old days)."I was skeptical.So let's dig into it. The thing is not lightweight, there's not a wind on Earth that is going to shift this thing. It is sturdy. Just solid. A total unit. The action on all the axis of movement is as smooth as Barry White when he's stealing your lover.Even the clamps that release the telescoping legs feel indestructible.This is an excellent product and I suspect I will never have to purchase another camera tripod ever again.

I've had several tripods over the years, but they all had a slight wobble to them and I figured that was the norm. I mostly do product photography so that was fine for the time being since I change my settings on my computer and don't have to touch the camera at all.Recently I started doing more photography outside and my images weren't as crisp, and I associated that with the slight wobble of the camera when actually taking the picture. So I got this tripod based on name alone hoping it would be a good one and I am amazed. It is easily the best tripod I have ever used. I love that the feet can pivot, haven't had that on any of my others and there is no wobble no matter what. My images are nice and clear now.

There's so much to like about this and I wanted to give it 5 stars. The tripod is sturdy and easy to adjust. The ball head makes changing the camera angle quick and easy. I also love that you can use it as a monopod. But therein lies the problem. The directions aren't clear and it took some time with both me and my husband working on it to figure out how to get the monopod. When we figured it out, it was too short to be useful. I used a tip from another reviewer to make it taller, which worked great, but I have not been able to get it all back together the way it should be. The tripod is usable, but the hook for hanging things is not where it should be and the picture directions aren't useful. With clearer directions, this product would be a 5.

good tripods are hard to find. keep this one on the website.

What's nice about this tripod is that it's super easy to adjust the legs with the twist locks - I didn't have any trouble getting the legs to collapse as another reviewer mentioned, and it does collapse to a pretty small size. What's not great is that it doesn't have a handle to move the head which I thought would be okay but it wasn't; for my Nikon P900, I'd have to adjust the view to above where I wanted it to be, then it's a crap shoot if it would be in the right place as the camera weight would settle down. It wasn't very stable in a light breeze - there was quite a bit of camera movement, so hard to focus for long distance, long exposure shots. Also there were parts included but no instructions for them, and no support that I could find, including here on Amazon. I returned it.

I liked that this model has a ball head, rather than a 3-way head. It’s lightweight and compact enough for travel. I haven’t tried to use the monopod feature yet, but may do so later. What really sold me on this model was the price. Amazon had a discount deal at the time I ordered and I just couldn’t let the opportunity pass.

Easy to covert from tripod to monopod!

It was easy to set up and was very steady.