I bought this tripod because I need a lightweight tripod that can be set up very quickly for my trip to Scandinavia. Normal tripod is usually heavy, and needs some time to assemble before we can use it. Since I was going to travel alone, I need something lightweight so it won’t add significant weight to my bag, plus I need to be able to set it up reasonably fast so I won’t waste time just to deal with tripod.
ZipShot tripod became my choice because it’s super lightweight and it only needs 2-3 seconds to set up, with almost no “work” needed. There are two variants of ZipShot tripod. The “normal” sized TR406 weighs only 312 gr, folded into 38 cm and stands 112 cm when assembled. As comparison, an iPad Air weighs 478 gr. A medium-sized tripod Davis & Sanford Carbonlite X10 weighs 2.45 kg. So this tripod is even lighter than iPad Air and way lighter than most medium-sized tripod.
The “mini” version of ZipShot is called TR404 and scores even more impressive weight: 255 gr. When folded, this tripod is only 23 cm, making it possible for us to carry this tripod inside most normal bags. However, the mini model is only 71 cm tall when assembled, which was my main reason not to choose the “mini” version.
Not just lightweight, ZipShot is amazingly fast to set up. All I need to do is release its rubber string and hold the tripod from sufficient height. Its legs will automatically self-assemble. In general, it takes only 2-4 seconds to set up this tripod. The longest time is actually pulling out the tripod out of its carrying case. How is it possible for a tripod to self-assembly? There is no rocket science technology here. This tripod has strong aluminum legs connected by rubber string. When released, the rubber string will pull the pieces of legs together and the tripod is ready to use. It’s the same technique used in some white canes for blind people.
The most frequent question I received from my friends who love photography: is it stable? Well, as long as we place it well and the wind is not exceptionally strong, I would say this tripod is more than capable in handling most jobs. According to its website, TR406 is capable to handle cameras up to 1.36 kg. Personally I wouldn’t try it with something heavier than 1.2 kg though.
To make things even faster, they have optional Quick Release A120 accessory (sold separately). Basically we attach the base module of the Quick Release accessory to the tripod and the camera module into our camera. There are 2 camera modules included in the accessory kit, one for pocket camera and the other one for bigger DLSR camera.
The tripod head is shaped as a ball and its base is something like an enclosure to that ball. This allow me to move the tripod head to any angle to produce any view that I want. Love this.
When I first purchased this tripod, I was a bit worried about its maximum height (only 122 cm). It’s shorter than my previous tripod. However, I have tested this tripod to take many photos during my trip to Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm and I can confirm that tripod height was never an issue. I often walked in those beautiful cities, saw great buildings or other objects, then quickly pulled this tripod out of its case and used it to take photos of myself (with the tripod and camera timer). Selfie? Perhaps. It’s not taken by a smartphone and I don’t use those “selfie sticks” that are popular nowadays, but it’s still a selfie. By the way, this tripod is so light I can actually use it as a selfie stick if I wanted to, but I didn’t.
Quite often I realized people’s curious eyes when I was walking, carrying my camera attached to this tripod. Some of them commented when I set up my camera timer “I’m sure it’s gonna be a perfect shot.” I took those comments as compliments because indeed I got tons of great photos thanks to this tripod.
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