[Music] Typically travel tripods come in one of Two flavors we have with a ball head for Four photography or we have with a fluid Head for uh for videography but the Company free well who we've know mostly In the past for doing filters has come Up with their new real travel tripod That blends elements of both imagine Having both a ball head and a fluid head Well that's exactly what they've done in This tiny lightweight travel tripod free Well's new take on the compact travel Tripod is as you can see extremely Compact and extremely lightweight in Fact this is the lightest of any of the Travel tripods that I've tested to this Point this weighs less than 1 kilo about 900 g under 2 lb in weight and so it Truly feels feels extremely lightweight Not toy like but very very lightweight In the hand now as pointed out in our Intro we have a combination of having Both a fluid head along with having a Ball head with separate tension knobs For both of those Things now the head itself will support A payload of up to 5 kilog that's 11 lbs Which as you can see here that does Support my heaviest combination that I Currently have and that will do it both In horizontal shooting but also when Things are set over into the vertical or Portrait orientation now one thing that
They do have added as a feature here is That there is a total of three different Quarter inch expansion ports there they Are threaded holes and so that you can Add on uh whether it's something to hold Your phone while you're filming with Something else for simultaneous filming Or a a monitor some other device and so That's a a smart feature for those that Are going to be thinking about Particularly doing video video where you Tend to have extra accessories outside Of just the camera itself and so that's A nice feature there another really Unique feature is that one of the legs Is a can be quickly unthreaded and Become a monopod and as you can see here It's easy to thread off the head itself And to convert all of that into a Monopod that has the you know the full Flexibility of the ball head or the Fluid head for that matter attached to It and then converting it back is really Just a matter of less than a minute just Popping that head back off threading This back on threading the head back on And you're back to having a tripod so a Really interesting thing there another Interesting feature here is that the Included quick release plate does have Foldout flaps and can be used as a Holder for your phone if you want to Film with that and it has an ARCA Swiss Design on the bottom that'll allow it to
Go right onto the actual uh head of the Tripod and you can screw that down and Voila you've got the ability to film With your phone if you act maybe you Forgot to bring your camera along or Maybe uh filming or shooting video via Your phone is something you use to Augment your photos you have the ability To do that quickly as well now obviously This is a carbon fiber tripod which Means that the legs themselves not the Center column but the legs are made out Of carbon fiber the design of this is Maybe the fastest of the quick releases That I've seen in that there is a Rotation you can do at the bottom and You can just that quickly can extend it Out or lock it back in now obviously you Don't want to always have to be Adjusting from the bottom and so the Think also design is you can grab the Section you want to adjust and you can Make adjustments at any point here and Then just rotate there so going left Will allow you to loosen it going right Will allow you to lock it into place and That allows you to set from any of these You can set your actual desired height And so it gives you some flexibility for How you approach that the quickest way To retract R ract everything is still Doing it from the very back where you Can very quickly do that and get them All out deploy or retract very very
Quickly it's a useful design I hope that It holds up well over the long term but You know so far so good seems to be fine The center column itself is easily Removable if you so desire so you can Pop that right out and by taking off This threaded portion here at the bottom And uh once you thread that out which Also is the hook that you can hang your Bag off of you can take that right out And in fact it's actually a tool here as Well and you can use that to loosen a Couple of sections here and you can Actually take the bottom of this off and Leave only this about 2in section here At the top now if you remove that lower Portion of the center column it allows You to bring everything way down as you Can see here this is a very very low Shooting height and so you can get it as Low as 16 cm and you can go up as tall As about 150 CM so that gives you the Overall kind of basic specifications Let's look at a few of the tests that I've used and so one of the things that Obviously you want to test with a fluid Head is how fluid can you actually go in Terms of your shots up and down Obviously with any kind of new tripod it Takes some practice to get a feel for it And to kind of get some muscle memory to Get your best out of it so I suspect I Will get better as time passes and so my Initial reaction however in early test
Was that I could get fairly fluid shots However I wouldn't say they're as smooth As full-size equipment you have feels Like you have to do a little bit more in Terms of your own muscle memory um and a Little bit less the actual head doing The work for you and so you know it it Does work and it's certainly better than Just trying to do that with a ball head But not as good as fullsize gear Likewise in the smoothness of panning Test it takes some practice and again You have to just kind of be finite with Your control it is possible to get some Decent panning shots and of course you Can combine both the panning and the Tilting as a part of your shots um if You want to do that as well I tested for The stability and one of the things that I like to do is I like to test the Distance between the legs at their Maximum extension because the wider the Base is the more steady things are going To be up top and so what I found in Measuring the free well in between the Outside legs I measured about 31 in and So to give you a comparison with others My ha w28 I measured that at about 32 in So very close but just a little bit Larger a spread on the hapy tripod I Have right now and I'm testing a newer Light trip 35 and that's just a little Bit more 322 Ines actually the winter Still Remains as it has all along the
Peak design travel tripod it measures a Full 37 in between the legs which gives A lot of stability and so as you can see Height-wise it's the uh the free well Tripod is about as tall as what the uh The peak design is but it's not as quite As stable because the base doesn't go as Wide now I did travel with this I did a Photography weekend and I found that it Was lightweight enough to not you know Add any kind of serious consideration to Weight I mean this thing is extremely Lightweight and if you remove that you Want to travel even lighter you don't Need the center call and you take that Off it shaves off a a few more grams This is as I said the most lightweight That I've used of any of them I also Used it for I've used it for just Videoing some of either teaching Episodes or these type episodes it works Fine for that obviously so let's talk About some things I like and some things I don't like so much so first of all Things that I like this is next level in Terms of being Compact and lightweight 900 gram that's under two two lbs that Undercuts anything else that I have Compared it to to give you some Comparisons the ha w28 is 1.35 kg so Over 435 g heavier the peak design Carbon fiber travel tripod is 1.2 9 kg and so it is about 300 kg Heavier the newer
Lt35 weighs in at 1.13 kilg and so about 230 G heavier than this it is I mean it It's next level lightweight it is Lighter than any of the others that I Have tested to this point it also is Short enough it's right under 43 cmers Or 16.85% sticking up up above my camera Bag whether I'm doing it in its own uh Protective travel bag or the actual Tripod itself it fits very very Naturally there so again I appreciate That it's you know kind of no fuss no Mus and so uh I really like that overall To give you an idea so if this is right Under 17 in the ha travel tripod is 17.7 In the newer is 19.3 in so it's the Longest the winner is still the peak Design carbon fiber tripod it's 15.4 in And that is but that's largely also Because there are some limitations to The Head design makes it extremely Lightweight or compact I should say when You have it all retracted but you have To actually extend that up to even use It as noted you can ret you can either Expand or retract these legs really Really quickly and so I do appreciate That design it could be very useful if You're wanting to get set up in a hurry The fact that you have the ability to Get both the fluid uh aspect for video But then also the ball head for photo Means that you you know this really is a
Hybrid tripod that really is a nice Match for the hybrid nature of many Modern mirrorless cameras so I Appreciate that I also appreciate the Fact that unlike uh for example I'm Filming right now on another video Travel tripod from Yulan And what I find is that I actually need To remove the the arm for the fluid head To actually store it in its pouch that's Not the case with the free well here Everything uh fits right down into the Bag without any kind of issue and and so I can store it that way I don't have to Actually remove that arm so I do Appreciate that it's just one of those Little features that makes life easier Cuz you can quickly store it or remove It without any kind of breakdown Obviously have having that Innovative Design in the the uh quick release plate Where you can have a backup if you need Something to hold your phone that is Appreciated just another kind of Innovated design also the ability to Quickly convert into that monopod and to Have you know a built-in monopod as a Part of that is also attractive you Could pull that monopod off and very Obviously you could throw that into a a Small camera bag not taking up a whole Lot of space and obviously that would be Very very valuable and of course the Other option there is the fact that even
If you didn't want to use the head and You just wanted to go very basic you Probably could just use a little Conversion here and go to the threading For going just right into the bottom of Your camera itself if all you're wanting Is just that quick ability to get some Stability that's going to be a very Handy thing there as well lots of things That I like how about some things that I Don't like having both the fluid and the Ball head means that there are a lot of Different adjustment um controls going On here even your tension knob for your Quick release plate which you tighten Here it also has a secondary control Here that you can tighten up or loosen To allow you to rotate it in that Vertical filming or shooting mode and so Then also having you know the control Here for the fluid head having a ball Head control here and then having a Another control down here to allow for Your pan panning um technique it means That there are a lot of different Adjustments and sometimes depending on Them they can't interfere a little bit With each other be the way now all of Them that are just a tension knob like This they have the ability to pull it Out and to put it into a new position Allows everything to work you know in a Compact space but I do find it can get a Little bit fidgety in there I also find
That sometimes when I think I've locked Everything down there's another Adjustment knob elsewhere that's a Little bit loose and things will start To Sag so I have to come back and make Sure that all all of these different Adjustments are tightened up so I don't Love that I also find that while I love The quick nature of this it also to me Is just a little bit more fidgety if I'm Trying to control a specific section now Typically where you have a lock on each One of these sections individually say I Could Target this section right here and Make an adjustment there I can do that If I am very careful with doing it with My hand but sometimes in the process of Trying to get something loose enough to Adjust I end up controlling multiple of Them at a time so while I do love the Ability to quickly unlock it for storing It I do find that making fine Adjustments can sometimes be a little Bit frustrating so something I don't Love as well now the tension knob for The quick release plate for kind of Tamping down on that when you got a Camera mounted on there there's often Not a lot of clearance that is left and So I find that it can be a little bit of A pain to reach under there to tighten This down and obviously it takes longer To either tighten or loosen compared to The quick lock systems that are on some
Competing system or competing tripods And so I do prefer the quick lock Style On some of the Alternatives the final Thing that I don't love is that because It is so lightweight and all of its Design it does sometimes feel just a Little bit flimsier some than some of my Other regular tripod travel tripods like The hap or the peak design now those are More expensive more premium options but Some they do feel a little bit more Stable than what this does though at the Same time I will note this is stable Enough for the various applications that I've used so in conclusion if you want To travel light and you want to do both Photos and video then the Free Will real Travel tripod brings Next Level Lightness it's the first traval tripod Under 1 kilogram that I've ever tested Along with some additional versatility Compared to a lot of the competitors it Does a lot of things but its weaknesses Are kind of connected to its strength RS Namely that in some cases it's almost Too lightweight and it has so many Adjustments that sometimes those can get A little bit complex but I will say that Free Will has gotten far more right than Wrong here and I think that a lot of Modern content creators will love having One extremely lightweight travel tripod That can pretty much do everything and For a reasonable price full pop MSRP is
Right under $300 for this but at the Moment their introductory price is more Like $2 50 which is an extreme value for A carbon fiber travel tripod that does So many things if you want more Information you can look in the Description down below and I've got Linkage there to either purchase or to Get more information as always thanks For watching have a great day and let The light [Music] In
