Most mini-tripods are not particularly well built. It’s a budget market and finding quality can be very difficult. The Coman TSC10 ticks a lot of boxes for me and set me back only AU$115. My purchase came with an Arca-Swiss ball head and 20mm plate, a three section telescopic-pole to raise your ball-head another 30cm, rubber feet that can be removed to reveal metal spikes on each leg, a travel pouch, allen-key and 1/4” to 3/8” adaptor. There’s even a scaled down carabiner to clip the tripod to your backpack for those who are inclined to do so.
I didn’t buy this tripod to go hiking myself, but actually that’s a genuine possibility and something to add to my list of potential uses for a mini-tripod. I often find myself shooting stuff on a benchtop however, and a very low-slung table-top mount is exactly what I need for video and hands-free setups.
When you go shopping for something “mini” however, it’s usually the quality that gets scaled down first. I often do initial product research on Amazon, which gives me a horrific window into the world of mass produced trash, then when I find a concept that looks like it might be useful I start looking for where else I can buy it or something similar. (Jeff has enough money already, he doesn’t need any of mine). That’s how I found the Coman TSC10.
What I started searching for was a sturdy yet lightweight set of legs that I can pop an extension pole onto for mounting very small LED lighting. But it seemed silly to carry 500g worth of legs if they can’t double up as a proper tripod. I already had two half-baked mini-tripods, neither of which are particularly good for any sort of weight - they came as free gifts when I’d bought other stuff, but now I wanted something fit for purpose. I still wanted small and very light, but this time fully featured so I could lock down the legs or adjust to super low angles, and have proper articulation of the head.
This model came with the ball-head, attached via a 1/4” screw to the legs. It’s a very good little design with Arca-Swiss compatibility. Not only does the neck of the ball-head have a panning feature, but there’s an extra one on the very top mounting bracket as well. You can chose between panning low down or up high. They’ve even designed the leg attachments so that one side has the allen-screw for tightening the legs, while the other has 1/4” sockets to attach magic arms to mount additional equipment as needed. There’s also a cold-shoe mount at the base of the ball-head where you can mount an audio receiver, phone mount, LED light or battery pack for example.
This mini tripod has a lot of little features that you might typically expect in a bigger model. That’s exactly what I wanted.
Construction is nice, with carbon fibre tubes and nice three stage locking legs and three-part extensions. Packed down it’s just over 26cm long, and weighs only 420grams including the head. It’ll be handy for my travels in Norway when I want to throw a second camera body into action to capture a time-lapse of the auroras, or when I want to spend an afternoon recording a few bits for my YouTube channel. At 420g it’s easy to justify adding to my suitcase.
At it’s highest leg angle and with the telescopic-pole fully extends this mini-tripod maxes out at 71cm. I don’t plan to use the pole very often, but I can see where it might be handy. I have tested the base and ball-head with my mirrorless cameras with zero drama. It feels sturdy and is a major upgrade from my previous minis for just AU$115. I’d even use this one for well-balanced DSLR gear... if I actually still shot with any of my DSLR gear.
PS, Here's a link to the manufacturers website:
comanphoto.com/cp/showproduct.php?id=119&lang=en
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