I ordered a new tripod for my New Wave u.go plein air pochade box from Amazon this week. More on the tripod in a minute, but first I had to share the shipping fail, which made me laugh. Do you see it in the image below? Note Amazon marketing hard at work touting their environmental credentials, extolling their green leadership with “This box is now made with less material”, all the while shipping a 3”x3”x18” product in a box that’s easily 4x larger than necessary. Seriously, Amazon? FAIL!
Despite the dim witted packaging, the Sirui tripod looks good and could prove to be a major update to my plein air setup. Sirui has a wide range of tripods, but I needed something that was sturdy, portable and lightweight, so I went with the Sirui Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod. I have yet to use it in the field, but the setup in the studio was surprisingly quick and easy. The horizontal and vertical swivel heads are liquid smooth and easy to lock, the legs invert to fold up around the neck of the tripod so it compacts to 13”, and there’s an actual clip for hanging a weight bag (or backpack) in the center for further stability. This isn’t advertised as a painter’s tripod, but it should be!
Stay tuned for an update on the Sirui field test later this week!
Art Bern 