There has always been a saying in the photography circle: "You only know what you need when you buy a third tripod."
Aside from cameras and backpacks, a tripod should be the most important photography tool. Needless to say, for indoor studio shooting, you must use a tripod if you can. After all, the picture quality is the priority under the conditions of controllable light; but when shooting outside, I really love and hate tripods. What I love is that with it, I can freely slow down the shutter speed and record more clouds, waves, and light changes; what I hate is that it is inconvenient to carry, large and heavy. It's cruel to not bring it, but when I really need a tripod, I will worry about why I don't bring a tripod and miss a good shot. This feeling is really crazy.
A light, portable, stable and reliable tripod has become the favorite of every photography enthusiast and photographer. The carbon fiber material has the characteristics of light weight, high strength, wear resistance and corrosion resistance, and good shock absorption. Compared with the aluminum alloy tripod, it is more high-end and light. In addition, it is an irreversible industry trend for mirrorless cameras to replace old-fashioned SLRs. Photographic accessories manufacturer SIRUI has also launched a brand new carbon fiber folding tripod product - ST-124+ST-10 combination set to serve mirrorless cameras. camera.
So what kind of spark will this ST124+ST10 tripod combination set, which is mainly light and easy to carry and specially optimized for mirrorless cameras, burst out with the most popular mirrorless cameras? I'm going to experience it today.
【Product unpacking】
▲ Tripod outer packing box
▲ Tripod bag
ST124 comes standard with a dual-purpose tripod bag that can be carried and carried on the back
▲All accessories include L-shaped wrench, detachable outsourcing strap, manual, after-sales card, etc.
▲The appearance of the tripod is closed
▲Three prongs
The three-pronged plate is made of magnesium-aluminum alloy. As the connection center of the entire tripod, durability and anti-destruction are the only elements that need to be considered.
▲Pin 1
The ST124 uses three swivel-locked legs as a support system.
The diameter of the leg of a traditional tripod is generally divided into two types:
The first category is designed for SLR cameras/camcorders, and uses a thicker traditional No. 1 tripod (28mm diameter), although it can ensure stability, it is slightly bulky.
The other type is the No. 2 tripod with a smaller diameter (24mm diameter), which is designed for small and micro singles, card machines, and even mobile phones. It is mainly light, portable and easy to store, but it is stable in some outdoor scenes. will be slightly insufficient.
As mirrorless cameras become more and more mainstream, the volume and weight are gradually increasing, so how to balance the seemingly contradictory attributes of the tripod's stability and lightness? SIRUI has brought forth new ideas and launched a 26.5mm tube diameter tripod for micro singles. As the new standard leg size in the industry, 26.5mm has achieved the right balance in terms of feel, size, portability, and stability in use. This eliminates the drawbacks that small tripods are not stable enough and traditional tripods are too heavy.
▲ Foot tube close-up 2
ST124 uses a new leg tube under the new standard, which is made of pure carbon fiber tube, which is strong and lightweight.
▲ Foot joint lock
Each leg has 4 knob locks, which can change the height of the tripod. The benefits of the knob locks are obvious. It is integrally formed and does not take up extra space. The locking/unlocking operation can be completed with one hand.
▲ Foot support (foot nail)
The common swivel-switched footrests use rubber pads for cushioning and non-slip on hard ground, and use foot pegs to firmly wedge the ground on soft muddy grounds.
▲The leg tube adopts a pin-pulling card shoot to control the three-stage adjustable extension angle to adapt to the shooting needs of different heights.
▲Central axis
The most unique part of this tripod is the special-shaped center shaft with a triangular surface design. It is smaller than the traditional round tube center shaft, which can make the tripod smaller, which also makes the whole tripod folded. More compact, the maximum diameter of the cross-section is only 70mm, which is less than the width of a palm.
▲ PTZ
The tripod is matched with the head of the ST-10. It is made of hard aluminum alloy, which is scratch-resistant and wear-resistant, and the spherical head with a low center of gravity of 36mm diameter sphere has a stronger locking force. Use the size knob to control the locking. In addition, there is a bubble meter to assist in the horizontal and vertical calibration.
▲The advantage of the table is that the position change is not restricted, and the camera angle can be placed as you want. In addition, this gimbal comes with a 360° scale display, which is mainly for panoramic shooting. It can move the camera accurately and is convenient for later panoramic shooting.
▲The side opening design supports multi-angle camera positions such as vertical shooting and overhead shooting.
▲Quick release plate
The quick release plate on the gimbal is also made of aluminum-magnesium alloy with meticulous workmanship. There are four rubber buffers on it to prevent direct contact and scratching of the equipment. The fastening method of the quick release plate and the camera is the common locking type, the middle is the tightening knob, and the tool-free screw is used, so there is no need to carry coins or keys with you to adjust and lock.
▲Extension interface:
SIRUI ST124 tripod provides additional 1/4 and 3/8 attachment screw holes, which can expand other attachments according to user's needs.
▲Heavy object hook
For carbon fiber tripods with light weight, the heavy object hook is undoubtedly a must. In the case of windy days or complex scenes, hanging a camera bag or even hanging a few buckets of water can effectively enhance the stability of the entire tripod system.
【Performance evaluation】
Thanks to the use of carbon fiber material, the weight of this tripod is very light, with a self-weight of only 1200g, and the weight of the gimbal with such a large head is only 1570g, which is very light, and the lighter the weight, the easier it is to carry.
What is the most important function of a tripod: stability!
▲ Micro single is on the shelves.
In order to test the stability, I deliberately chose a cobblestone patch to place on the ground. As a result, on such an uneven surface, the tripod can stand very stably, as if walking on the ground, and the gimbal mechanism is directly locked after adjusting the level and vertical, and it is as stable as Mount Tai.
▲Max-Min height.
The highest extension height of the tripod is 166 cm, and the lowest height is only 16 cm above the ground (the center axis is inverted), which can cover most of the shooting scenes. Its typical working height is one meter six, and I am 175cm tall, so I can relax and stand up straight for work shooting.
▲Tripod deployment angle test.
▲The horizontal shot of the gimbal is shot vertically
▲The center axis is inverted (low angle camera)
▲ weight bearing
The combination of ST124 tripod + ST10 gimbal can carry a maximum load of 12kg, and the light body bursts out with great energy! Although it is a micro-single-oriented tripod, its powerful load-bearing capacity is not afraid even with large lenses such as full-frame SLR + electromagnetic gun/big bamboo gun. More importantly, video shooting users often have a lot of additional shooting accessories. With a large load on the tripod, you can safely pile up accessories.
▲In the cusp of the environment, it is often necessary to increase the weight and stability of the tripod bag, and there is no problem at all.
▲Extensibility: VLOG full-loaded shooting
As mentioned above, the SIRUI ST124 tripod provides additional expansion ports, which can be very convenient to expand the photographic accessories required by users. For example, as a person who needs to record VLOG videos, the most basic microphones, fill lights, ambient lights, and monitors are all necessary. In the past, the camera had to be equipped with a rabbit cage kit before there were enough expansion ports to configure the video. All accessories for recording, and now it is very convenient to directly install LED light groups or flat monitors on the tripod using the reserved 1/4 interface.
【Sample】
All photography tools ultimately serve the work of photography. Whether a tripod is easy to use or not, it can always be reflected in the shooting.
I found a few sunny days and tested indoor studio shooting, outdoor scenery, night panorama and other scenes to test the functionality and convenience brought by this tripod as much as possible. Single, SLR and other professional equipment. Without further ado, on to the film.
Outdoor Scenery - "Island"
Outdoor Architecture - "Grand Theater"
Panoramic stitching - "Sparse Shadows on the River Bank".
【Product Summary】
The combination of SIRUI ST124 tripod + ST10 gimbal has been experienced for a period of time, and I feel that there is a big difference compared to the lower-end tripods I have used before. It is light in weight and easy to carry. The gimbal is compact, stable and easy to control. , to sum up a sentence is that it has more fine workmanship, lighter weight, better functions and stronger expansibility. Many tripods on the market now advertise their cheap price and how light they are, but the core element of tripods - stability is avoided, so when buying a tripod, you must focus on stability and lightness, and carbon fiber material is undoubtedly is the best solution right now.