The HT4030CMI is Sunwayfoto’s tallest heavy-duty, large-diameter inverted-leg tripod. Unlike most tripods, the locking rings of the legs are located at the top of the leg near the tripod hinges. This position allows the shooter to easily reach the locking rings from a shooting position without having to break position to reach half-way down the leg as in traditional designs, while retaining the same extended length. This tripod is not only extra strong due to its 40mm diameter legs but also tall at over 6ft from foot to the tripod’s baseplate.
Main Material: Carbon fiber and Aluminum Leg Sections: 3 Leg Diameter: 40mm Max Height: 68.5 in./ 174cm Min Height: 3.9 in./ 9.8cm Length with legs folded: 31 in./78.5cm Net Weight: 4.9 lb./2.2kg Load Capacity: 66.1 lb./30kg Screw Thread: 3/8″ Leg Angles: 20°、55°、85° Top Plate Diameter: 2.68 in./6.8cm
Sunwayfoto makes a wide range of carbon fiber, light weight photography, video, and hunting tripods. This is the opposite. This is a heavy weight all aluminum table top tripod. That isn’t in reference to its weight which is over 3lbs (remember this is a tabletop tripod that at its max is only 18 inches high). This tripod’s strong enough to hold up to 55lbs of equipment.
Sunwayfoto sent me both a tripod and a XB-52 ball head to test out. The tripod legs extend with a classic design where the leg extension is sandwiched between the support legs above it. The extending legs are double-headed with spikes on one end which can be removed and reversed for rubberized feet on the other. On the inside/bottom face of the legs are an additional set of rubber feet to allow the tripod legs to be splayed out a full 90º to allow the tripod to be placed as low as as possible on a table.
I tested the tripod at the range by attaching Maven 18x50mm binoculars. It handled this lightweight optic like it was nothing. Similarly when I mounted an AR with an ARCA/Swiss M-Lok adapter to the tripod, it prooved a beefy rifle rest. Unfortunately my final test was to try a telescope mounted on a Picatinny/ARCA adapter. Unfortunately, the XB-52 ball head offered strength enough to easily hold the rifle scope but there was just enough play that I wasn’t able to get a repeatable lock on a bullseye target at 100yrds when putting the turrets through a rough torture test.
My testing requirements are quite unusual so for 99% of the rest of you out there who have even the heaviest broadcast video rig or a high caliber rifle, this heavyweight tripod and ball head combination should well suit your needs.
Main Material： Aluminum Number of Leg Sections： 2 Max Height： 18.1 in./ 46cm Min Height： 0.16 in./ 5cm Length with legs folded：12.6 in./32cm Net Weight： 3.08 lb./1.4kg Load Capacity： 55 lb./25kg Screw Thread： 3/8″ Leg Angles： 30°、60°、90° Top Plate Diameter： 2.68 in./6.8cm
Sunwayfoto sent me their new T4030CSI-L, one of their first Inverted Leg Tripods. Traditionally, telescoping leg tripods were attached at the hinge at the thickest and widest leg segment, telescoping out to the thinest section. Inverted leg tripods are hinged to the head at their thinnest diameter section.
Having the widest diameter part of the leg offers two advantages. The heaviest part of the leg is at the bottom, lowering the tripod’s center of gravity. Moreover, the largest diameter part of the leg also offers a wider contact point with the ground. One of the advantages I thought it would have would be the higher position of the locking rings but this did not prove to be substantially better ergonomics than standard tripods.
The T4030CSI-L is one of Sunwayfoto’s tall (L=long) and heavy-duty models. It has a rated load capacity of 66lbs but it was easily able to hold up my weight of ~165lbs. In use, I found it to be a sturdy and stable shooting platform, soaking up recoil from my 5.56 AR-15. Moving forward, I think I would prefer having all of my tripods follow this inverted design. But then I always tended to be a bit of a heterodox.
Athlon scopes are some of the best values in sporting optics. But they make more than optics. Athlon make some of the most robust carbon fiber shooting tripods. But it wasn’t until this year that they’ve made their first heavy duty shooting saddle mount.
This mount is made of a solid block of aluminum for strength but with numerous lightening cuts to reduce its weight whilst retaining clamping strength. The clamp has a built in ARCA/SWISS compatible base, with both 1/4″ and 3/8″ screw mounts for direct attachments to photo tripods.
The walls of the clamp are slightly canted inwards to better seat traditional hunting rifle handguards. The walls of the clamp are covered in textured rubber padding to provide grip and protect wood from marring even under heavy recoil.
UTG makes some of the best made firearms accessories bar none; and more notably at a reasonable price. At SHOT they showed off their new ARCA-Swiss rails. These rails attaches to an M-Lok compatible handguard and provides a secure mounting point to a variety of shooting tripods.
The clever industrial designers to at UTG weren’t satisfied with simply creating light-weight ARCA-Swiss adapter rails. They created rails that were also MRAS and R-Lock compatible to boot. Best of all all UTG Leapers products are made in Taiwan (the good China) and their UTG Pro line is made in the good ol’ USA. So you don’t have to feel un-patriotic when you’re looking for a good value.
Having a camera on a motorized gimbal that could automatically center itself and points to you is a cool idea but until now was crazy expensive. With advances in electronics and facial recognition software, a tracking tripod mount that used to cost hundreds now can available for under $20. I purchased one online with the intent of using it for my video production. But they say you get what you pay for, so I thought it best to tested it out.
The tracking mount comes in 3 color choices in a plastic with a USB-C rechargable internal battery. It mounts to a tripod via a 1/4″ photo screw at the base. It comes with a screw on circular base so that you could place it on a table top flat surface and use the motorized mount alone to film with your phone.
The top of the unit has a spring loaded clamp that holds your phone (or possibly a small camera) and tilts and rotates to allow for both vertical or horizontal orientations. The power button turns the unit on with a long press and two quick taps when on, puts the mount on a slow 360º rotation mode.
When on, the unit automatically tracks to center the mount on a face in front of the mount. A small camera at the base views a subject and can be tilted. I was not able to test the mount using multiple subjects or groups of people. Presumably the mount would not be able to identify the “primary” subject.
The tracking can be disabled by holding your hand up like a Stop Sign. Then reactivated by holding up an OK symbol with your fingers. There is no remote included with the model I bought, but I have seen more expensive models online with remotes.
Tracking was good but reactive and not predictive. The unit tries to catch up to your face but if you move to quickly it can not keep you in the center until it catches up. The movement speed does speed up depending on how quickly you move. Short of sprinting or bounding out of frame, the unit managed to catch up eventually. Unfortunately, the unit always places the subject with a face in the center of the field of view so you can’t do 1/3 framing of your shots.
For solo travel vloggers, the P01 could be an easy way to allow you some freedom when showing off and pointing out locations behind you. In addition, in 360º mode, it can be used to create tasteful pan B-Roll footage. For the price, I think this would be a useful took for vloggers.
This mount came in a generic box marked P01 but having no other branding. It is sold on Amazon under various brand and store names.
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RRS (Really Right Stuff) has a reputation for making some of the best tripods on the market. And some of the most expensive ones. Part of the cost is because their tripods and tripod heads are 100% made the U.S.A. and not China like most other brands. But mush of it is simply due to how much better built their gear is.
RRS tripods are so over-built and rugged, they are not only well known to lanscape and atrophotographers (who need rock solid tripods to take the sharpest images), but they’re the brand of choice among long-rang target shooters. RRS sent me their BH55 precision tripod ballhead to test and evaluate. I was curious to see if a BH55 was good enough to turn an old photo tripod into a shooting platform?
Out of the box, the BH55 is heavy and solid. It’s by far the heaviest tripod head I’ve used outside of heavy duty 35mm motion picture pan heads. The design is top notic and over-built, offering large diameter knobs to allow me to transfer more torque from my hands.
Heavy duty construction is required in a shooting tripod because the weight of the rifle on the tripod is often not the strongest force exerted on the mechanism. Firearms also produce recoil which is often multiple times more force than gravity. Moreover, a tripod head needs to be unwavering to allow repeatability in follow up shots using magnified optics.
For this test, I used a +20 year old photo/video tripod. I replaced the pan head with a BH55 using the tripod’s 3/8″ screw. This heavy all-metal tripod could handle the weight of a 10lb rifle but the legs aren’t able to splay out more than 20-30º so it is not as stable as shooting tripod with a wider stance. Furthermore, to achieve standing height, the center post has to be raised to max height, further destabilizing its center of gravity.
For the test I would be using my DMR style 5.56mm AR rifle with an ARCA-Swiss adapter plate. The BH55 has RRS’ patented Picatinny compatible ARC-Swiss mount which allows you to clamp down any rifle with a Picatinny 1913 rail. This is particularly handy for AR pattern rifles. This innovative design was created by RRS and not licensed to any other manufacturer, so if you see this feature on any other tripod head, they are illegally selling it in the U.S. (and there is ongoing litigation against some Chinese brands selling in the US).
Mounted on the BH55, my rifle was sold and secure despite the tripods less than ideal geometry. Shooting from it felt much more wobbly than shooting off one of my hunting tripods but was manageable. Follow up shots too a fraction longer to line up but the overall experience was far less severe than I imagined.
At 75yrds, my 5 shots groups were nearly identical to arm rested bench shots at about 2.5 MOA. While an old photo tripod isn’t ideal was hunting tripod, the experiment was a success. The heart of a good tripod is the ballhead. And while the BH55 is an expensive ballhead to be sure, it appears to be worth it.
Sunwayfoto sent me a T2830CS carbon fiber shooting tripod. This is the little brother to their T3240CS, which I reviewed not long ago as the “lightest hunting tripod”. Well I stand corrected because the T2830CS is a half pound lighter still. This shooting tripod weighs only 2.9lbs.
Lighter than the T3240CS while only slightly shorter (3 leg sections instead of 4) and retaining the same low profile ball head. The lighter weight makes the T2330CS a much more appealing tripod for hunters who have to trek or ride into back country. The direct from Asia model I was sent, is both Arca-Swiss and direct Picatinny compatible.
Like it’s big brother, the 2830 sports sturdy yet light carbon fiber legs with broad rubberized pads for a firm grip on hard surfaces; but which can be swapped for spikes in the wild terrain. The 36mm diameter ball head can tilt up to 35º of angle while keeping my +10lb rifle and scope combo rock solid. The legs can splay out to nearly 90º offering exceptional stability when shot from a seated or semi-prone.
The carbon fiber legs are not only lighter weight than traditional aluminum tripods, but they soak up vibration from recoil. With my 5.56mm AR, I was able to maintain a similar group on target, shooting with the T2380CS from both standing and sitting positions; which was comparable to shooting bipod off a bench.
Sunwayfoto offered me a new carbon fiber tripod to test out. I’ve tested their T3240CS hunting tripod and their TC2340CE travel tripod, so I was eager to try their Hermes which is heavy duty enough to handle heavy cameras and video gear, but nearly as light as a travel tripod at 3lbs (without a tripod head).
What arrived was on point. The entire package looks top notch and well made. The Hermes TL2340 CC tripod has solidly built carbon fibre legs with lever segment locks. The feet were broad rubberized pads that could be swapped with the included set of metal spikes.
The locking lugs for the legs offered 4 locking positions with one nearly 90º offer very low shooting positions. The central carbon fiber pillar is reversible allowing added flexibility for camera mounting the positions. Sunwayfoto cleverly added additional 1/4″ photo gear sockets to the hinge points of the legs allowing a multitude of mounting options for lights, monitors, or ball-head arms.
Fully extended the tripod stands at nearly 60″ tall. More than tall enough for most photo and video projects. The entire tripod stores in Sunwayfoto’s well padded nylon case (included).
All in all I’m well pleased with this medium-weight tripod that weighs like a light-weight. It’s going to be my go-to tripod for my future video reviews.
When I was offered a travel tripod by SunwayFOTO, I wasn’t expecting more than another clone Chinesium tripod that would likely last long before some screw stripped itself. What I got was a feather light carbon fiber tripod that impressed me.
This tripod comes in a black velvet pouch containing the folded and collapsed tripod and a plastic pouch containing four Allen wrenches (to tighten screw joints which work their way loose over time) and a cleaning cloth. While the velvet was probably meant to make it feel high end and protect the parts, it does make for a dust magnet.
The tripod weighed in at 1.67 oz on my scale and that includes the metal ballhead! The overall length when collapsed was barely 14″. Technically I’ve used lighter tripods but these were mini-tripods or accessory tripods; not real photo tripods that you could mount a full sized DSLR and telephoto lens with any confidence or stability, and certainly not at eye level. Fully extended, the tripod stands at 52″ in height, perfectly standard.
The ball head has a slight divot cut in the ARCA QR mount to make room for the tripod foot to rest in it, making the tripod just few millimeters smaller. Levers were used instead of twist heads for added torque on locking joints. These little design details make the SunwayFOTO stand out as a cut above typical tripods. As does it’s price, which is a around $220 as of this writing, so not as expensive as some higher-end carbon fiber tripods; it’s certainly not cheap.
The leg segments lock and unlock with a 180º twist at the feet. They utilize an internalized locking mechanism without individual locking rings at the segments, so extra care needs to be made if you attempt to retract an individual leg or segment, as twisting the outermost segment can transfer torque and unlock the previous segment. This makes adjustments on uneven surfaces tedious but this also makes deployment on normal level surfaces extremely fast.
I was able to unfold and depoly the tripod in under 19 seconds pretty much the first time without rushing it. And the leg extension and locking can be done essentially one handed. This makes this tripod ideal for guerrilla-style shooting where you have to get into position fast, get your footage an go.
The light weight, fast deployment, and compact size make this an ideal travel tripod or live event vlogging tripod. This will surely be my go-to tripod for my range videos and I’ll be sure to give those leg locks a thorough durability test in the near future.
