Every successful and professional photographer I know, own at least one tripod. From the birth of the very first cameras ever created a tripod always accompanied it. That was because the first cameras were huge and heavy, let alone extremely low light sensitivity. Nowadays, cameras are a lot smaller and lighter, and most come with anti-shake and stabilization technologies that eventually the camera can divorce the tripod and still make great photos.
Or is that the case? Unless they can come up with technology that can cheat physics, there will always be a need for tripods. Sure, with low noise sensors, anti-shake, and super fast lens wide-open you can capture just about anything under the Sun. What it can't do is capture sharp images with flowing waters, the milky way, the epic sunsets and sunrises, and any long exposures that require anything above 2 seconds.
What I will review here are professional quality tripods that are under $100. That's right. These tripods can stabilize your full-frame travel camera just as good as any $300+ tripods. What's more, I've compiled the ones that are compact and can fold inside a carry-on for travel. You see, I'm a tripod fanatic. I've owned over 15 of them, and I have three that I keep with me at all times. About 98.99% of my photographs are taken when I was using a tripod. One of the photos published on National Geographic was shot on a tripod. All my award-winning photos and best-selling ones are shot on a tripod.
In short, tripods are very important to the creation of fantastic imagery. Let's find out the best ones we can afford.
MSRP:Â $74.99
Max Height: 62.5" Tripod | 64" Monopod
Weight: 2.99 lbs with ball head
Folded Length: 16.9''
Leg Sections|Type: 4 Sections | Flip-Lock
Load Capacity: 33 lbs
Pros: A lot of features for the price, very compact when folded, and reasonably well built
Cons: The center column requires a little bit of force to tighten for it to stay in place
The Mactrem 62.5" is made out of premium aluminum alloy and can support up to 33 lbs of gear. The tripod can be adjusted anywhere from 21.5" to its max height of 62.5" which is good enough for most photographers. Like most of the tripods on this list, the center column can be inverted so you can shoot even lower than it's minimum height. For an aluminum-based tripod, it's fairly light, weighing in at 2.9 lbs with the included ball head. The ball head is basic but does the job
The Mactrem is a flip-lock design, which allows you to set up the tripod within seconds. Another useful feature is the center column can be converted to a monopod with a maximum height
