I went for the Befree Advanced aluminium twist lock (and changed the top plate to their Arca compatible top plate) It comes in at 1.5kg all in, so 200g lighter, and considerably cheaper. It doesn't go quite as high (10cm less) and doesn't do the swivel centre column thing (but can do upside-down centre column so you can get as low as touching the ground) and around 30% of the cost so seemed like a no brainer for me.
Great move and that is an awesome value for sure! If you want all the bells and whistles, this one is also a great option but certainly not for everyone. As I said in the review, carbon fiber is not necessary, but nice to have if you want/need lighter weight... Same with the center column feature, which I only use occasionally honestly, but it's nice to have in some situations like macro photography in particular I find.
Well, I simply swapped out the ballhead to an Acra Swiss ballhead from Rollei T2S II. Yes, Manfrotto offers this plate that you can mount on their R2 system as well as on Arca Swiss and so does Peak Design with its Dual Plate. But I simply prefer the Arca Swiss system. I believe Manfrotto invented this system where you can flip the centre column. That was the reason why I bought this Manfrotto befree GT XPro Carbon. By the way in Switzerland I only payed about CHF 322.00.
Way too bulky for me. I have a Peak Design Travel tripod, even have it with me while mountain biking in an Evoc Explorer 30L backpack, but I want to get a head for it, but can't decide. got camera in there and tripod, camera covered by elbow pads and a back protector, and the tripod on the other side, got room for a head as logn as it's not a massive one. But Manfrotto Befree GT XPRO would not fit in there.
Yeah it is pretty bulky compared to the ultra lite tripods out there, but I wanted something super sturdy, so that comes at the cost of size and weight. With that being said this tripod is small and light considering the payload and overall quality in my opinion. I plan on getting and ultra light tripod next for those harder travel situations like on the mt bike as you said, because I really do need one for that as well! Thanks for the comments and all the best, Jay
Do you know if the center column of this tripod can be pulled out completely and inserted upside down between the legs? (I don't mean the horizontal 90 option)
No I am not using a leveling plate myself. If you need to be perfectly level and cannot get the camera level without one, then yes I would say you might want one. I usually use the Level feature on my camera if I can't figure what level is by looking at the horizon for example. Sometimes it's hard to tell what level is, and I use that camera feature in those cases.
The horizontal center column in action is awesome as long as your camera is not to heavy when it is full extended. You just have to make sure you have the legs far enough out for proper support, but that feature is incredible in my opinion.
I went for the Befree Advanced aluminium twist lock (and changed the top plate to their Arca compatible top plate) It comes in at 1.5kg all in, so 200g lighter, and considerably cheaper. It doesn't go quite as high (10cm less) and doesn't do the swivel centre column thing (but can do upside-down centre column so you can get as low as touching the ground) and around 30% of the cost so seemed like a no brainer for me.
Great move and that is an awesome value for sure! If you want all the bells and whistles, this one is also a great option but certainly not for everyone. As I said in the review, carbon fiber is not necessary, but nice to have if you want/need lighter weight... Same with the center column feature, which I only use occasionally honestly, but it's nice to have in some situations like macro photography in particular I find.
Well, I simply swapped out the ballhead to an Acra Swiss ballhead from Rollei T2S II. Yes, Manfrotto offers this plate that you can mount on their R2 system as well as on Arca Swiss and so does Peak Design with its Dual Plate. But I simply prefer the Arca Swiss system. I believe Manfrotto invented this system where you can flip the centre column. That was the reason why I bought this Manfrotto befree GT XPro Carbon. By the way in Switzerland I only payed about CHF 322.00.
Wonder if the 405 gear head would 'fit' with this tripod?
Yes that awesome gear head will work on this tripod 👍
Excellent review!
Great review 😊
Thanks for watching👍
Way too bulky for me. I have a Peak Design Travel tripod, even have it with me while mountain biking in an Evoc Explorer 30L backpack, but I want to get a head for it, but can't decide. got camera in there and tripod, camera covered by elbow pads and a back protector, and the tripod on the other side, got room for a head as logn as it's not a massive one. But Manfrotto Befree GT XPRO would not fit in there.
Yeah it is pretty bulky compared to the ultra lite tripods out there, but I wanted something super sturdy, so that comes at the cost of size and weight. With that being said this tripod is small and light considering the payload and overall quality in my opinion. I plan on getting and ultra light tripod next for those harder travel situations like on the mt bike as you said, because I really do need one for that as well! Thanks for the comments and all the best, Jay
Do you know if the center column of this tripod can be pulled out completely and inserted upside down between the legs? (I don't mean the horizontal 90 option)
No it doesn't do upside down as the center column doesn't come out all the way do to the horizontal option.
I don't even know why you should need this option when you get near to the ground with this 90° horizontal option?
Awesome video! Can you fit the tripod inside the backpack?
Yes you can, but if you want something smaller and lighter, check out this one: th-cam.com/video/2dx7jaHuztM/w-d-xo.html
Quick question for you: Are you using a leveling plate with this tripod, or don't you need one?
No I am not using a leveling plate myself. If you need to be perfectly level and cannot get the camera level without one, then yes I would say you might want one. I usually use the Level feature on my camera if I can't figure what level is by looking at the horizon for example. Sometimes it's hard to tell what level is, and I use that camera feature in those cases.
How does it go filming overhead shots?
I'm not sure what you mean by overhead? The tripod does not go much higher than my head fully extended.
@@Jason_Hermann like top down, birds eye view etc.
The horizontal center column in action is awesome as long as your camera is not to heavy when it is full extended. You just have to make sure you have the legs far enough out for proper support, but that feature is incredible in my opinion.
I have one too!
Awesome, and it's the best tripod I have used to date 👊
@@Jason_Hermann I have the video head version which actually works very well for still. Thanks for the awesome video as always.