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Underwater Photography
Vanguard MK-4 Heavy-Duty Tripod with Carrying Handle

Vanguard MK-4 Heavy-Duty Tripod with Carrying Handle

List Price: $20.99
Your Price: $20.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good enough for the price
Review: Bought this tripod to replace an older sony tripod that only went up to my chest. It has excellent height and is a steal at $21, still, it has some problems. The old sony tripod has thinner legs but feels more solid/less shakey, probably because the connectors that go from the legs to the center column are aluminum while the mk-4's is plastic. It's stable enough though. The removable mounting piece is really cheap(but it serves it's purpose) so I use the mount from another tripod instead. Panning is not the smoothest, the legs on mine are silver which can cause bad reflections in glass, and minimum working height is 2 feet so you might want to get something to cover low shooting. It does not come with a bag but has a carrying handle. The older sony had a bag but it is VERY uncomfortable carrying a loose, dangly tripod on your back, and it is also awkward to carry without a handle. I very much prefer the handle over the bag. Even with all it's flaws I still do not regret the purchase because it is very tall, serves it's purpose well enough, and is super-cheap in price(just wish it was heavier). I use it to hold up a medium size camera, and it feels like it can hold up something like a Canon Digital Rebel with its plastic body and a lightweight 300mm lens okay, but not a heavy metal bodied SLR with a great big long lens. If you've got money for a camera like that, then you need to buy yourself a better, heavier tripod. By the way, people who NEED expensive bogen-manfrotto tripods and probably use bulky, heavy equipment have no business buying cheap-o $21 tripods and then saying how much they suck, IMHO.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Cheap
Review: Don't expect a nice product for $25, the tripod does not look very solid (made in China). The bubble is pretty useless because it is not very precise (up to 5 degrees of angle it won't detect it). The head is very inaccurate, when on the horizontal rest position, it has a 3 degrees error (which means you have to correct it by slightly raising one side). I would have expected a level position when on the rest.
I sent back my tripod presto and I will save a little bit more to buy a used Bogen/Manfrotto tripod on eBay (they can be found at ~$80 with head).
Don't waste your money on these cheapo tripods.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great pro tripod for the price
Review: I bought this MK-4 tripod when it's about 60% off. I throw away my old tripod I bought 5 years ago right after this one came out of the box. It's very well made. It has all the position I need for the studio. The quick release shoe is well designed too.

I decided to buy this MK-4 instead of VANGUARD's another nice product MK-3 because this one is several inches higher. I really need something higher.


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