MeFOTO’s Daytrip Tripod wasn’t announced too long ago, but we have known about them for a little while. The tripods are meant to be small, but not alarmingly small. They are specifically designed to be toted around and with that in mind, they are conveniently stored in many camera bags. Also in keeping true to MeFOTO’s brand philosophy, the Daytrip comes in a slew of cool colors.
In our testing, we used the tripod for birding, food photography, and time lapse work. And if your shooting style falls into one of those categories, we recommend that you stop reading this review and go purchase one right now.
Or you can help us out with pageviews, and keep reading…
Pros and Cons
Pros
– This is THE TRIPOD for foodies
– Cool colors
– Weight hook to keep it weighed down
– Really light
– Was able to fit two of them into a Think Tank Retrospective 7 along with two cameras, lenses, etc.
– Solid build quality
Cons
– Doesn’t take the mini Arca Swiss Plate on the new Capture Clip Pro.
– Wish there were more bubble levels on the head
Gear Used
We used the MeFOTO Daytrip Tripod with the Olympus OMD EM5, Panasonic 100-300mm f4.5-5.6 OIS, Nikon D5200, Tokina 12-38mm f4, and the Olympus EP5 premium bundle.
Tech Specs
Specs taken from our original announcement blog post
Maximum Load 8.8 lbs
Max Height w/ Column Extended 24 in
Folded Length 9.4 in
Number of Leg Sections 2
Leg Lock Type Twist lock
Center Column Reversible center column
Panning Range 360°
Spiked Feet N/A
Quick Release (QR) Plate Mini Arca-Swiss Style (PMU50M)
Bubble Level Yes
Head Mount Thread Size 3/8â-16
Weight 1.8 lb
Ergonomics
In the lead image for this story, we showed MeFOTO’s Daytrip semi-deployed. But when you first get it, you’ll notice that the legs are totally inverted to keep the size down. This is how you’ll often store it away when daytripping around, no pun intended (okay, maybe it was.)
The tripod overall is quite basic in design, but has subtle controls that will make things easier for you in real life use.
On one end of this tripod, you’ll notice that there is a weight hook. Indeed, you can put some sort of weight down in the middle of the tripod to keep it securely down.
When you prep the tripod for use, you’ll notice that the tops of the legs have little steps and a MeFOTO branded button on them. This button helps to hold the tripod legs down and locked into place. If you want to move the legs again, you’ll need to pull the button out.
Because of all the different positions that the legs can be spread, there are obviously many different steps and levels that the button and rest in.
Once the legs are down and in place, you’ll need to twist these little dials to extend them. The legs only extend outward once. Also note the rubberized tripod feet. Unscrewing them just leaves you with a hole and a flat surface. But in practice, we recommend leaving them on.
This tripod’s head is a single action ball head that moves around very smoothly. There are two controls: one for movement and one for locking the mini Arca Swiss plate into place. The plate has a screw on the bottom that can be easily turned with a key or a coin.
When the plate is off, you’ll see the bubble level on the tripod head. The placement is one of our biggest gripes with the otherwise solid product.
Build Quality
During one of our tests, we took it down to the Williamsburg shoreline–where the tide was abnormally high. They went through normal beach wear: including sand and pebbles. At no time, did they tripods fail to function correctly and normally.
If sand got into the major parts, we would follow MeFOTO’s steps on cleaning the tripod according. In terms of bump, this tripod’s aluminum body made it super tough.
Ease of Use
The MeFOTO Daytrip is extremely simple to use–as it was designed that way. There are no intricate bells and whistles, but instead there is modesty while maintaining functionality and an edgy look. Indeed, I really never thought that a tripod could be cool. Often, I’ve believed that they just get in the way of taking images, but this one helps you create better ones.
In Real Life Use
When using this tripod for timelapse shooting, all that I really did was mount it on the piece of wood that you see in the images above. Despite some wind and sometimes crazy tides coming in and rocking the wood, the tripod stood up with no problems. It would have been very nice to have a bubble level on the back, but instead I needed to rely on the Nikon D5200’s internal level to figure out if I was totally straight or not on my composition of a scene. That was a pain.
In another test, I used it for birding in Central Park. Note that if you’re going to do this on flat level grass, you’ll need to go prone. And in a case like that, you may be best off getting another tripod color–perhaps green.
Where we found this tripod to really excel was with food photography. This type of shooting often requires tabletop work, and the legs are just large/small enough to work excellently for this type of photography. It also helps that they split open pretty darn wide.
Conclusions
We really can’t say very many bad things about the MeFOTO Daytrip tripod, but something that really bugs us is the placement of the bubble levels. To be fair, one can always shoot a little wider and crop/rotate in post-production. And in fact, many professional shooters often do that.
The Daytrip’s fun colors give it a slightly fashionable edge for the photographer looking for something a bit different. And it does this while not sacrificing functionality. In fact, you’ll want to carry it lots of places with you.
You can pick one up for yourself at B&H Photo, Amazon, PictureLine, and Adorama.
Please Support The Phoblographer
We love to bring you guys the latest and greatest news and gear related stuff. However, we canât keep doing that unless we have your continued support. If you would like to purchase any of the items mentioned, please do so by clicking our links first and then purchasing the items as we then get a small portion of the sale to help run the website.
