Meet the New Tripod: Same as the Old Tripod

Velbon E535D tripod, 2017

I loved my Velbon Geo 535D tripod, which I bought first as a gift, then a second one for myself, that I used as my main tripod for landscape and night photography for close to 4 years. I originally wrote this review after using it about 18 months, and now that I’m buying it a third time, I’m writing it up on my blog, and I’m posting the link here in case I want to buy a fourth: https://amzn.to/2ATpFEf.

I upgraded in late 2014 from a Velbon El Carmagne 530, that I passed on to the co-instructor of my workshops, Lori Hibbett, only because it was a little short for me. That one is over 12 years old and still going strong after heavy use from the sea to Death Valley sand dunes to snowy peaks, and I’ve never had to adjust, repair or disassemble/reassemble anything on it. Not once. Every other tripod I’ve owned has either broken (such as via brittle/aging plastic, especially in cold temperatures) or it requires frequent adjustments with an allen wrench.

When I needed to buy a tripod for my father, I did some research and bought the Velbon GEO E535D. He had another brand, but it was way too heavy, and he needed a much lighter model. This tripod is about as light as a high quality tripod with ample height gets, and at 4.2 pounds is about half of the weight of his prior tripod. When picking a tripod height, consider that you can easily need an extra foot or so when setting up on an incline. The next time that I shot with him, I was reminded that I needed to upgrade, so I bought one for myself.

My first one finally blew over in high winds and broke, so I bought a third one. Then, seeing that I needed a backup, I bought a fourth!

Tripods from this Japanese manufacturer are getting harder to find here in the U.S., one or two of mine came from Canada, and it in a quick search on Amazon, looks like the main one that comes up is in the U.K. Looks like I’ll have to broaden my search if I break one again!
In addition to ample height, minimal weight, and my decade of favorable experience with the brand, I like the pan/tilt head much better than a ball head:
– The pan/tilt head is lighter than a ball head.
– It makes panoramas easier, and more likely to stitch together cleanly without intervention
– Put a long, heavy lens on a ball head, and sometimes the weight causes the entire head to start to unscrew from the tripod. The sudden fall could cause the lens to collide with the tripod leg with a fair amount of force, potentially damaging the lens.