Giottos MT9340B Adjustable Column Aluminium Travel Tripod

Comments about Giottos MT9340B Adjustable Column Aluminium Travel Tripod:

This is a great piece of engineering and so far has proved to be up to all the demands I place on it. Previously I have struggled with a more rigid format tripod when out shooting landscapes in less accessible terrain. I have yet to find a spot where I can turn the main pole upside down and near the ground but I am working on that one. If I used the tripod more regularly I would have opted for the lightweight version but nevertheless am very content with this product.
I was confused by the Giottos sales pitch when it came to the camera release platform as the tripod is sold without any platform. I ordered a ball platform first and then supplemented that with the standard rapid release type.
Delivery was prompt and I thought the price was competative.

Comments about Giottos MT9340B Adjustable Column Aluminium Travel Tripod:

I purchased the Giottos MT 9340B as I was looking for a light, compact tripod to take on a trip to Peru but also to use it as my general purpose tripod. This travel tripod is compact when folded up, very light and easy to carry around. The twisting leg locks work well for a travel tripod as they have no parts that stick out. Overall the tripod can fit into a small space as nothing sticks out on it (but of course this depends on which head you use). I haven't tried the adjustable centre column in the field yet but its operation feels good so far. I tried my Canon 40D with a Sigma 18-125 lens on it (total weight just under 1.5kg) with the centre column stuck out horizontally and it didn't fall over. The tripod didn't feel very secure when knocked slightly and I fear that it could easily fall over. The main failing of this Giottos though is the overall stability. The bottom leg section (it has 4 in total) is very thin and not very stable. If a little pressure is applied to the tripod the legs will bend noticeably. I conducted a test by setting up my camera with the lens at 125mm and took 3 shots at 0.5 second each. The first shot was a standard single shot and came out blurred. The second was using the 10 second timer and this came out sharp. The third was using the 2 second timer, which I'd expect to produce a sharp shot but this one was blurred too. Not as much as the single shot but enough to put me off the tripod. You could get around the stability problems by hanging your camera bag off the hook on the bottom of the centre column but personally I don't want to rely on this as I'd much prefer a tripod to have inherent stability.

Conclusion:
For a travel tripod this works very well due to its small size, footprint and weight. Plus you get an adjustable centre column that doesn't compromise any of the benefits of the small size of the tripod. However, even though it's asking too much to expect rock solid stability from a travel tripod it fell below my expectations on this point. I'm going to return this tripod and order the carbon fibre Giottos MTL8351B as this is not much heavier (but is a bit bigger). Hopefully the 8351B will prove to be more stable.