From time to time one needs a tripod. A sturdy one.
I have two. Both made by Manfrotto, but that’s not important. They’re both sturdy and pack neatly.
Tripod size is especially important when traveling. It shouldn’t be too large packed, but it also needs to have a reasonable, workable height. For that, I use a Manfrotto Befree. It’s legs fold neatly around the center column, which is invertible. You can turn it upside down to get very close to the ground. Sadly, the included ball head does not come with a panning base, but you could always put on a different head. I love that tripod. You can get it in carbon fiber, but I opted for the aluminum version, as it is cheaper and has a stealthier colour on it. I also use a Triggertrap cable release to further down camera shake. But I guess the red accents on mine somehow counteract that stealthiness. Get one here.
My second tripod is a Manfrotto Pixi table-top tripod. I used that with my iPhone, but I currently don’t have a mount for that. My cheapo one broke. Now I use it more as a ‘handle’ for my DSLR when I shoot video. I’ll get me an external shotgun mic for that though, as I’m really not impressed by the sound that comes out off my camera’s internal microphone. I’ll probably go with a Røde VideoMicro, it’s currently around 60€ on Amazon. And it’s the only one that comes with a dead cat windmuff. And it runs without batteries. But I need to do more research on that. Here‘s a link to this small, versatile table top tripod. I bought mine at Hamburgs Apple Store though.
Two YouTube clips on the Røde VideoMicro:
Robin Ho Fotos 