SIRUI Traveler 5C: Carbon Fiber Field Tripod

I purchased my first tripod together with my first digital camera, about 20 years ago. It was a cheap unbranded model that served me well for many years. A few years later, I purchased a more versatile tripod from a trustful Italian brand when I started reviewing drones. It was super OK for inside work, but on the first trip, I learned that travel tripods have a slightly different set of requirements than studio tripods. They must be lightweight and small when folded in order to be easy to pack and carry into a backpack, or at least hook them onto one.

Travel tripod makers use lightweight materials like aluminium (good) and carbon fibre (better), creative designs with thinner legs that fold 180° over the ball head, telescoping legs with as many as 5-6 sections, and clever extras like sandbag hooks, extensible center column, and built-in bubble levels. SIRUI Traveler 5 series has both versions, aluminium and carbon fibre. SIRUI also has the series 7 that…