Friday, March 26, 2004
The Little Tripod That Could: The SIMA Mini Tripod
Posted by Gary Sheynkman in "HARDWARE" @ 12:00 PM
Undoubtedly most of us have had “Kodak” moments where a tripod would have been handy. But who lugs around their tripod with them everywhere they go? SIMA (www.simacorp.com) has solved this age old problem by making a Mini Tripod.
Despite its small stature I found this tripod to be very stable under my Sony DSC-P31 (Figure 2) as well as several other cameras I was able to test at the local electronics store (Sony F828; Kodak DX6490).
Figure 1: Although the Mini Tripod looks very svelte, it is actually quite stable.
The design itself was thought out very well. With a few twists of the handle, the “Quick Release” (Figure 1) pops off and you are free to attach it to your camera to it.
Figure 2: The Mini Tripod is rather petite. The base can be easily removed from the top. Don’t lose it though, it’s dwarfed by a regular AA battery!
Afterward the same painless process will reattach the bases with the camera to the body of the tripod. The base sits on a swivel head that can be loosened and tightened with a small black handle that is ergonomically shaped for easy operation. They even added a carrying strap to it for easy transportation. The legs of the tripod can be extended to a full 6½ inches as you can see in Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 3: Do not let the small size deceive you…
Figure 4: The legs extend to be 6½ inches long!
This piece of invaluable photographic equipment can be found at your local electronics store (i.e. Best Buy) for about $12 and can be found in a package shown in Figure 5. Unfortunately I was unable to find online listings for this item, but Pricegrabber has plenty of listings for similar products in the same price range.
Figure 5: This is the retail packaging of the Mini Tripod.
Overall the Mini Tripod from SIMA receives a recommendation for every moment you wish you had a tripod but could not bear the burden of carrying one around.
Despite its small stature I found this tripod to be very stable under my Sony DSC-P31 (Figure 2) as well as several other cameras I was able to test at the local electronics store (Sony F828; Kodak DX6490).
Figure 1: Although the Mini Tripod looks very svelte, it is actually quite stable.
The design itself was thought out very well. With a few twists of the handle, the “Quick Release” (Figure 1) pops off and you are free to attach it to your camera to it.
Figure 2: The Mini Tripod is rather petite. The base can be easily removed from the top. Don’t lose it though, it’s dwarfed by a regular AA battery!
Afterward the same painless process will reattach the bases with the camera to the body of the tripod. The base sits on a swivel head that can be loosened and tightened with a small black handle that is ergonomically shaped for easy operation. They even added a carrying strap to it for easy transportation. The legs of the tripod can be extended to a full 6½ inches as you can see in Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 3: Do not let the small size deceive you…
Figure 4: The legs extend to be 6½ inches long!
This piece of invaluable photographic equipment can be found at your local electronics store (i.e. Best Buy) for about $12 and can be found in a package shown in Figure 5. Unfortunately I was unable to find online listings for this item, but Pricegrabber has plenty of listings for similar products in the same price range.
Figure 5: This is the retail packaging of the Mini Tripod.
Overall the Mini Tripod from SIMA receives a recommendation for every moment you wish you had a tripod but could not bear the burden of carrying one around.
