Apr 15, 2015 10:49 AM
5957 Views
I have a habit of clicking selfies and also practicing speaking in front of cameras and reviewing myself in addition to preparing video blogs. Positioning cameras while I speak in front of it at convenient location and height was the most daunting task for me. I hence decided to buy a tripod for myself and was looking up reviews of inexpensive and good sturdy tripods. I required one of a good height considering I am almost 6 foot tall and though I didn’t really require to carry it around, getting a portable one was a good idea.
After researching a lot, I zeroed in on Simpex tripods because almost all shopping sites showed good ratings for this brand. Hence even though there are other brands selling tripods at dirt cheap rates, I opted for the Simpex 333. The Simpex 222 is too short and too light. I would like to alert readers to the fact that if you are looking for a long lasting sturdier tripod, please opt for carbon-fibre ones and not aluminium ones. This is basically a beginners tripod with aluminium structure.
Coming to the specifications of the tripod. When opened up fully, it is over four feet long and for basic DSLR cameras, it is a good deal. You should exercise caution while using expensive cameras outdoors with the tripod fully opened because it may fall off in the wind. The weight of the item is barely more than a kg. The upper most stick of the tripod opens by rotating the lever. Since the teeth are made of plastic, you should exercise care while rotating it to avoid breaking the teeth. As for the overall construction, I would say it has a fair amount of precision and good workmanship. The pan head can be moved three ways with a good amount of ease. The item however lacks a hook below the pan head to which you can attach a weight to maintain equilibrium while using heavier cameras. The company anyway does not recommend using weight more than three kgs including a flash.
Usage: The pan head includes a single bubble level to ensure the camera is kept straight. The head also has a detachable plate on which one can mount or screw the camera onto. There is no need of unscrewing it each time the camera has to be removed. The plate by itself can be easily taken off. The locking mechanisms for the different arms when they are opened are identical to all professional tripods. It is more or less a full-fledged professional tripod barring the fact that owing to its light weight and portable nature, you cannot mount large equipments on to it. If you need to shoot selfies at arm’s length, you can keep the tripod at a folded position and use it as a selfie stick.
Accessories: One setback I found with this product is that it never came with an instruction manual. This seems very unprofessional of a company that has worldwide reputation. A light shoulder bag comes with the unit so that it can be folded and carried around. But as I said before this is good for garden and indoor shoots more than outside shoots.
Support: Most online sites say that the item comes with a lifetime warranty. However even the website of the item simply displays the model number and pictures of the product but has no user guides, warranty information or other details. I do not know where one can obtain spares for it if any part of it breaks except apart from visiting a service centre of the company which I see has only one in India and that is in Delhi.
Pricing: Pricing as I said was the first thing I was looking for because I was not really looking for the best tripod and wanted to just remove the hassles of indoor selfies and video shoots.
To sum up, this is the best middle level highly affordable, well-rated tripod available in the market as of now. It is designed with good precision and beginners or amateur photography enthusiasts should go for this as their first tripod as a learner’s item.
