3 thoughts on “Manfrotto MKBFRA4-BH BeFree Compact Aluminum Travel Tripod Black Reviews”

1. 88 of 90 people found the following review helpful

   
   Great travel tripod, July 10, 2013

   By 

   Craig P. Donovan –
   
     

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   Pros: Very light and compact for an aluminum tripod. Has enough strength to support a D800 + Battery Grip + SB900 + 24-70mm 2.8! Travel case is included. The included ball head is removable and can be replaced with any standard head that uses a 3/8″ stud. The RC2 plate the ball head included was a plus for me as my other Monfrotto uses the same plate so now I have an extra. The small size of this tripod allowed me to easily attach it, without the carrying case, to my Lowepro bag…which has and integrated tripod mount, while keeping the total bag weight & balance to a minimum.
   Cons: Not a deal breaker, but having to flip the legs up and over to fit them into the included bag is time consuming and twisting the head into the correct position tends to cause some scratches on the leg assemblies. This can be avoided but requires some effort.

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2. 76 of 78 people found the following review helpful

   
   Excellent travel tripod, October 24, 2013

   By 

   Guy Ivie (Fallon NV USA) –

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   I love my big Manfrotto tripod, but it’s heavy to lug around on a hike, and kind of big to pack in a suitcase or carry on board when flying. This compact tripod is a good compromise in size and “heavy duty-ness” when you need to carry it for hours in the hills or out in the desert. The included carry case, with shoulder strap, is very handy if I haven’t got anywhere left to tie it on my camera pack. It isn’t as tall as my regular tripod, but I’m willing to live with that. I leave the big tripod at home more often now, or use both when I’m shooting with both normal and infrared cameras.

   Because of the light weight, it’s easier to knock over if you bump into it, so you might want to consider attaching a sandbag if that’s a concern for you.

   UPDATE 10 Nov 2013: Just wanted to add that I used this tripod recently during a landscape workshop in Yosemite National Park. I learned that you DO NOT want to use it with the center post fully extended if your shutter speed is below 1/90. At full extension, even the slap of the shutter from a dSLR can introduce a slight vibration that is noticeable as minor motion blur in the image; the slower the shutter speed, the more noticeable. For snapshots or images destined solely for the Internet at screen resolution, this may not be an issue for you. For anything that is going to be used at large sizes, it’s definitely an issue. This only occurred with the center post at full extension. At half extension, I didn’t see this problem. I stand by my earlier statements and am not deducting any stars. This sort of thing is only to be expected in a lightweight tripod.

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3. 44 of 48 people found the following review helpful

   
   Really works well, August 22, 2013

   By 

   Keith E. Nelson “Keith & Diane” (Pullman, Wa) –
   
     

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   I have a Nikon D300s with a Nikkor 80-400mm lens out front – lots of weight. This tripod performed flawlessly in a recent trip to a National Wildlife Refuge and a Florida wetlands. I purchased it for the lightweight, compactness for air travel. I carried it aboard, with all the camera gear, which fit either in the overhead bin on the 757 or under my seat. It sets up quick, locks down stable and performed well. The only negative, are the feet, they are applied with a countersunk, yet exposed, screw. In the mud and dirt this is a trap for sticky stuff to adhere to the legs. I am sure a piece of Colorado Duct Tape would seal the feet, but I am a photographer not a boarder 🙂

   I like it. I would purchase it again, based upon a couple weeks use, and several hundred photos.

   The construction of the pads on the legs are hardly worth a full star deduct – so it is a four and a half star product, in my view.

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