Review: Hahnel Triad Compact C4 Tripod

Hahnel’s Triad Compact C4 is a travel tripod that folds down to just 31cm long via five extensible legs which screw-lock into place. It’s certainly lightweight at 1.2kg and supports loads of up to 3kg.

Billed as suitable for compact cameras, DSLRs and camcorders, it is really more appropriate to the former two categories than for video filming, due to its lack of pan handle and because the ball joint head doesn’t lend itself to video pans and tilts. If however, you simply want something to hold a camcorder steady and level while you shoot, and it needs to be portable, then this could be worth a look.

How portable is it? Well, here’s our video of me getting ready to travel to the IBC broadcasting exhibition in Amsterdam a week ago which demonstrates the point quite nicely, we think.

It’s a sturdy enough piece of kit, the legs made of aluminium;

Although it’ll never win any awards as a news reporter’s tripod due to the slightly time-consuming nature of setting it up, tightening and untightening the locks on the legs requires only a half-turn so assembly, though fiddly, is reasonably swift once you’ve had a few goes at it.

One clever trick it exhibits is to let the camera hang upside down below the head shaft so you can get some extremely low-level shots, albeit that if you do this with a camcorder, you’re going to have to flip the video during editing (or it too will be upside down!)

Maximum height is 1.35m which is OK, though a little more would always be appreciated though of course this would be at the cost of compactness when folded up.

In conclusion, Tubeshooter liked this tripod for its specific role as a travel tripod. At £70 or thereabouts it’s not some cheap tat but it’s not hugely costly either, and could be worth a look if you need its abilities.

You can buy one on this link http://amzn.to/1orZWWS which is an affiliate link to Amazon UK for which we get a bit of commission…

Here’s our video review: