On Test: Manfrotto ONE Photo Tripod

Manfrotto’s multi award-winning ONE platform has expanded recently to bring a stills-focused model to market, which features all of the innovative style of the original hybrid version while cutting down on the cost and weight. Has it got what it takes to appeal to the pro market?

WORDS: TERRY HOPE

TRIPODS DON’T COME with a reputation for being particularly exciting. They’re built to do a job not to turn heads and, with a simple and straightforward remit to provide a solid platform for your camera, they’re a regular fixture in most gadget bags.

So, how exactly might you take an accessory that’s so familiar and reinvent it to the point where what you’re offering is creating a noticeable buzz and causing those who might have been in the business for years to take a fresh look at their stabilising options? Manfrotto has effectively done exactly this with its ONE platform, which was launched last summer on the back of a well-received hybrid model, and which has now been joined by one aimed squarely at the photographic community.

Step forward the Manfrotto ONE Photo, priced at around £269 (legs only), with a name implying that this could well be the one tripod the pro might ever need. Why so? It’s all to do with the versatility and flexibility on offer, and confirmation of its well thought-through credentials is there for all to see, reflected in the accolades collected so far, including TIPA and Red Dot and IF Design Awards. Quite simply Manfrotto has gone away and used its considerable experience in tripod design to re-evaluate its approach, the result being a fresh approach heavily focused on speed and efficiency of use.

Unpacking the tripod

So, what lies at the heart of this fundamental re-imagining of such a core photographic accessory, and why should a professional who in all likelihood already has a tripod packed away in their kit bag be perhaps tempted into an upgrade? To find out I decided to take a look at what’s on offer, while also testing out the clever XChange quick release system, along with the supplied ball and socket and X-Pro 3-Way tripod heads.

The first thing I noted was build quality, and it was obvious from the outset that this piece of kit has been well put together and it felt sturdy and solid straight out of the box. The fact that there is only an aluminium model available at the moment, as opposed to the carbon fibre variant that’s an option with the Hybrid ONE model, obviously means there’s a weight trade off and, at 3.112kg compared to 3kg, it has to be said that this is no lightweight, but it still felt manageable.

On setting up the legs the key advantage of the ONE system becomes immediately obvious: this is a tripod that’s slick and speedy to work with. The Xtend facility enables all three leg sections to deploy, or be locked, all at the same time via a single top-mounted lever situated on each leg, so you can lift the tripod to the desired height, let the legs fall into place and then lock it all off. It sounds simple, and indeed is, but it takes a little getting used to for the uninitiated. Practice it for a while, however, and you soon get into the swing of things. Once you do it’s a huge time-saver, perfectly attuned to one-person operation, cutting down on the usual fiddly loosening and tightening of numerous clamps.

Speedy set up

While the legs are super-fast to set up, Manfrotto has gone still further in its search for efficiency, and its ingenious Xchange quick release system really does come with the potential to speed things up, not just for those working with the ONE system, but for those looking for a retrospective solution for an existing tripod set-up. Featuring a flat base with a 3/8″ standard thread for mounting to most tripods or supports, on the top plate there’s a further 3/8″ screw to enable the attaching of heads or accessories. Being just 38mm in height, the whole unit adds very little to the bulk of the set-up and just 0.28kg to the overall weight.

Once in place you can attach the head of your choice, complete with camera, and then, at the press of a button, you can detach it to perhaps click it into place on an alternative set of legs or to bring in another head and camera combination. Available at an affordable price – around £40 – the pro can invest in a few of these, and leave one half of the Xchange unit attached to the legs and then attach the connecting top half on a selection of heads and accessories so that they can easily and swiftly be exchanged.

It’s a brilliant concept and potentially another huge timesaver, and the real beauty of the system is that it’s truly agnostic, in that it can potentially work with heads from other manufacturers and also be paired with older tripods to introduce a quick-change system retrospectively.

High quality heads

While it’s possible to fit a wide selection of heads to the Manfrotto ONE legs, it’s no surprise to hear that the slickest and most affordable solution is to go for an all-in-one solution that involves buying a complete unit. The XPRO Ball Head features a triple-locking ball head along with an Arca-Swiss Top Lock for fast universal accessory mounting and, if purchased as part of a ONE outfit, it adds around £130 to the cost, while it’s also available separately at £159.

This again felt like a well-engineered piece of kit, with an easy-to-operate silky smooth motion, and the facility to control the tension via simple screw control. There’s also a spirit level included to aid with setting up a level viewpoint, and it’s a cost-effective head that will suit many purposes.

For those looking for an alternative there’s the X-Pro 3-Way tripod head, priced at around £129, which might not be as straightforward to work with as its ball and head equivalent, but which does add another level of control. You have no less than three locks to contend with when using this piece of kit – controlling tilt, swivel and pan – and this allows for truly precise positioning when setting up your shot.

The first two of these, for forward/backward tilt and landscape/portrait orientation, also feature retractable shafts, so you can pull them out to make fine adjustments easier. There are also friction dampers on the tilt and swivel clamps, allowing you to adjust the torque when making adjustments, and this enables the user to set the head up precisely for different camera and lens combos. There are also three spirit level bubbles incorporated into the head, making it simple to set up a level viewpoint, whether that be for a landscape or upright shot.