Best Travel Tripod | 2024

Travel can mean many different things, but no matter whether your travel photography is taking you to Honolulu, Hong Kong or Hull, you can make things easier on yourself with a good, solid travel tripod. Providing a stable platform for your camera in all weathers and on all terrains, a travel tripod is a vital companion for the serious travel shooter.

The requirements of a travel tripod specifically are a little different from those of a generic photo or video tripod. For a start, a good travel tripod should be nice and lightweight. After all, you’re going to be carrying it around! Further to that point, it should pack down well, so that you can stow it in your suitcase or travel bag without sacrificing too much room. 

And, of course, a good travel tripod needs to be both of those things while still providing a strong, stable camera support. The best tripods that balance these two things tend to be made from carbon fibre, however, this material is more expensive, and there are many great aluminium models out there that will also do the job, often for a substantially lower asking price. 

You’ll want to pay attention to the maximum weight capacity of the tripod, as travel tripods tend to have lower capacities than standard types, and you’ll want to be sure that your setup won’t exceed it. Some tripods come bundled with a ball head and others do not, so it’s worth double-checking if you know you’re going to want one. Many also have reversible central columns for low-to-the-ground shooting, and in some cases, the centre column can be removed entirely in order to convert parts of the tripod into a monopod.

As with any gear purchase, it’s ultimately about balancing the features you want against your budget. We’ve included plenty of tripods on this list, at a broad range of price points – so let’s get stuck in.

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Best Travel Tripod for Beginners

If you’re completely new to all this, you might already be feeling lost at sea. Not to worry – we’re kicking off our guide by picking the travel tripods we reckon are best for beginners. Easy to use, well-priced and designed for lighter setups, these travel tripods are ideal for those taking their first steps into photography or video. But don’t worry – we’re not palming you off with substandard products. The manufacturers we’ve chosen for our picks of beginner travel tripods – Manfrotto and Benro – are two of the best-regarded in the business, both of whom make high-end professional gear as well as affordable options catered towards newbies. So you can rest assured that you’ll be getting a quality tripod, just at a price you can afford.

We’ve gone with smaller tripods for this section, as we’ve assumed you haven’t gone with a high-end professional camera for your first attempts at photography.

Pros:

• Reversible locking legs
• Rugged, adaptive feet
• Well priced for beginners

Cons:

• Not many at this price!
  
  

Benro’s ‘Bat’ series are one of a few animal-named tripod ranges the manufacturer has brought out – others include the ultra-stable ‘Rhino’ series and the high-end ‘Tortoise’ models. The Bat tripod is all about lightness, flexibility and versatility, and it has a neat trick that sets it apart from the pack – the legs are fully reversible, to the point where they can be angled upwards from the base plate. While the use cases for this feature are not exactly numerous (the Benro promo video has an example where it’s leant against a wall, with one leg on the floor), it’s still fun to play around with. This is the aluminium version of the tripod and it’s nice and affordable. Able to carry 10kg of kit and packaged with a Benro VX, it offers everything the beginner travel photographer needs to get started and shoot.

Best Travel Tripod for Professionals

The essential needs of a professional photographer when it comes to travel tripods aren’t that different to those of anyone else – just perhaps turned up to eleven. So a good professional travel tripod needs to be able to hold a substantial amount of kit – but with an emphasis on substantial, assuming a pro-spec mirrorless camera, DSLR or medium format model as a baseline, and factoring in the weight of professional-level telephoto lenses. And believe us, those can get heavy. 

A good professional tripod doesn’t necessarily need to be a jack of all trades – a sports photographer doesn’t need a rotating central column for macro work, for example. It simply needs to excel at the fundamentals, while also packing down small enough to fit inside a carry-on suitcase or similar, ready for jetting to the next job. Pro travel tripods will generally cost a little more than average, but as you’ll see in our selections, you can still get something that ticks all these boxes for a reasonable outlay.

Pros:

• Durable, long-lasting design
• Packs down well
• Strong, but very light

Cons:

• Pricier than others
• 133cm maximum height
  
  

With Gitzo, you know you’re getting a quality product. The Gitzo GK0545T-82TQD Series 0 Traveler Carbon eXact Tripod Kit is designed for pros who are thinking long-term – who want a travel tripod that is going to withstand years of use and keep on going. Meticulously constructed from premium materials, this carbon fibre tripod offers a superior balance between rigidity, stability and portability. It comes with the slim GH1382TQD Series 1 head, which offers independent pan and ball lock control for precise positioning and framing. 

The Traveler tripods by Gitzo also feature G-lock, a proprietary leg-locking system designed by Gitzo that allows relatively tall tripods to fold down nice and small, while also reducing the level of dust and grit that enters the locks thanks to the internal O-ring. Weighing just 1.29kg, the Gitzo Traveler is easy to transport, and will make for an ideal companion for any travelling pro photographer.

Best Travel Tripod for Video

While you might assume that one tripod is much like another, there are a number of features that make a tripod more suited to video than stills. For instance, video tripods commonly use a bowl mount instead of a flat base, making it easier to level the camera without needing to adjust the legs. Video tripods will also tend to come packaged with fluid video heads rather than ball heads, which are designed to facilitate smooth camera movements. 

It’s also common for video tripods to use double-leg designs for added stability, as opposed to the single-leg design of photo tripods – however, you won’t see that here, as we’re focused on portable travel tripods. Video setups can of course vary dramatically in terms of size and weight, so in this section we’ve included some accordingly different options. There’s a tripod suited to those using lightweight setups, likely based around a mirrorless camera or smartphone, and then a more heavy-duty option for those with the kind of kit that needs it.

Pros:

• Huge carrying capacity
• Leg locks easy to operate with gloves
• 75mm bowl mount and flat plate

Cons:

• Costs more than others
• Heavier than others
  
  

The 3 Legged Thing Legends Nicky Tripod supports an absurd 60kg of kit, meaning it has comfortably more than enough carrying capacity for even the most overloaded, gear-addicted filmmaker. It weighs 2.4kg itself, so while it’s one of the heavier tripods on our list, the capacity-to-weight ratio it delivers is incredible. The construction of the legs is eight-layer carbon fibre, which gives them an impressive level of durability, and the Rapid Latch Leg Adjustment system makes the tripod simple to set up even when you’re wearing gloves.

The tripod kit comes with two mounting plate options – a 75mm bowl mount and a flat plate. The four section legs are also all detachable, meaning they can be used as monopods or boom arms if required. Plus, being able to disassemble the tripod easily like this can make it easier to stow in carry-on luggage.

Best Travel Tripod for Photography

Naturally, with the exception of the video section above, all of the tripods on this list are going to be good travel tripods for photography – what else is a tripod for, after all? As such, in this section we’ve picked out tripods we feel offer something special for enthusiast photographers. Whether it’s a feature-set oriented towards macro shooting or a highly customisable central column that can basically be positioned anywhere, these travel tripods are designed for those who are looking for more than just a basic camera support. 

A good photographer’s tripod should also come with a capable ball head for smooth movement and precise positioning. The tripods we’ve picked both come as kits with top-notch heads, meaning you’ll have everything you need to start shooting from the moment you open the box. Well, except the camera, naturally. We’re assuming you have one of those.

Pros:

• 5-section legs 
• Sets up in seconds
• Multi-mount allows for accessory attachment

Cons:

• On the heavier side
  
  

The VEO 3T Tripod Series from Vanguard are specifically optimised not just for travel, but for those who take their travel photography seriously. As such, it’s got a lot of the usual features you’d associate with a travel tripod – easy-set leg angles, monopod conversion and its made using "Computer Numerical Control (CNC) engineering and specialist aircraft-grade aluminium". What does that mean? It means that it's built to last and it can take a beating, which is important in a travel tripod.

The Arca-compatible VEO PH-20 2-way pan head may not be the first choice for a travel tripod head but it's actually surprisingly versatile, giving you the precision you'd need for a range of scenarios. That pan handle folds around nicely between the legs when not in use so it's not going to add bulk to your travel kit. 

Best Carbon Fibre Travel Tripod

Carbon fibre is generally regarded as the premium tripod construction material. It’s a composite material, made via strings of carbon atoms set in a resin of plastic. The end result is both ultra-rigid and very light, which is music to the ears of those looking for a good travel tripod. Carbon fibre tripods are generally thought of as offering greater stability than their aluminium cousins (more on which below), and as such, they tend to command higher prices.

Carbon fibre travel tripods aren’t perfect, of course, and there are reasons you may want to consider whether one is right for you. For a start, while carbon fibre tripods are more rigid than aluminium ones, this means they can more easily be cracked or shattered by a hard impact. Also, the lightness of a carbon fibre tripod can be a disadvantage in certain conditions, as they can more easily be blown over on a blustery day. Many have central hooks where you can hang a weight as ballast (lots of photographers use their bags).

Pros:

• Premium Gitzo construction
• Weighs less than 1kg
• 180° leg folding system

Cons:

• Max working height only 122cm
• Head not included
  
  

This premium travel tripod exemplifies the strengths of carbon fibre models – even though it supports up to 10kg of kit, it weighs just 900g. The Gitzo GT0545T Series 0 Traveler Carbon eXact Tripod also folds down to just 36.5cm, and its four-section leg tubes are nice and slim – this is the smallest and lightest model in the Gitzo Traveler series. With a minimum working height of 20cm, it’s a good choice for close-up work. The Traveler G-lock system allows the user to get a good level of purchase on the rounded rubber grip, while also helping to prevent ingress of dust and dirt thanks to the internal O-ring.

This isn’t the tallest tripod on the block, with a maximum working height of 122cm – this doesn’t have to be a deal-breaker as many photographers don’t need the extra height, but it’s worth being aware of.

Best Aluminium Travel Tripod

Aluminium travel tripods are generally cheaper than carbon fibre ones – in some cases quite substantially. It’s not uncommon for manufacturers to release carbon fibre and aluminium versions of tripods that are otherwise essentially identical, and yet the price difference can still run into the hundreds.

While they’re heavier to carry than carbon fibre and not quite as strong when it comes to carrying kit, aluminium tripods have plenty going for them. A good aluminium tripod (all right, they’re technically constructed from an aluminium alloy) will still deliver an impressive strength-to-weight ratio, and what’s more, the material can take a knock, and is much less likely that carbon fibre to crack or shatter if it suffers an impact. This doesn’t go all aluminium’s way though, as the material is liable to bend if placed under too much stress.

The vibration absorption on aluminium tripods tends not to be as good, so you may notice more microscopic camera movements, especially in cheaper models. Therefore, for this section we’ve picked what we reckon are top-tier aluminium tripods.

Pros:

• 10kg load capacity
• Converts to monopod
• Central column allows for ground-level shots

Cons:

• Ball head not included
  
  

Benro’s GoPlus Travel FGP18A ticks a lot of the boxes that any good aluminium travel tripod should. It packs down nicely to 46cm in length, but can be extended to a maximum working height of 153cm. It can carry a weighty maximum load of 10kg – realistically much more than you’re ever going to need – and the fully adjustable central column means you can also get down to the ground for low-angle nature shots.

That same central column can also be removed completely to convert the Benro GoPlus Travel FGP18A into a monopod, without the need for any tools as is sometimes the case when a tripod advertises this kind of conversion. This makes it a great choice to take on long hikes, or to use in busy places where a tripod wouldn’t be practical, expanding the versatility of this excellent travel tripod. The legs are governed by easy-to-use twist locks, and there’s a removable weight hook in case you need to add a little more ballast for stability.

Best Travel Tripod for Smartphones

Some of the most exciting travel-based photo and video content is being made on smartphones right now, and a good travel tripod can provide just the same advantages to a smartphone user as it can to someone rocking a mirrorless camera or a DSLR. A good tripod gives you a steady, locked-off shot – great for pieces to camera if you’re shooting video, or longer exposures if you’re taking photographs (and many modern smartphones, especially Androids, allow you to extend your shutter speeds to long-exposure territory). 

As smartphones are much lighter than cameras and lenses, you can afford to think smaller with your tripod – and a whole ecosystem of tabletop tripods for phone users has sprung up accordingly. However, you may want the stability and versatility of a full-size tripod, so we’ve included both options in this section of the guide. One thing you need to make sure you get hold of is a smartphone holder or clamp instead of a standard head – both tripods on our list come with one bundled in.

Pros:

• Comes with smartphone adapter
• Central leg doubles as selfie/vlogging stick
• Comprehensive feature-set 

Cons:

• Costs more than smaller smartphone tripods
  
  

While mobile users tend to get recommended tabletop tripods and similar devices, given that smartphones are used for professional content creation nowadays, there’s no reason a phone shooter shouldn’t have the option of a proper camera support. Enter the Vanguard VEO 3GO 265HCB Carbon Fibre Travel Tripod, which as you may have noticed, looks pretty much like any other photographer’s tripod on this list – only it also comes packaged with a dedicated smartphone adapter for mounting a phone if so desired. The connector will work with any smartphone up to 87mm in width – that’ll be fine for an iPhone 14 or Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

A number of other sensible extras have been included, such as a Bluetooth-powered remote shutter trigger, and the option to remove the central column and convert it into a selfie stick or vlogging handle. Quick to set up and lightweight to carry, the Vanguard VEO 3GO 265HCB Carbon Fibre Travel Tripod gives travelling smartphone shooters the kind of support they need.

Best Travel Tripod for Mirrorless

Mirrorless kit is a pretty broad category these days, encompassing ultra-lightweight cameras and pancake lenses, as well as top-flight professional cameras comparable in weight to pro DSLRs, and hefty lenses to match. As such, we’ve included a couple of varied options in this section, with a lighter tripod more suited to the beginner or intermediate tripod, as well as a beefier choice for those who are toting more sophisticated cameras and lenses.

Most contemporary mirrorless cameras tend to do a bit of everything, with video capabilities as advanced as their stills-shooting. As such, the tripods we’ve chosen are fairly general all-rounders, designed for those who might find themselves in all sorts of different situations on their travel shoots. Despite this, they pack down well, and either should be fine to fit in carry-on luggage or hang on the exterior of a camera backpack.

Pros:

• Very good price for carbon fibre
• Exceptionally light at just 1.1kg
• Three easy-set leg angles 

Cons:

• 4.5kg max capacity
• Ball head lacks tilt/drag locks
  
  

Quick to deploy, the Vanguard VESTA TB 235CB Travel Tripod is all about making it easy for you to get into the action with little notice. The rubber in the twist leg locks is made with grippy grooves that make them fast to tighten, and there are also three pre-set leg angles (21°, 50° and 80°) that mean you can get the tripod into an even shooting position quickly and efficiently. 

With a maximum payload of 4.5kg, this tripod is best suited towards mirrorless setups. The good news is that it’s incredibly portable – weighing just 1.1kg and measuring 37.5cm when folded down – so you can easily take it on your travels along with your lightweight camera kit. The tripod comes with an Arca Swiss compatible ball head, and its twist leg locks can be fully dismantled for thorough cleaning, extending the operating life of the tripod.

Best Travel Tripod for DSLRs

DSLRs are heavier than mirrorless cameras, so goes the conventional wisdom. In practice, the difference isn’t all that clear cut – there are plenty of tiny DSLRs, and no shortage of enormous mirrorless cameras. Still, in the aggregate it holds broadly true, and as such we’ve made sure the travel tripods in this section can hold a generous payload of kit.

We’ve also made sure these are great tripods for photographers – while of course contemporary DSLRs do shoot video, and do it well, we’re betting that most modern travel video shooters on interchangeable-lens cameras are largely using mirrorless. We’ve also been sure to include tripods that extend to a decent height, allowing the majority of users to make the most of their DSLR’s lovely optical viewfinder. For more similar options, you may want to take a look at the tripods we’ve picked for our ‘best for photography’ section, further up the page.

Pros:

• Rigid, carbon-fibre construction
• High-quality ball head
• Nice and light 

Cons:

• More than half a metre long when closed
• Other options extend higher
  
  

According to Benro, the construction process that goes into making the Travel Angel tripods involves nine layers of carbon fibre, maximising the strength-to-weight ratio for an ultra-light tripod that still delivers the kind of support that DSLR photographers need. We can’t argue with that – the Benro Travel Angel FTA19CV0 can support a healthy 8kg of kit, and it weighs a slender 1.45kg, making it easy to carry with you on long trips. Some might wish it folded down a little smaller, as when the legs are closed it still pushes half a metre in length. It’s also not the highest extender, as plenty of tripods on our list exceed its maximum height of 149.5cm with column extended.

Still, the Benro Travel Angel FTA19CV0 Carbon Fibre Tripod Kit boasts a lot of features that DSLR users will appreciate. Its triple-action ball head is excellent, with separate controls for pan lock, drag and ball lock.

FAQs

What is a travel tripod?

A travel tripod is a compact and lightweight version of a traditional tripod designed specifically for travellers and creatives on the go. It is portable, easy to carry and often comes with features that make it convenient for outdoor or travel photography.

Why should I consider buying a travel tripod?

Travel tripods are ideal for photographers who frequently travel or shoot in outdoor environments. They are lightweight and compact, making them easy to transport. Using a tripod can improve the stability of your camera, reduce camera shake and allow for longer exposure times, resulting in sharper and better-quality photos.

What factors should I consider when buying a travel tripod?

When purchasing a travel tripod, consider the weight and portability, load capacity, stability, maximum height, adjustability and compatibility. 

Can a travel tripod support heavy cameras and lenses?

Yes, travel tripods come in a variety of load capacities. While they may not support extremely heavy professional setups, many travel tripods are designed to handle mirrorless cameras, DSLRs, and lenses of various sizes. Make sure to check the maximum load capacity of the tripod before purchasing.

Are travel tripods adjustable for different shooting angles?

Yes, most travel tripods offer adjustable legs that allow you to set up your camera at different heights and shooting angles. Some tripods also come with a centre column that can be tilted or rotated for added flexibility. 

Are travel tripods compatible with all camera models?

Travel tripods typically come with a standard 1/4"-20 mounting screw, which is compatible with the vast majority of cameras. However, it's always a good idea to check the compatibility of the tripod with your specific camera model first.