Sirui T-025x Travel Tripod Review
Overall Tripod Stability
As we mentioned several times before, we felt that the Sirui T-025x Carbon Fiber Tripod was very stable and capable of meeting our needs for an always-with-us tripod. But we weren't satisfied with the accuracy in which we determined that, and we knew you wouldn't be either. So to remedy that, we felt a stability stress test was in order to further examine just how well the tripod holds up to vibrations. Because at the end of the day, why else would we consider separating from our hard earned in the first place?
The stress test involved a laser pointer taped onto the top of the camera because nothing shows even the subtlest amount of movement like a laser pointer. For those whom haven't played with one (keep it away from eyes!), try with all your might to keep it steady.
We decided to use near life-size macro magnifications (1/3.5x reproduction ratio) and pointed the laser pointer on the front cover of the German telephone book we had lying around. We found the laser to be too dominant at such magnification and close range, so we covered it up with a piece of tape and then poked a very tiny hole with the tip of a sewing needle. The hole is less than 1 mm in diameter!
Not the sexiest setup, however it got the job done. For those curious, the middle piece of tape is tightly wrapped around the body. Because the tape alone was unable to press the button, a coin was added to it so that once it was wrapped tightly, the coined exerted enough pressure to press and hold the laser's button to emit a constant beam.
Below is a series of four nearly identical shots (approximately 25% crops) taken with the Sirui T-025x at fully extended legs at their narrowest (tallest) positions and the center column attached (the column was not extended) using the included mini Arca-Swiss quick-release plate. The following camera/lens settings were used: Pentax K-5 IIs, DFA 100mm F2.8 WR Macro, 8 secs, F10, ISO 80. All were shot using a remote shutter release.
There was also the following set of shooting conditions:
- Mirror Lock-Up + Weighted Bag attached
- Mirror Lock-Up - Weighted Bag
- Single Shot (No Timer/Delay) + Weighted Bag attached
- Single Shot (No Timer/Delay) - Weighted Bag
To make things interesting, we'll let you try to figure out which ones were which before we give away the answers (located at the very bottom of this page).
Clicking on any picture will enlarge it.
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
Image 1 @ 100%
Image 2 @ 100%
Image 3 @ 100%
Image 4 @ 100%
Image 5: Just for reference, the same camera position and tripod settings were used for this shot, however it was a 1/100s, F10, ISO 32,000
Image 5 @ 100%: As you can see, even despite the noise, moire is clearly visible at this magnification.
While Image 1-4 don't exhibit moire to the extent Image 5 does, they surprisingly still do if you look for it. What this means is, that for different iterations of 8 second exposures, they are incredibly sharp and all clearly exhibit a pinpoint laser beam (Image 1 to the least extent in this regard). This test confirms what we initially thought - the T-025x does an outstanding job stabilizing despite how thin and unstable it may appear at first glance.
Also, it's important to realize that for the majority of shots using this tripod, landscape lenses predominantly use wide-angle lenses and thus are even less susceptible to vibration by very the nature of how those lenses project images onto your sensor. We won't delve into the physics behind it here, but suffice it to say you've surely encountered this phenomenon: it's exactly why these lenses allow for slower shutter speeds as compared to your longer lenses while shooting handheld before requiring your image stabilization to be turned on, or better still a tripod.
For those curious to the answers from above, they are:
- Single Shot (No Timer/Delay) + Weighted Bag attached
- Mirror Lock-Up + Weighted Bag attached
- Single Shot (No Timer/Delay)
- Mirror Lock-Up
