Red Snapper Tripod/Monopod

famas

famas

famas

Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2004
Posts
3,284
Location
the south
Hello all.

I was after a new tripod as i was starting to exceed the limits of my manfrotto MODO.

I heard of redsnapper through the forums and cheeked them out. i was impressed with what i saw so ordered the TRI-283 Tripod and RS-528 3-way panning head, which was on offer at £64

i was also after a decent monopod so i bit the bullet and ordered the RSM-284 Monopod and RSH Mini Ball Head, again on offer for about £30

I placed the order sunday night, then waited. i recieved an e-mail on monday saying that the mono pod was out of stock, but would hopefully be coming in that day and as soon as it was the order would be sent. Both items came on wednesday. Excellent service i thought.


onto the tripod
sorry about the rubbish pics, i took them quickly when i got home from work.

the first thing that grabbed my attention was how big it was, its double the size of my MODO, it has a nice medium heavey chuncky feel to it. nice and reassuring.

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the legs are a little stiff to pull out, but lock into place nicely. the twist locking mechanism works extreamly well and secures the legs in place with no movment. they hold just as well as the standard lever mechanism found on most other tripods.

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The 3 way head is of good quality. with adjustments in all dircetions. the locking levers feel Comfortable and only need nipping up to lock the head securely in position. there is a neat little level gauge on the neck of the tripod head.
The head feels nice and secure when tilting over to 90 degrees and can be locked at any stage.
the quick release plate is a little large, but locks into place nicely on a little catch underneath the plate, you then have to twist a little grub screw to lock the plate securely into place.

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The tripod comes with its own carry case which is of good quality and will comfortably fit the tripod, its a bit of a tight squeeze with the 3 way head, but with a bit of a wiggle it will all fit.

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the head had no trouble holding my D90 with battery grip sb-600 flash and sigma 70-300. it locked off in position tightly and didnt budge a bit. The 70-300 is the biggest lens i have, im pretty sure it will securely hold bigger lens.

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Im very impressed with the tripod and head. for the money its excellent.
The quality of all parts is good. the legs lock off tightly and and twist locking mechanism works really well and is quick. the head is also good quality with good strong levers that lock it into postion very well.
 
The Monopod

The monopod is basically one leg from the tripod. it has the same twist locking mechanism. it has 4 sections that extend to just over my eye level, im 6 foot.
it is very sturdy at all levels. at the bottom there is a rubber foot that can be screwed up to reveal a metal spike. this is the same as on the tripod.

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The monopod came with a ball head that red snapper decribe as their small ball head.
I wasn't expecting much from the ball head but i was nicely surprised when i took it out of the wrapping.
It was larger than i had thought and it looked excellent quality.

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the quick release plate is of good quality and snaps onto the head with a loud satisfying click!
there is a small brass coloured security level that twists round into place when the quick release plate is attached to the head, this is to stop the main lever being accidently knocked open risking the chance of the camera falling off. its a qood feature and works well.

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The ball head locks into any position extreamly tightly, i was very impressed at how well it locks off. it locks as securely as the 3 way head if not better!

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even when tilting the head over to 90 degrees it feels nice and secure.

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Both tripod and monopod have the same size thread so changing from the 3 way head to the ball head is a peice of cake, just unscrew.

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The monopod is great, the quality is excellent and the ball head was a nice surprise, its so easy to use and locks off very well. The quick release plate is excellent as well.
the ball head doesnt have a pan function which is a shame as if it did i would have it as my main head.

to conclude, im very happy with both of them. there are some minor issues that i can excuss at this price, but nothing major. more little pickings by me, for instance the 3 way head does'nt stop dead a 0 degrees it travles past it and i have to level it off by eye, but this could coem in handy in some situations im sure.
any thing is the ball head is a little stiff when rotating, how ever i think this woud easy with regular use, id raver have it stiff than loose.
the twist locking mechanism on both the tripod and mono pod is a little stiff, but again with regular use it will easy. looking inside it apears to be made of metal so should last.
the quick release plate for the 3 way head is a bit large and gets in the way of my battery grip and makes it unconfortable, however its easy enought to remove.

as i say little things that im more than happy with to live with for the price i payed.


just a note, im no tripod expert and can only comment on what i feel, all of the above is my opinion and not fact.
 
A good review :). I've been going to do one for ages now and never got around to doing it.

I've got the larger ball head on mine and it's excellent. As you say, they're very sturdy - there isn't an inch of budge hanging my 70-200 2.8 IS, camera and battery grip off it in portrait or landscape.
 
I got one of these a few weeks back after seeing them recommended on here and its a nice bit of kit. Didn't seem as good quality in the finish as my dads comparably priced SLIK tripod but it works fine.
 
That's a big bump. Ironic since I was about to make a review on this tripod but hadn't got round to it.

Instead I'll add a small bit of information on the ball head tommorow. However Ive had it just over a week and so far I rate it very highly. Infact despite costing half as much as the 055, it actually feels better than the manfrotto.

Like I say, I will post more tommorow when I'm not falling asleep infront of the news!!
 
Really informative review, thanks famas. Good timing for me as well, as I've had my eye on this for quite a few months but haven't been able to justify buying in my own mind.

Another things which prevents me from buying is that I don't know which head will be best for me. Hopefully you guys with some experience of these products will be able to guide me ;)

Which head do you guys have? What type of photography do you mostly use it for? And why do you think the head suits (or doesn't suit) your requirements?

All comments welcomed :D
 
1 year on and mine is still performing great. The paint used on the head is not very durable though and mine has lots of chips from light usage. But its not really a problem.
 
I got the 3 leg errrr legs and the pan head and i like it, certainly agree with the review.

Only thing I found is that the paint strips off on the handles and i usually take one off to fit into the bag (put into the bubble wrap bag for it) as the pain seems kind of wet aftger use and leaves marks!? Bit random maybe :p
 
Got one here too!

Smashing piece of kit!

I think I paid closer to £100 for mine but even then its fantastic purchase :)

Takes my 17-55, 40D+grip + 430EX perfectly :D
 
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