Product review by Spencer VanDerStarren
In a world saturated with increasingly complex camera gear and accessories, there’s one unsung hero that too often gets overlooked: the humble tripod. When designed and built right, a tripod won’t be noticeable in your workflow. But sometimes it’s what we think about least which deserves our utmost appreciation. Vanguard’s VEO 3T+ has certainly earned mine.
So here’s what I like most: it’s quick to deploy, it’s compact, and it’s rock steady. For these reasons, I’ve come to rely on it during every photo expedition with Take Your Seat. Our VEO 3T+ tripods have so far served us perfectly while on assignments in ten countries, and counting! We’ve used it – and, sometimes, abused it – while taking photographs in the dunes of the Sahara Desert, at centre court with The Lakers, in Thailand’s most sacred temples, and many more incredible photoshoots around the globe.
Our VEO 3T+ tripod captures sunrise over our director’s chair on the Bosporus Strait, the border between Europe and Asia.
Having access to a reliable tripod like this has played a crucial role in my ongoing pursuit of the perfect shot, opening up a world of creative possibilities. Despite being a relatively simple piece of kit, it enables me to take better photos far more often than any of the latest gadgets. If you see me with my camera and our signature director’s chair setting up a shot, you’ll spot the VEO 3T+ at my side. Let’s take a closer look at some of my favourite aspects of my favourite tripod…
Quick to Deploy: The tripod is fast and easy to set up, allowing us to spend less time fiddling with our gear and more time thinking about the composition in front of us. The hinges at the top offer three easy-set leg angles, and the twisting leg locks became second nature right away. We use the multi-angle central column in its horizontal orientation all the time, especially when shooting low to the ground or capturing B-Roll on a phone or secondary camera body.
Fully extended in Singapore, and near ground-level at the 50-yard line of SoFi Stadium.
During a photoshoot with LA Tourism, in which we were granted a miraculous 15 minutes behind The Hollywood Sign, I didn’t waste a single moment setting up the tripod. I got it up and running on the steep slope, positioned exactly where I needed it, in under thirty seconds.
Set up and ready to go in moments, during a time crunch behind The Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles, USA.
While I may have been fighting to keep my footing on the unforgiving slope behind the Hollywood Sign, the tripod was rock solid. Having confidence in the VEO 3T+ enabled me to push my own abilities. I fired off a six-image panorama to capture the full width of the massive sign and surrounding landscape. To date, it’s probably the most technically challenging shot I’ve ever pulled off, and a crowd favourite in our Take Your Seat book.
An all-time favourite shot, a six-image panorama taken with the VEO 3T+ and the confidence it provides.
Compact: Most days, I opt to keep my VEO 3T+ in my hand as I walk around, ready for quick placement. On hikes, or when I need both hands free, the tripod folds up small enough to strap to the side of my camera backpack. I keep it like this if I’m trying to be more covert, too. In Taiwan and Singapore, where we were advised to keep our kit minimal to avoid raising too many eyebrows, our tripod stayed folded up on the side of our camera backpack. In this more streamlined form, you – and all those security guards – would never expect it to extend to a full-size professional tripod. I place it in the water bottle holder of my camera backpack, strap it in, and practically forget about it.
Stable: During a photoshoot in the garage of one of the USA’s largest luxury car collections, our set up caught the attention of the mechanics. I didn’t expect these guys, having spent their lives working on some of the world’s most beautiful machines, to notice our kit. Yet, there we were, surrounded by Rolls Royces, Ferraris, and other supercars, breaking the ice by talking about our camera gear! But the VEO 3T+ performs even better than it looks. It is among our most trustworthy pieces of kit, consistently performing exactly as we need it to.
As palm trees dance, our tripod stands steady in the gale-force winds of The Florida Keys, USA.
We’ve had the chance to test this tripod in all kinds of weather and terrain. Whether on sand, ice, or mud, it always stays put. When the weather turns, and the wind starts to howl, it remains unphased. I wish I could say the same about myself!
In shallow water, on marble floors, and in the dunes of the Sahara Desert: the VEO 3T+ performs no matter the terrain.
As much as I love it, I don’t think about this tripod much. I don’t have to. I know it’s there, always ready to tackle the task at hand. This is perhaps the biggest reason why we use the VEO 3T+ on all our shoots: it lets us focus on taking great pictures.
So, can your tripod make a noticeable difference? In my work with Take Your Seat, in ten countries so far, it’s been a very simple answer; our Vanguard VEO 3T+ makes all the difference in the world.
