Staked out trekking pole “tripod”

[Josiah]

I have been trying to think of a lightweight tripod solution for landscape astrophotography with my NEX-6 on the trail. I have a pair of Leki Poles with the photo adapter and thought about just staking out guylines to add stability.

I figured that I'd add line tensioners to simplify setup as much as possible. I also ordered a 3oz $7 ballhead from China via Amazon to allow for maximum adjustability post setup.

I got bored and made a quick mock up via CAD. I'm planning on making the lineloc connector piece from a milk jug with the tabs passed through the linelocs, folded over, and glued to the underside.

It's going to take a quick minute to set up and will be limited to "stakeable" ground, but I think it could work. I'll post pictures once I get it together (it may be a while before I get the ballhead from China).

What do you think?

[Franco Darioli]

It has been suggested and done before.
See for example :
http://www.suluk46.com/products%20%20-%20P16%20A%20Pod.html
Still I think that most of the time ,backpacking, just lashing the "monopod" to a pack will be faster and easier to do.
The tricky part with the 3 string concept is to set it up by yourself.
BTW, I supposed it is just a simplified drawing, but those stakes should go in at an angle not straight down.

[Greg Mihalik]

^^^^

Suluk46 A-Pod

6 grams

Cords and stakes not included.

[Josiah]

very cool! Lighter than what I was looking at doing, and a bit more versatile.

The positive with what I am working on is you can hopefully get some initial purchase with the tip of the trekking pole to make setup much easier.

Yeah, good point about the stakes, but my bordem only takes me so far ;)

[Franco Darioli]

Any computer drawing is better than what I can do , I only mentioned the stake thing because I do see folk pushing in stakes like that and then sometime complain that they pop out !! (stoopid tents)

[Gregory Stein]

Hi,

Yes this is nice UL tripod, but … Would you stop, stake 4 nails, setup the whole thing to make some landscape shots? Too much time. IMHO

I myself is photo geek. I was taking my Nikon D80 + 3 lenses (above 6 lbs) to hiking trips. Now (a year ago) I switched to Nex 6 too.

I thought of device made by stickpic (http://www.thestickpic.com/2%20StickPic%20ALL%20ordering%20page.html), but with two holes for two hiking poles. This way you make not a tripod, but duopod.
Well, duopod has one degree of freedom. To deal with that you can use only 2 stakes and pair of guidelines or make an UL pole (not necessary full length, 1/2 length is enough for stability) to support this duopod.

Here is drawing I sketched in mspaint. Sorry for the simplicity, but I hope it makes sense.

[Gerald L]

The A-Pod is a nice simple design. What would make it better is the addition of a swiveling head which would be better suited for landscape astrophotography as mentioned in the OP.

[Franco Darioli]

Take a look at the TrailPix
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1312251870/trailpix-ultralight-tripod
discussed here in the photo section some time ago.

Sorry , I posted the wrong link, I had both pages open…

[Diane Pinkers]

Now at http://www.trail-pix.com. I have one and it works very well.

[Richard Hogben]

I like the TrailPix with the NEX.

[Will Webster]

What I do is lash 3 trekking poles ( the 2 I carry plus the one with tripod screw my wife uses) together at the handles with an Ace bandage. This has enough give in it to hold well when spread, and it works on any surface – even slickrock. I put a small ball head (Giottos MH1104, 3.6 oz including quick release) on the top. It's not adequate for a DSLR, but works fine with m43.

[Greg Mihalik]

This Thread goes back in time to a variety of MYOG tripods.

[Delmar O’Donnell]

Josiah, I like your idea. If you have the time to set it up, I'm not sure any of the suggestions in this thread are improvements, weight wise. Seems yours would be very light.

Setup should not be so difficult. Stakes first, then lines on stakes, gather ends of lines in hand, clip to hiking pole, then tighten linelocks. Maybe 10 minutes max? Maybe 2 oz, not counting the ball tripod head?

What would make it better is the addition of a swiveling head

This is how I handle that:

Suluk46 A-Pod + Giottos Mini-ball Head + Gliff (iphone)

In designing this product I did not want to reinvent something that others already have and instead stay 100% focus on building the absolute lightest weight camera pod that I could.

very cool! Lighter than what I was looking at doing, and a bit more versatile.

Awesome to hear! My goal has been accomplished!!

Greg: Yes this is nice UL tripod, but … Would you stop, stake 4 nails, setup the whole thing to make some landscape shots? Too much time. IMHO

99% of the time I use it as just a means to do a hand-held monopod for increased stability, without ever staking it out. The other 1% of the time is when I want to do a selfie in some really cool location and I am solo hiking.

[Fred eric]

in the quest too for a light tripod i have been using a pedco + my hiking poles + 3 dyneema cords with mini linelocs

i only brought it when solo hiking, because my wife isnt patient at all :p

[Josiah]

Got the ballhead and a quick release plate in the other day. I also ordered the trailpix after some internal debate.

Overall the trailpix is a simpler more elegant option, assuming that I have access to 2-3 trekking poles. The guyline option holds the pole rock solid, but the connection to the trekking pole (leki photo adapter) is slightly wobbly after adding the tower of the ballhead and quick release.

With the quick release, the trailpix is faster to set up, but the guyline option is pretty quick too (at least on soft grass).

I think that for trips where I will have access to 2+ trekking poles day and night I'll take the trailpix along. If my shelter uses the poles then I'll probably bring my gorillapod hybrid. If for some reason I have only one pole available (pyramid shelter etc.) then the guyline option may be my choice.

[Benjamin Evison]

I do like this solution as I have one of these too…
Have you tried tying the guy-lines directly to the pedco?
You could then leave them permanently attached and wind them around it for storage.
Perhaps you might then need an extra velcro strap to achieve a solid attachment to the pole handle.

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