Giottos MTL 8351B

The Giottos MTL8351B scooped the Digital Photo Silver Award with its handy spirit level, tight locking flip locks and horizontal centre column arrangement.

The Giottos MTL 8351B features flip style leg locks and three leg protectors on the exterior. Its 1.5kg weight feels reasonably light in the hand. The maximum working height reaches 160cm with the centre column fully extended, and in the minimum height stakes it can be lowered to 26cm. At the top there’s a handy spirit level and above this you’ll find a locking control to lock the short column extension in place. Swapping over the main column for the short one involves taking out a grub screw and switching the head platform over – not the fastest way of getting a tripod to its lowest height and not easy if you’ve got gloves on. This head platform can be reversed by 180 degrees, too, if you need to attach the camera directly to the tripod on a 3/8in thread. On location, all leg locks performed well withstanding heavy pressure, and assembling the tripod from its closed folded height of 63cm to its maximum 160cm height took 20 seconds. Speedy! 
The Giottos MTL8351B scooped the Digital Photo Silver Award with its handy spirit level, tight locking flip locks and horizontal centre column arrangement. The carbon fibre legs are smooth to pull out and tuck away again, and the central column can be swapped for a short stubby one for low angled work. In the field it put in a superb 5-star performance, proving it was a solid and stable base for our test camera and lenses.

Specifications
Street Price: £184
Weight: 1.50kg
Max Height: 160cm
Min Height : 26cm
Folded Height: 63cm
Maximum Load: 5kg
No of leg sections: 3
Short Centre Column: Yes
Reversible Centre Column: Yes
Horizontal Centre Column: Yes
Construction Material: Carbon fibre
Head Attachment: 1/4in
Leg Locks: Flip-lock
Spirit Level: Yes

Digital Photo Silver Award

www.giottos.com