VANGUARD Alta Pro Multi-Angle Tripod 254CB 50

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Price: $259.99    

Product Feature

• Multi-Angle Center Column can be adjusted from zero to 130 Degree
• Advanced camera vibration control
• Lightweight carbon fiber: Weighs only 3.66 lbs.
• Quarter-Twist legs
• Legs adjust to 25, 50 and 80 Degree angle

Product Description

Meet the tripod that can take your photography to a whole new level. Alta Pro is a bestselling and award-winning tripod unmatched flexibility and stability that enables more angle possibilities than ever before. With lightweight carbon fiber legs, Alta Pro 254CT is popular for those who need extreme flexibility minus a heavy weight. Its Instant Swivel Stop-n-lock (ISSL) system securely repositions the central column in one simple movement, in just a few seconds, while maintaining the tripod's balance and stability. Its innovative Multi-Angle Center Column allows users to move the central column from zero to 130 Degree angle in variable vertical and horizontal positions. This tripod includes the popular SBH-50 ball head.

VANGUARD Alta Pro Multi-Angle Tripod 254CB 50 Review

The VANGUARD ALTA PRO MULTI-ANGLE TRIPOD extends up to 5 feet and two inches, with extension of the legs only, and an additional six inches with the center post extended. The tripod is especially distinguished by the following features: (1) Carbon fiber legs; (2) Universal ball mount; and (3) Center post that, when fully extended, can tilt sideways thus enabling stable holding of the camera at ground level or near ground level. Other features include soft rubber handgrips residing on the proximal segment of each leg for ease in carrying; two carpenter's levels with a bubble inside; a latch that can secure each leg in one of three different extensions These three leg extensions are: slight angle, greater angle, and angle that is perpendicular to the center post.

DOWNGRADED FROM FIVE STARS TO ONE STAR. After using this tripod for only SEVEN MONTHS, one of the legs fell off. The carbon fiber snapped at the position where the leg inserts into one of the rotating collars that are used for tightening the position. This event happened after only after seven months of use, that is, after I had taken about 1,000 photographs (30 rolls of film), and had set up the tripod a corresponding 1,000 times. All of my photographs were taken at deserts in southern California, and so moisture had nothing to do with the breakage of this project (because deserts don't have much moisture). Also, because deserts do not have thick bushes or thick grasses or trees, it was NOT the case that the tripod had been brushed against any trees, thick bushes, or thick grasses. I used epoxy glue to repair the tripod. The result is that one of the legs is permanently in the extended position. For this leg, two of the segments of the leg can be reversibly extended, but the third segment is permanently extended. This will not have any negative impact on my future photography, and so, I will continue to use the tripod. The company should re-engineer the tripod so that the carbon fiber is twice as thick, or so that the joints are reinforced so that the joints do not snap off. At this point, I feel that an aluminum tripod is best. Carbon fiber is almost as flimsy as plastic. The rest of my review (see below) is unchanged from my original posting.

OVERALL LOOK AND FEEL. The VANGUARD ALTA PRO is a beautiful device. The surface of the carbon fiber has a beautiful pattern of embossed diamonds. The knobs that reside at each of the three "knees" for each of the legs has a grooved rubber cover for use as a finger grip. Thus, in all, there are nine grooved rubber covers. Three of the knobs on the mounting head are also covered with rubber.

COLORS. The tripod is flat black in color, with three small components that are bright orange. One of these is a button which must be pushed when mounting the camera, the second is a soft rubber washer, and the third is a sliding clip which must be pushed before the central stalk is flopped down. The central stalk can only be flopped down after the central stalk is fully extended. The central stalk cannot be pulled all the way off of the tripod and separated from the tripod (thus, photographers do not have to worry about losing the central stalk). The two carpenter's levels are filled with a yellow fluid.

BALL JOINT. The universal ball joint is very easy to use, and it provides a secure and stable setting. It was easy for me to compose the scene with the camera in the horizontal position, then flop the camera to the vertical position to see if the composition was any better, and then flop it back to the horizontal position. Once the ball joint is tightened by a slight turn of a large knob, the mount is sturdily in position. The knob is one and one quarter inches in diameter. You can't miss it!

THE SWINGING CENTRAL POST. The VANGUARD ALTA PRO has a central post or stalk that can be pulled up, in the manner with most or all other tripods. However, the stalk of the VANGUARD device is different. Once pulled all the way up, you can push a button, which enables the stalk to be flopped over at an angle. This adds extra versatilty for positioning your camera. For my own use, I deterimined that this feature can be used to position the camera very close to the ground, or actually touching the ground. This is amazing, since a "conventional" tripod cannot be used to position the camera at ground level, or at a level close to the ground. Thus, photographers who have toted along cloth bags filled with dried beans, for use in mounting camera close to ground level, can use the VANGUARD ALTA PRO for the same purpose.

Okay, I finally had a chance to try out this feature (November 2012). I used the swinging central post for some "tabletop" photography. I used the tripod to hold my camera at a distance of about one inch from the floor, where I used the camera to take pictures of layout of THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE tracks, bridges, and three different locomotives that were pulling passenger cars, a large coal car (HECTOR), and flatbed cars. My images also included a row of tiny tugboats from the THEODORE THE TUGBOAT show, and these were "floating" on my carpet, and were passing two lighthouse models, one lighthouse was CABRILLO LIGHTHOUSE, and the other was POINT REYES LIGHTHOUSE. At any rate, the VANGUARD swinging central post worked just fine for my tabletop photos!

LIGHT IN WEIGHT. The VANGUARD ALTA PRO is easy to carry in your hand during moderate treks through the wilderness. Today, during my first day with the VANGUARD ALTA PRO, I walked about five miles through Valdez Rocks County Park (near Los Angeles), a park containing hills, canyons, and opportunities for scampering up and down boulders. I was able to do this easily, even though I am of only modest built (140 pounds). In contrast, when I tote my Bogen tripod (I'll post the model # when I get it), which is heavier, and almost resembles a piece of industrial machinery, I was not able to walk more than a mile through an uphill section of the park, as determined at Point Reyes near San Francisco.

STABILITY. With my older tripod, a relatively flimsy Sunpak model (I didn't buy it, it was given to me), I developed the habit of slinging my camera bag over the camera mount, and placing a 5 pound stone on the camera bag to lend stability. But during today's photo shoot at Vasquez Rocks County Park, the VANGUARD ALTO PRO seemed to provide a rock-steady positioning of the camera, and I had no thought of putting a stone on the camera bag.

REGARDING "CONVENTIONAL" MOUNT WITH HANDLE GRIP. For the past 30 years, I have only used tripods with an extending handle grip, where the handle grip is held by the user and can be used to tilt the camera either front-to-back, or side-to-side, and to swivel the camera mount and camera. With this type of tripod, the camera can be focused with the camera in a horizontal position, and then by way of the tilt handle, quickly shifted to a vertical position, and then shifted back to the horizontal position. For some reason, I thought that the "conventional" handle grip would be almost indispensible. However, I now know that the universal ball mount of the VANGUARD ALTA PRO is just as easy to use, and that it might even be easier to use than the "conventional" handle grip.

COMMENTS. When the camera is mounted, the photographer is required to push the orange button, and is also required to tighten a small knob. The small knob is 0.8 inches in diameter. Thus, two different controls need to be adjusted. With my other tripods -- Slik tripods, Bogen tripod, and Sunpak tripod -- the user intending to mount the camera needs only to manipulate one control. Obviously, the engineers at the VANGUARD company scrutinized this feature of the tripod from every angle, and decided that the use of two controls (button and small knob) was the best way to go. Therefore, my comment should be taken as an observation, not a complaint. Most of my photography has been in areas having a salty aerosol, that is, the barrier islands of South Carolina, the California coastline, and the coastline of Oahu, the Big Island, and Kauai. Thus, it was the case that over the course of ten years, three of my tripods deteriorated, perhaps due to corrosion, resulting in one or more of the legs becaming inoperative or falling off. Since I do not want to wait several years before posting this review of the VANGUARD ALTA PRO device, I cannot comment on its long-term durability.

EPILOGUE. I recently took the VANGUARD ALTO PRO tripod on a 2-week photography trip to Crater Lake National Park, Glacier National Park, and Yellowstone National Park. The tripod has proved to be cooperative when I need to set up very quickly, as demonstrated by the fact that I was able to set up the tripod and adjust the tripod very quickly when I needed to take pictures of some mountain goats near HIDDEN LAKE in LOGAN PASS. The goats were only three paces away from me. I got one of the best landscape photos of my life. Also, at Crater Lake, the tripod proved to be cooperative, when I needed to set it up on uneven and lumpy circumstances, that is, when setting it up on a steep slope that was punctuated with many exposed roots from trees hanging on to the slope. This was at the lookout over PHANTOM ISLAND.

MORE MISFORTUNE. On October 12, 2013, while touring Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley National Park, another leg fell off of the tripod. Fortunately, I was wearing a T-shirt, and I was able to take off mhy T-shirt and to tie it around the leg in order to fasten the leg back to the tripod for continuing with the day's photography. Also fortunately, I had a roll of 2-inch wide tape in my automobile, and when I finished my morning's photography, I applied a better "fix-it" by way of the tape. Also, I noticed another problem with this tripod. One of the clips that prevents the entire leg from swinging outwards was broken. The result is that, when setting up the tripod for each shot, I needed to make certain that this one particular leg was not angled out too much. On the plus side, I love the universal head of this tripod, as it is very versatile and it always holds my camera steadily at the desired angle. On the other hand, my overall impression of this tripod is not a positive one. Please note one of the first words to enter the vocabulary of a toddler -- this particular word applies to the VANGUARD ALTA PRO MULTI-ANGLE TRIPOD. Hint: The word is NOT "mommy," the word is NOT "puppy," and the word is NOT "milk." Can you guess what word that is in the toddler's vocabulary applies to this tripod?

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