I’ve been using my Velbon carbon fibre tripod and Uniqball head for so many years I can’t even remember buying them. This combination has served me very well, including doing seriously heavy duty for the night photography in my Skye At Night book. It’s fairly lightweight and decently sturdy.

I’ve always put up with the fact that it isn’t tall enough, and I resigned myself to crouching down to look through the viewfinder. And the inevitable flex you often get with a ballhead, where it is difficult to easily carry out fine adjustments, especially one-handed. I’ve always coveted a “proper” tripod and head setup so I decided it was time to upgrade, especially as I am working on a long exposure series at the moment.

This review first covers the Kingjoy C86 tripod, and then the Leofoto G4 Pro head, and is wrapped up by my thoughts on using the combo.

The Tripod

After much playing about with this very nice gear, I settled on the Kingjoy C86. For some reason this model isn’t even on the UK Kingjoy website, but you can it on Marcus’s website and on the Kingjoy USA website. This is a 2.6kg carbon fibre tripod with an inbuilt levelling base and four-section legs. Happily it extends to 199cm to the top of the levelling base without a head (including 4cm for spiked feet).

But the leg length isn’t the right measurement. What we all need is the height when the legs are splayed at the normal angle. This is 182cm to the top of the levelling base. With the head on and the spikes installed, the camera mounting plate is 194cm off the ground. Compacted it is 79cm long with the head, 68cm without.

The carbon fibre tubes are beautifully woven, and are embedded into very attractive cut-out aluminium joints. It’s a bit like the latest top-of-the-line mountain bike frames which are made in a similar fashion. The leg joints are smooth and solid, with no side-to-side flex whatsoever.

I have used lever-style leg releases on my tripods for ages. My thinking has been that levers are easier to use with gloves on, and you can unlock and relock all the levers on one leg in a single movement. This was the first time I have had one with twist-lock legs. Having to twist every joint on every leg is a bit of a drag by comparison. However, when the twist-locks are as nice as these, it is a lot easier than I expected. They are smooth and refined, like the rest of the tripod. I can un-twist all three locks on one leg in one go, but usually I just need the lower two extended.

Being a tall tripod, the easiest approach is to release the lower leg sections first as, once the legs are out, it’s hard to reach the lower twist-locks. With a bit of forward planning, it’s fairly easy to unlock all the leg sections you need while the legs are still gathered together which is quicker than when the legs are spread out. The leg angle has three positions, allowing you to get a much more solid base for windy conditions which is very useful on Skye.

Handily, two of the legs have foam grips on them which is nice and secure, as well as warmer to hold in the winter.

This is my first time with a levelling base as well. The idea of a levelling base is that it lets you get the top of the tripod level without having to micro-adjust each of the legs. This is important when combined with a geared head like the Leofoto D40 as, once the base is level any further adjustments with the head will also be straight and level, and multi-shot panoramas will line up properly.

There are two circular spirit levels on top of the tripod. One on the levelling base itself, and one on the top of the legs. I’ve been getting things roughly level with the legs, and then doing the final adjustments with the levelling base.

To use the levelling base, there’s a column between the legs which you can pull down to extend, and then twist to release the tension and allow it to be moved. Then it’s easy to move around and use the spirit level to get it levelled off. It takes just a few seconds and is very simple and precise.

This column also has a robust hook on it to hang a camera bag to weigh the tripod down more. Included in the bag (tucked into a hidden inside pocket I’d never have found if Marcus hadn’t shown me) is a set of stainless steel spiked feet. I also bought some longer aluminium spikes as well.

The only thing I really have to complain about is that the levelling base tilting action can have quite a lot of stiction. It’s not as smooth as everything else on the tripod and is a bit jarring by comparison. I expected a much more fluid action.

Aside from that, all good so far. Lovely tripod, and so it should be for £549!

Now onto the Leofoto G4 Pro Head.

The Head

While ball heads are extremely convenient, I find it hard to make small and precise adjustments using them. And then there always seems to be a bit of flex or sag that sneaks in just when you think everything is set correctly, especially if using a heavy camera and lens setup. Generally you need to use two hands, one to support the camera and one to loosen/tighten the ball head.

One answer to this need for precision is a “geared head”. This is a head that has adjustment knobs controlling gears that allow you to make very fine adjustments to the camera’s orientation. The idea is that you get the camera in roughly the correct position and make the final adjustments with the knobs.

My research led me down various rabbit-holes, which culminated in a general opinion (nice review here) that the Arca Swiss D4 is the top of the tree. It has up/down (vertical) and left/right (horizontal) tilt controls, and two panning adjustments. It also has levers that allow you to “unlock” the gears to make fast adjustments to the camera’s position. You then “lock” them again, and use the gear knobs to refine the position.

But, it costs north of £1,200. Ouch.

And all for £434 from Amazon, about 1/3rd of the price of a “genuine” Arca Swiss model. The pictures and reviews looked very positive, so I put my money were my mouse-clicking finger was and ordered one.

What arrived a couple of days later exceeded my expectations. I thought it would be nice, but a little rough around the edges. But no, what I had in my hands was a beautifully made, solid and lovely thing. It really was the finished article. And to make things even better, the matt-grey anodising exactly matched the shade and colour of the aluminium on the Kingjoy tripod, making it all look like it was meant to be. It’s 13cm high, and adds 820g to the tripod’s weight.

The horizontal adjuster gives 50 degrees to the right and and about 115 degrees to the left (for portrait orientation). The tilt adjuster gives 22.5 degrees up and down, a total of 45. The geared panorama adjuster gives a full 360 degrees.

I quickly screwed it onto my new tripod, and checked that everything fitted OK, which it did. The head comes with a lovely camera mounting plate, but I already have an “Arca Swiss compatible” grip/plate on my Leica Q3 so I tested that fitted OK which it did.

A quick test of all the twiddly bits revealed a smoothness and fluidity that I hadn’t expected to be so good. Itching to get out and use it, I set off into the wilds of Skye.

In Use

Protection

Before I went out I got worried about how to protect this £1000 tripod+head investment. The head in particular is a thing of beauty with many sticky-out bits that can get bashed. I’m used to chucking my old tripod and ball head into the boot of the car and it has a few “signs of use”. But this kit is a different level.

I definitely need a protective “hat” for the Leofoto head. I ordered a padded lens pouch but unfortunately it wasn’t big enough. A thick sock might help. More to do on this.

For now I keep the tripod in the supplied Kingjoy bag which isn’t padded but is better than nothing. It’s also worth noting that the included spiked feet are extremely spiky. I don’t think the bottom of the tripod bag will last very long.

Weight and Handling

The whole setup is 3.4kg. Not bad, but definitely not lightweight. I have a Peak Designs carbon travel tripod for very lightweight stuff. It’s very innovative, compact and light at a mere 1.3kg, but not the world’s most robust thing for 10 minute exposures at night in strong winds.

Being fairly long at 79cm with the head on with the legs retracted, it’s also not the smallest item of gear. However it is easily carried in one hand. It would need a rather robust rucksack to hold it - it’ll overwhelm a day pack.

One thing missing is a strap attachment. I’d like to be able to put the tripod over my shoulder to keep my hands free when scrabbling about up mountains and along coastlines. There is a threaded hole in the base plate which could take a loop bolt for one end of a strap, but nowhere obvious to secure the other end down on the legs. The spiked feet have horizontal holes in them which could be a way to clip a strap on. I’ll need to experiment with this.

Headache

So many knobs and levers! With a ball head, you unlock it, move it about, and lock it again.

This is going to take some getting used to. My current approach goes like this:

• Unfurl the lower two leg sections of the tripod to get it to a normal working height, and pointing roughly towards my subject. Then adjust to roughly vertical using the upper leg sections.

• Carry out fine levelling using the levelling base. This is quick and easy - pull down the adjuster under the centre of the base, loosen it, and make the base level using the inbuilt spirit level. You need to make sure the spirit level isn’t on the far side when setting up.

• Clamp the camera on the plate if it isn’t already on there. This is a screw-in clamp on the top of the mount and it’s quite secure.

• I’m normally well enough oriented that I can make any final adjustments with the gear knobs, so I don’t tend to use the quick adjustment levers (unless I flip to portrait orientation).

The headache comes from remembering which knob and lever does what. I’m sure it’ll become natural in time. It isn’t helped by the rather counterintuitive knob orientation. The knob that you think should do horizonal adjustment because of it is oriented actually does tilt adjustment. And the knob that faces the direction of tilt adjustment actually does horizontal adjustment. Then add in the quick release levers, which are oriented 90 degrees to their accompanying gear knob. Confusion reigns!

Happily the geared pan adjuster does just that.

Until you put the camera in portrait orientation, when the horizontal adjuster now gives you pan, the tilt adjuster now gives you horizontal, and the as-yet-unused geared pan adjuster now gives you tilt.

I’m sure it will sink in eventually and become embedded in my muscle memory. At the moment it feels a bit like playing 3D chess.

Precision

Once set up, the use of the head is a real luxury event. It is incredibly precise. I can make one-handed adjustments with extremely fine control. A bit to the right, a bit up, horizon not quite level so tweak a few degrees. While I may grab the wrong knob initially, it's obvious very quickly and a little bit of trial-end-error sorts things out.

During my first outings, I’ve found it a joy to use. It’s a bit hard to describe (obviously!) but coming from a ball head it is a pleasure to be able to have such smooth adjustability. With everything levelled off, vertical stays vertical when you pan or adjust the tilt making adjusting composition very simple.

There is a smidge of difference in the friction of the two main gear adjuster knobs on the head. One of them also has a very slightly stiffer part of its travel. It’s minor, but worth mentioning I imagine this is where the genuine Arca Swiss unit will be superior.

Solidity

I used to think my previous Velbon tripod was very good. The Kingjoy is several levels above. Once it is rammed into the ground it isn’t going anywhere. There’s no flex and it’s very confidence inspiring. The build quality, leg joints and twist grips are all excellent quality. It is a very good platform for the fancy Leofoto head.

It is also very nice having a tripod that is high enough to let me shoot without stooping, especially on sloping ground.

Conclusion

Thanks for sharing in my purchase justification exercise! Seriously though, I’m well impressed if you hadn’t guessed. I feel like I’ve graduated to a "“grown up” tripod and head after years of scrabbling about with lesser equipment.

Is the setup it worth £1,000? Subjective. It is to me. It may not be to you. I get so much enjoyment from my photography, and use all my gear such a lot, that the price-per-use ends up being negligible. I also have a point to make all my gear pay for itself, and this setup is no exception.

Quick Pros

- Tall
- Solid
- Precise

Quick Cons

- Expensive
- Fiddly
- Unprotected

Here’s a selection of recent photographs that I’ve relied on the Kingjoy + Leofoto setup to create: