If you’ve gotten serious about photography and moved beyond the automatic settings on your camera, you might have already added a tripod to your toolkit. A tripod is a must if you’re taking longer exposure shots with a slow shutter speed, or just looking to get the sharpest photos possible, and they can quite literally help you take a load off if you’re regularly using long and heavy lenses. They aren’t ideal for every situation, however—you need enough room to set one up, for starters—which is where monopods come in.
A monopod won’t prop up your camera on its own like a tripod will (although some do have small legs or feet that fold out for added stability), but it will give you enough added support to give you most of the same benefits. And they outdo tripods considerably when it comes to flexibility, making them ideal whether you’re scrambling across uneven terrain to get the perfect shot, or trying to photograph a crowded event where tripods might not be permitted.
Here are some to consider adding to your travel kit.
Manfrotto Compact
Manfrotto’s tripods have been among the most-often recommended by photographers over the years, and the things are no different when it comes to the company’s monopods. On the more budget-friendly side of things, the Manfrotto’s standard Compact monopod might be all that you need if you’re just a casual photographer without a ton of gear that you’re lugging around. It can’t match pricier monopods when it comes to load capacity (it’s rated for just 3.3 pounds), but it’ll still easily support most average DSLRs and compact cameras, and extend to 57.3” to help you get the perfect shot.
