There are two things that as a photographer I seem to accumulate a ridiculous number of over the years – camera bags and tripods. I couldn’t tell you how many tripods I currently own. I’m sure it’s at least 10. Probably less than 20. But it’s a stupid number for one person to own. But on the plus side, I have a lot of experience with what works as well as (unfortunately) even more experience with what doesn’t work for tripods. And I’m always open to trying a tripod if it promises capabilities which my current stable of tripods don’t. So when Sarah Teng recently recommended the Oben CQL-13 on the Petapixel Podcast, I was definitely intrigued. She described is as being at least half the weight of many of the “popular” travel tripods out there like the Peak Design Travel Tripod. And it was half the price at only about $150.00.

My current go-to travel tripod is the Ulanzi Zero Y which was Ulanzi’s answer to the Peak Design Travel Tripod, and has very similar specifications. I’ve use it on several occasions, most recently when I traveled to Europe. According to the Ulanzi website, it weighs about 2.4 lbs. (1.1kg), and has a maximum height of about 61 inches/ 5.1ft. (1560mm), and a folded height of about 18 inches (460mm). Depending on the discount you catch, if can be purchased for just under $300.00.
The Oben CQL-13 by comparison weighs just 1.5 lbs. has a maximum height of 51 inches with a folded height of 14.5 inches. So on it’s face, you’re sacrificing about 10” of maximum height for about one lb. less weight and a more compact collapsed size. The “maximum height” reported by each is a bit of a head scratcher for me – it must be a measurement of the expanded height of the three tripod legs, and does not include raising the center column on which the tripod head is mounted. When I raise that center column on the Ulanzi, I can get the camera above my eye level, and I’m about 5’7” tall. Doing the same thing with the Oben and it requires me to either slightly bend at the knees or waist to look through the camera viewfinder. For about any photography that I do where I’d use a tripod, the height difference is I believe a non-consideration for the end photo. Your mileage may vary. If you’re over six feet tall, the Oben’s height might be a deal breaker for you. Maybe. The hiking/backpacking community is fond of saying “every ounce matters” when packing gear. So shaving an entire pound off the already light-by-comparison weight of my Ulanzi tripod is game changing for my gear set up. And it’s not just about the weight either. The folded down space taken up by the Oben is significantly smaller than my current Ulanzi, both in terms of height and width.

The other huge advantage the Oben has over the Ulanzi is how quickly and easily you can deploy the tripod legs to maximum extension. Each of the three legs on the Ulanzi have five segments which a fastener. To deploy the tripod to maximum height, you have to unsnap all the fasteners, extend the legs, then snap the fasteners back to their closed position. You can easily release all the fasteners at once when the legs are collapsed on the Ulanzi, but once extended you have to snap each of the fasteners back to their closed position…between each segment…on each leg. It’s a bit of a hassle. With the Oben, all you need to do is given the bottom of one of the legs a twist to unlock it, extend the leg, then twist the bottom of the leg back to the locked position. Boom! Done. To collapse the tripod, you just reverse the process. It’s a huge difference.

The Oben is cheaper, lighter, and more compact with similar performance – which would seem to make a no-brainer choice over the Ulanzi. But there are definitely other considerations that should be taken into account. Overall, the Ulanzi has more structural integrity than the Oben. When I used the Ulanzi during a recent trip to London, I walked down to the shore of the Thames river to get some long exposure shots. I set up the Ulanzi in the river rocks close to the waters edge, which wasn’t an ideal surface, and it was fairly breezy that evening to boot. But despite the environmental challenges, the Ulanzi was remarkably stable and I got some really nice long exposure shots. The Oben would not have been my first choice for this application. On the flip side, I was in Paris during that same trip, and stupidly scheduled two different photography tours on the same day – I think I hit 30,000 steps that night. So by the time I was ready to start taking some long exposure shots at night, I was toast. We first hit the Eiffel Tower, and I undid all fasteners to extend the legs…got a couple of shots, collapsed the tripod, and then we were ready to move on to the next shooting location. By the time we got to the next location, I thought, “yeah…I’m just going to hand hold the rest of these shots.” I was just too tired to screw around with all those fasteners. Clearly the Oben would have been MUCH preferred in this application. If you require tripod heights in between “closed” and “open” you’ll have a tough time using the Oben. The traditional segment fasteners of the Ulanzi mean you have a lot more flexibility to vary the height of the tripod with predicable results. The single fasten/release point on the Oben makes it quick to deploy and close the tripod, but it will darn difficult to get all three legs at a height in between. Not impossible, but tough to do with some trial and error adjustments.
There’s a couple of other “gotchas” to be aware of on the Oben. Oben appears to be a house brand of B&H Photo and can only be purchased on their site. They describe the included ball head as having an “Arca-Type Quick Release” and it comes with an Arca plate. Apparently my definition of “quick release” differs from the that of the fine folks at B&H. To release the Arca plate on the Oben, you have to unscrew a vice like system that secures the plate. To me, quick release implies a push button release. I use Ulanzi F38 Quick Release plates on anything and everything I might need to mount my camera. The F38 Quick Release plates are Arca compatible, so using the Oben wouldn’t requirement to use the included plate. But to get true “quick release” functionality, I had to order an F38 Quick Release Plate Base to install on the Oben – adding a negligible 1.4oz. of weight to the tripod.

The release on the ball head to change the camera angle is also…fidgety…to use a technical term. With most tripods, you can finesse the amount of release friction in order to make fine adjustments in the position of the ball head. But on the Oben, it’s basically an all-or-nothing release – you go from locked in place directly to swiveling all over the place with nothing in between. So if you lay it down to shoot at 90 degrees/portrait style, then want to go back to straight landscape, it’s a bit of a challenge. The tripod has a green level indicator than can help, but it’s much easier in my honest opinion to use the horizon/level indicator on your camera.

In the final analysis, the Oben CQL-13 is a fine tripod at a fantastic price and I’m glad to add it to my inexplicably ever growing arsenal of tripods. As to whether this is the right tripod for you is a more difficult question to answer. The best, most ideal use case for this tripod is run and gun on pretty stable surfaces (concrete, asphalt, flat ground/grass, etc.). The more demanding the environment, the more a more robust and stable tripod will be required. Depending on your needs, you might be able to get by with the Oben as your one and only “travel tripod.” Or if you’re just getting into photography and need a good tripod that won’t break the bank, this one might work for you. For me, having having options is important and there are times when I’ll want to use the Ulanzi, and times when I’ll want to use the Oben CQL-13.

here is a video that I recorded of the Oben CQL-13: