During my recent week-long trip to Europe (Which you can read about here in the travel section of ThruMyLens) I became painfully aware of both the benefits and the shortcomings of my Ulanzi Zero F38 travel tripod. That experience taught me that for my needs, one do-it-all tripod probably wasn’t going to cut it. In some cases, minimal size and weight would be be far more important than, for example, how high the tripod extended, or maximizing stability. That’s when I heard about the Oben CQL-13 compact travel tripod. Having it along with my Ulanzi Zero F38 seems like an absolute perfect combination that provided me great options, depending on the use case. Here’s the problem: during the process of researching the Oben, I became aware of the Ulanzi TreeRoot Quick Lock Lite.
THE (TREE)ROOT OF THE PROBLEM
In 2024, Ulanzi released a new flagship travel tripod- the TreeRoot Quick Lock. It quickly became the darling of the influencer community. The TreeRoot was both bigger and heavier than the Zero F38 I owned – not to mention $200 more expensive at a retail of $499.00. For my purposes, the only thing it had going for it was the fantastic quick lock system on the legs. But at my age (55), the last thing I need is bigger and heavier. But while researching the Oben CQL-13 I discovered the Ulanzi had recently released a lighter weight version of the TreeRoot – the TreeRoot Quick Lock Lite:
The TreeRoot Lite brings the wonderful quick lock leg design from the original TreeRoot in a significantly lighter package- 2.87lbs. versus 3.31 lbs. of the original TreeRoot. It is slightly heavier than my Zero F38 (2.4lbs.). For my use case, the roughly .5lb. increase in weight over my Zero F38 was worth not dealing with four flip locks on each leg every time you deploy and collapse the legs. The collapsed footprint of the TreeRoot Lite is pretty close to being the exact same as the Zero F38, but the TreeRoot Lite does have a taller collapsed height:
When I put the TreeRoot lite in the side pocket of my backpack, the added height didn’t bother me in the least. In my experience, it’s the collapsed diameter of the tripod that makes a bigger difference when carrying it on a bag or backpack than it’s collapsed height.
From an overall height perspective, the F38 is about 1.5 inches taller than the TreeRoot Lite (62.6 inches vs. 61.1) – a fairly insignificant difference from my perspective. Both can put the camera above my eye level (I’m 5/7″ tall). The TreeRoot Lite shares a feature with the Zero F38 that’s pretty handy. There’s a hook in the bottom of the center column that serves dual functions. Firstly, it can be used to stabilize the tripod by hanging your bag or backpack from it, helping to ensure the tripod stays steady and stationary during long exposure shots:
But you can actually unscrew the hook to use it as a tool remove a portion of the center column:
Once removed, the legs can laid out so that the tripod can be positioned almost flat to the ground for getting low shots:
As mentioned, the Zero F38 has a similar dual function hook/tool in its center column. The only problem I’ve found with this feature is that the hook can back out of the screw hole in the center column and get lost, which is exactly what’s happened on my Zero F38. To make maters worse, this isn’t a part that can be easily ordered from Ulanzi and their <ahem> peachy customer service. I was told to write back in a couple of months and they should have more in stock to sell me.
The real upgrade on the TreeRoot Lite is the quick lock system on the tripod legs. It’s not as fast and easy as the single twist point of the Oben CQL-13, but it’s far and away better than the four separate flip locks found on the Zero F38. Consult my YouTube video below for a demonstration.
Another improvement that the TreeRoot Lite has which the Zero F38 does not are integrated spikes built into the tripod legs which can be used to help stabilize the tripod on hilly terrain.
You just have to remove the rubber covers on the bottom of each tripod leg – they’re not easily removed so you don’t have to worry about them falling off. The Zero F38 does have a set of spikes that can be screwed into its tripod legs, but that means you have to remember to bring them with you, or carry them with you all the time.
The ball head on the TreeRoot Lite functions similarly to the Zero F38 ball head, but in a smaller form factor.
The original TreeRoot tripod has a very different ball head design that’s even faster clipping in and out, and has the advantage of being compatible with virtually any Arca Swiss type plate. The ball head on the TreeRoot Lite however is only compatible with the F38 system from Ulanzi which I’m fine with as I changed over to this system long ago. You can however change out the ball head on the TreeRoot Lite to virtually another you may want to use.
The TreeRoot Lite isn’t a perfect tripod of course, so there are a few considerations of which you should be aware. Firstly, the tripod doesn’t have a level – many tripods have the familiar green bubble level indicator most of us have seen and used, but none are found on this tripod. Not a big deal for me as a I keep the level horizon indicator “on” on all my cameras anyway.
The amount of weight or total load that this tripod can hold is somewhat confusing to me. Despite the differences in their leg shape design (triangle on the original TreeRoot, round on the TreeRoot Lite) the load capacity is nearly identical for both the Original TreeRoot and the Lite model. Ulanzi says the legs can support 88 lbs. which is super impressive. But that doesn’t help much when the center column (and the ball head mounted to it) can only support 44 lbs. And if you want to extend the center column, the support weight is again reduced by half to 22 lbs. Fortunately, I doubt I’ll ever exceed 10lbs. in weight thanks to the reduced weight of mirrorless camera systems.
The Original TreeRoot carries a retail price of $499.00 versus the $299 retail price of the TreeRoot Quick Lock Lite. Price notwithstanding, I think the Ulanzi TreeRoot Quick Lock Lite Travel Tripod is the best travel tripod Ulanzi currently makes. Lighter and less expensive than its big brother, the original TreeRoot, the Quick Lock Lit will have a much broader appeal. I consider the original TreeRoot more well suited for cinematography thanks to the panning head. But here again, the Zero F38 also has a panning head. So maybe I’ll keep it…also with the other umpteen different tripods I own… My name is John Holbrook, and I have GAS…Gear Acquisition Syndrome.
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