The best carbon fiber tripods in 2024: get solid support for your camera while easing the load for the journey

Dan Mold using tripod in Northumbrian landscape
(Image credit: Future)

Something of a wonder material, carbon fiber is used extensively in the construction of racecars and other high-performance vehicles, as well as in most of the best tripods you can buy. Carbon fiber tripods are both stronger and lighter than their aluminum counterparts, which is useful for pretty much any genre of shooting. But ‘better’ usually equates to ‘more expensive’ and carbon tripods are certainly no exception.

Although renowned for being pricey, carbon fiber tripods don’t have to be prohibitively expensive. Many major manufacturers offer carbon options of their tripods that are fairly budget-friendly. Check out some of the big names in the business like Manfrotto3 Legged Thing, Benro and Vanguard, and you’ll see a number of carbon fiber tripods that offer premium quality at very good value for money.

Matthew Richards
Matthew Richards

Matthew Richards is a photographer and journalist who has spent years using and reviewing all manner of photo gear. He is an encyclopedia when it comes to all manner of cameras, camera holsters and bags, flashguns, tripods and heads, printers, papers, and inks, and just about anything imaging-related.

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Matthew Richards

Matthew Richards is a photographer and journalist who has spent years using and reviewing all manner of photo gear. He is Digital Camera World's principal lens reviewer – and has tested more primes and zooms than most people have had hot dinners! 

His expertise with equipment doesn’t end there, though. He is also an encyclopedia  when it comes to all manner of cameras, camera holsters and bags, flashguns, tripods and heads, printers, papers and inks, and just about anything imaging-related. 

In an earlier life he was a broadcast engineer at the BBC, as well as a former editor of PC Guide.