2 years of photography with the Sirui W-2204
It's Wednesday afternoon, 2 days before my departure to Namibia, and I'm pondering which tripod to take with me. I choose the Sirui R-4213X, the most stable tripod in my collection or for the all-rounder, the Sirui W-2204?
A Friday morning, I'm busy preparing the supplies for a Lightpainting workshop on the beach. It is windy and the sea is expected to be rough. Not conditions that are normally good for the screw thread in your tripod. Without hesitation I pick up the Sirui W-2204…
March 2019, the first wood anemones show themselves. I can't wait to capture these spring bloomers and put my macro kit in the camera bag. I want to experiment a bit more with double shots and a stable platform is essential for that. The Sirui W-2204 offers the solution again!
Looking back at my time with the Sirui W-2204
When I became acquainted with the W-2204 in 2018, it had everything on paper to become my "all-rounder". A working height, without the center column, of 147 cm, a carrying capacity of 18 kilos and also compact due to its 4 sections. The carbon fibers ensure a low weight of only 1.7 kilos and maximum stiffness.
Shortly after using this tripod, I wrote an enthusiastic blog about my first acquaintance “The Sirui W-2204 – The Ultimate Tripod?”
But how do you like it after 2 years of intensive use?
Reliability of the Sirui W-2204
When I travel, I always have to compromise with the available space in my bag and the total weight. Although I always travel with several (back-up) cameras, I can't always afford this with my tripod. So I want to be sure that it will not cause any problems during the trip.
The sealed closures of the W-2204 prevent sand from entering the threads. This ensures smooth operation without wear. The tripod has now survived Africa for about 12 weeks, during which it was shaken up on the washboard roads and sandblasted well in the sand dunes. Circumstances he passed with flying colours.
Easy to clean tripod
There have now been about 60 beach sessions on the Dutch coast in very diverse circumstances. Autumn storms, falls in the surf, slips on the dunes, I always managed to get it quite dirty.
In the past, this often meant taking apart the sections of my tripods, cleaning the slide bearings and threads, getting everything dry before putting them back together.
Now I put it outside in the garden and rinse it with the garden hose.
Some moisture and sand still enters through the top of the legs, but so far 1 or a maximum of 2 large turns per year are sufficient. What progress!
The W-2204, my macro buddy
Although the tripod without a center column has a minimum working height of 15.5 centimeters, there are sometimes situations where you want to work even lower.
The unique thing about its design is that you can fold the legs completely, so that the head hangs between the legs, so to speak, and you can even work up to a few millimeters above the ground with the help of the supplied center column. Also useful if you work on a wet and humid beach…
I'm blown away! 😉
Conclusion
The tripod has not let me down for a moment and is actually my standard choice for daily work. There are some dents and damage in the aluminum due to intensive use, but otherwise it still looks fine. There is no play in the connections and the sections slide in and out just as well as on day 1. The K-20 II head has been replaced by a slightly heavier K-30 II head because my medium format camera, the Pentax 645Z, needs to be set up occasionally.
Due to its success, Sirui has also significantly reduced the original suggested retail price of € 749.00 to € 389.00, making the price-quality ratio more than excellent.
