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So, I purchased a Quantaray QSX-9500 Heavy-Duty Tripod with Fluid Head. When I try to pan, its hurky-jerky (probably due to the weight of the load on top). Much, much better than the DF-40, pannig is now smooth as silk.But for holding point and shoot cameras, you can't beat it. I have two of these. I've recently started digiscoping (I use a Vortex 20-60x80 ED spotting scope married to a Nikon P5100) and find this DF-40 is a little too light-weight.
Also the tripod is plastic so don't over tighten the screws, they will crack. For $30 this tripod has paid for itself 10 times over.A couple of notes: the plastic screw on the camera mount is a joke and needs to be replaced with a metal one. I was skeptical when i heard the words, "flimsy", "lightweight", etc.But it was cheap. So i ordered it.10 states, thousands of miles, and countless hikes later this tripod is still holding up.Its been in streams, rivers, over 14,000 feet and 100+ degree weather.
I didn't need anything fancy, and this is much nicer than the similarly priced items at the local electronics stores.
The fragile knobs I thought would break still feel fragile, but they haven't broken yet and I carried the tripod in a backpack for about two weeks and it held up fine. All of the knobs and levers feel equally frail and I am willing to bet that something breaks on this tripod within the first half dozen uses. When I first mounted my D-80 to it, I was a little hesitant to move my hands away because the weight seemed a bit much for the head.It seemed like a good value as the next major price point is significantly higher, but now that I have received it and given it a thorough look, I would not have purchased the DF-40 had I been able to see and touch it first.EDIT (Please Read) - I've now had the product for about four months now and it has held up far better than I anticipated. I've been using an old metal tripod for over twenty years and wanted something modern, lightweight and affordable. Thus I feel it necessary to upgrade my review - I now believe the product to be a good buy and although the page won't let me change my star rating, I would now give this tripod 4 stars. However, in hindsight I see now that I needed to add criteria such as "well-made" or "quality" to the list I was using to determine my purchase.The stand itself is adequate and what I expected for the price but the plastic head feels quite flimsy and even when locked down still has a bit of wobble to it. The DF-40 is all three of the things for which I asked. Enough so that shooting without a cable release or IR remote may well cause an unintended motion blur which kind of defeats the reason for using a tripod.
There is no locking mechanism to keep the camera in this position. I am also not convinced it is 2 lbs. Seems stable.
Your only option is to turn the camera as far as it will go and have a very crooked portrait orientation or to use a few twist ties to hold the camera in a level portrait orientation. Feels closer to five which is not that bad but because it is a bit bulky even folded up, it can be combersome to carry. Also was not thrilled that there are no accompanying instructions or user manual and no carrying case.
What I Like: Great height. More than that and the camera falls over BEYOND what would be a portrait orientation. And lastly, I assumed the bubble level would tell me if my camera was level; instead it tells me if my tripod legs are level, which is independent of the camera positioning adjustments.
Easy to extend legs.What I Don't Like: Cannot adjust camera to be in portrait orientation. You can have the camera in landscape orientation and have about 5-10 degrees of rotation in either direction.
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