COMAN Extendable 6.23ft Light Stand, Adjustable Aluminum Tripod with 1/4" Screw - Portable, Reverse Folding Studio Lighting Stand for Strobe, Camera, Flash

After over 40 years as a professional photographer I've accumulated a lot of light stand and tripods for both my studio and for location assignments so I would consider myself an expert when it comes to evaluating them. You name it and I've probably owned it or used it.This lightweight medium-duty Coman light stand is superbly designed and manufactured out of aluminum and borrows several features from tripod manufacturers which makes it better than any other light stand in its class.The legs can be clicked into three different positions which alter the spread of the legs and can bring them all the way to ground level which is useful for stability and for sliding underneath other stands in the studio. This lowest position also allows you to position a light only 19" off the ground, a height most light stands can't get down to.The same mechanism that clicks the legs into three different positions also allows the legs to fold up against the center column resulting in the light stand only being 17½" in length when folded.The legs extend easily and lock securely. It's a small rock-solid light stand that will travel with me often especially now that LED technology has reduced the size and weight of bright photographic lights - eliminating the need for large heavy stands in most situations.

This is my first time owning a tripod stand and I have to say it's awesome. A regular stand's legs can't be adjusted separately, so you always have to set the stand on a flat surface. However, with this stand, you can set it on uneven surfaces, including stairs. The stand can stretch out to about six feet tall, which is great.Also, this is great for filmmakers/photographers who travel a lot because, like a regular tripod, it can be folded to take up minimal space. It is well-made and constructed from aluminum. I wish it had the option to adjust the height with the middle pole like a regular tripod does, but besides that and for the price, this is a must-have for any filmmaker/photographer who is always shooting on the go and outdoors.

This isn't a bad choice to have if you have a minor setup for filmmaking or content creation. The stand doesn't have a large footprint so that makes it easy to place around to your liking. While this is a neat item to have, I honestly can't see it being a part of my kit or getting many uses out of it since there are already so many options on the market that satisfy the needs this stand wants to address. From small/short C stands to air-cushioned light stands, I'm not sure where this really fits. This stand, while sturdy, doesn't have the best mounting. It's good, but not great. Definitely for smaller lights so I wouldn't even try mounting a 60w light on it. But this isn't a bad thing, it's just for a specific use case and if this fits that case, then you're good to go with this.

I have tried several travel light stands and had kinda settled on what I thought was the most useful one. Then I got this one. The wide leg stance is heads above the rest. The construction quality is fantastic and definitely a leader at the price point. The size it gets down to when folded up leaves plenty of room in my gear bag. This is truly a great piece of gear.

This is a good combination of being short and compact for storing and traveling with and being tall and stable when using. It's not going to have the same heavy duty as a C-stand, but it had no problem holding a heavier LED light and a bowens mounted beauty dish (as shown in my photo). Cheaper and taller stand options are available, but this is going to be fine for most typical uses of typical lights and I feel makes a good compromise. The unlocking levers on each of the legs confused me for a moment, as I was trying to use a sliding push with them, but they work best with just pressing down on the farthest point of the lever edge.

I got this mainly as a stand that will fit in my lighting kit in case I need it for a quick set or forget a stand. Because of the height limitation, it will not be my main stand, but it definitely seems to get the job done.

This is such a nice tripod! I have a BUNCH of tripods and now this one is easily the nicest one. I love that it collapses down to half the size of a normal tripod because it fold on itself when completely retracted.There are three extensible sections so you can get this tripod very high. I'm using it to bounce light off the ceiling of a barn and this is working perfect with the standard 1/4" screw on the top.I'm very, very impressed with the quality of this aluminum tripod and would recommend it to any other photographer.

Overall, this is a very cleverly designed light stand. Folded up, it measures 17.5" long and about 3" in diameter. Folding out the legs using 3 preset "click" positions makes for quick setup and a pretty sturdy feel. Four central column sections, each one 12" long gives you 48" height above the pivot point of the legs. The legs themselves each have two telescoping sections, which is rather unusual for lighting stands, but in the lower positions gives a pretty wide stance. The single collapsed leg sections work well with the center column to provide a pretty stable base for small lights. Full sized pro lighting, however, is probably not a good idea and will challenge the overall rigidity of stand.Getting to the total advertised height of 72" is where I have reservations. In order to get it extended that far, you have to telescope out the second section on each of the legs, and then tilt them down to position #3, which narrows the footprint and raises the center of gravity to a place that, depending on the weight you put on top of this, could increase the danger of it tipping over. It does have a spring-loaded hook under the center column so you can hang a weight to help secure it, but in my experience, the center of gravity is still going to be rather high.In short, if you're working with lightweight LED lights, either in your studio or out on location, this stand should work quite well as long as you're not expecting to run it up to full 6 foot height. If you do, bring along a sandbag for safety.