I had an email from Scott at LensCoat a little while ago asking if I’d like to try out their new tripod Leg Wraps. A quick ‘yes please’ and a few days later there were two sets in my hands, having sped all the way from the other side of the Atlantic. Essentially the LegWraps are a simple piece of neoprene with velcro at either end that you wrap around the upper most section of your tripod legs.

I’ve long been a fan of the various LensCoat covers and, with these LegWraps being a simple enough concept, are quite handy for three things:

COMFORT

They make the tripod more comfortable to sling over your shoulder. If you have a large telephoto and do the usual ‘over the shoulder’ carrying technique, having a bit of padding between you and the tripod will help make it a little more comfortable to carry, as per the image above (thanks again to Jai Grieve for taking that shot of me) and that is my number one reason for liking these wraps.

Protection for your hands

If you shoot in extreme cold or extreme heat then these will make the tripod just that bit easier to handle. Having used these on my Gitzo in Yellowstone when the temps hit almost -40, I can tell you I was VERY glad to have a set for those times I had fingerless goves on or had to take the gloves off and move the tripod. Similar, in extreme heat, these will stop build up around the area you’re most likely to move the tripod about from.

Protection from knocks

I once slipped on a seaweed covered shoreline and dropped my carbon fibre Gitzo on to rocks. It was a heart in mouth moment, as the tripod was ‘naked’. Having something like this on will absorb some of the shock of an impact and reduce the risk of damage. Of course, it won’t offer the ultimate protection, but if you’re like me, you like to keep things as in good a condition as reasonable, this’ll help.

Now, when all is said and done, these are just a bit of material you wrap around your tripod, and there are other similar solutions out there. However, if you’re already a LensCoat fan it’s nice to continue to build on your collection of camera protection with matching patterns as these come in all the usual LensCoat designs – plus they are semi tailored to suit a huge range of tripods from Gitzo, Wimblerley, Bogen, RRS and Velbon. Best of all, you can inquire about custom sizes if you need something ultra tailored to your needs. And if you’re not a LensCoat user yet, well, these would be a nice way to get yourself familair with their products.

Whichever way you look at it and whichever method you choose, having some form of protection on your tripod is a good thing and I couldn’t go back to a ‘naked’ one now!

WANT TO BUY?

Available direct from LensCoat.com where you can see the huge range of tripods they fit, as well as custom order.
Also, from B&H Photo in the USA and Warehouse Express in the UK.