Do you ever see and hear there is a new this or that on the street and some people love it and some people hate it and others are just confused!?!? Yeah…we do as well. 😐
We are going to go through the Leofoto Mr. Q series tripods in this blog. Our hope is that we can bring some simple insights to the design to try and bring some clarity to the differences between other tripods from LEOFOTO or other tripod manufacturers and the Mr. Q series from Leofoto. This is not a comparison or review, we are going to simply go over the features of the Mr. Q series and then back off and let you decide if its right for you…
How did this tripod get its name!? Well, if you look down at the top of the tripod, the mounting head or mounting clamp that the legs mount to and you fit your center column or leveling head to, looks like a “Q”. Hence the name Mr. Q.
Let’s tackle the price now. The price of the Leofoto Mr. Q series ranges from $429.00 USD – $890.00 USD as of this writing. The price depends on which one of the 3 tripods you choose, and which head you choose to go with it. The cheapest of the three tripods in the Mr. Q series is the LQ-324C starting at 429.00 USD with only the center shaft (no ball head). The middle-priced tripod in this series is the LQ-324C which starts at 589.00 USD with only the center shaft (no ball head). The highest priced tripod in the Mr. Q series is the LQ-365C. This tripod with only the center shaft (no ball head) starts at 789.00 USD.
Now when you start looking at the different ball heads you must ensure that you have the center shaft with your Mr. Q series tripod. The center shaft will have a ¼” threaded rod on the top. With this you can mount to any ball head that has the female ¼” slug in it.
Now, be careful when you start looking at the center shafts in the Mr. Q series. There are two different sizes of shafts within this series so you can not interchange them between the 3 different tripods. The LQ-284C has a smaller center shaft then the LQ-324C and the LQ-365C. This means you cannot exchange the center shaft or ball heads ect between the LQ-284C and the other two in the Mr. Q or LQ Series.
Alright, lets jump into the specifics of each of the 3 tripods in this series. Starting with the smallest and cheapest tripod of the Mr Q or LQ series and work our way up to the largest, strongest, and most expensive tripod in the series. All of the information on each of the tripods in this section will be inclusive of a the standard tripod head that comes with the Mr. Q series. You can purchase the tripods without but for all intents and purposes we will include the ball heads.
So to start with we are looking at the LQ-284C + LH-36 ball head. Cost on this set up is $559.99 USD. You can get the LQ-284C + LH-30 Ball Head for $509.00. And then finally the LQ-284C with the center column so you can add your own tripod head for $429.00.
Ok now that pricing is out of the way let's move on to the makeup of the tripod itself. The LQ-284C has a 4-section leg. This means that it has 3 clamps that you can undo and extend the leg, the first section being the largest outer section, and the 4th section being the last and smallest section. At full extension it stands at 60.2 inches so just over 5ft. The shortest or lowest this tripod can go with all of the extensions reduced to their shortest length is 6.3 inches. That is pretty low all things considered! This lowest height would be without the center post, you would need to mount the ball head directly onto the tripod to achieve this low height. When the LQ-284C is stowed and folded up it is 21.26 inches long. Coming in at a total weight without the carry bag of 3.56LBS. The max capacity of the LQ-284C is 22LBS. It comes standard with the rubber ball like feet which can be interchanged for another foot if desired.
2 tripods left! :) Next on the list is LQ-324C. This comes standard with the LH-40 ball head. For the LQ-324C + LH-40 Head Kit you are looking at $769.00. You can get the LQ-324C with the center column only for $589.00.
Good stuff! Pricing is out of the way, let's move on to some specs. The LQ-324C tripod is again a 4 section leg set up. Meaning that there are 3 clamps to loosen if you choose to extend the legs. At full extension this tripod stands 66.34 inches tall, and without the center column it can shrink down to as low as 6.5 inches tall. When the LQ-324C is all folded up it comes in at 22.83 ``, basically 23 inches long. It weighs 4.37LBS and can hold a maximum of 33.07 LBS of weight.
This is going a little faster than we thought, we are on the final tripod. The LQ-365C, the strongest, the heaviest, the tallest, and the most expensive of the Mr. Q / LQ Leofoto series. The LQ-365C comes standard with the LH-47 ball head. With the LQ-365C and the LH-47 ball head you are looking at $890.00. If you are only interested in the tripod and center column you are looking at $789.00 (LQ-365C + Center column set).
Skipping along to the stats and figures. The LQ-365C tripod is a 5 section leg unit. This means it has 4 clamps to undo to extend the legs. It stands 75.98”, essentially 76” tall when fully extended. When shrunk down to its smallest it stands 7.48”H. All folded up and packed up it is 23.23” in length not including the carry bag. The LQ-365C is the fat kid of the family coming in at 5.03LBS in weight. It has a max capacity of just over 44LBS at 44.09LBS (we are not sure why the .09LBS matters but anyhow that is what they are advertising!).
We hope that brings some clarity to the Mr. Q series tripods, now let's quickly cover the leveling heads for the Mr. Q/LQ series tripods. There are two additional leveling heads or custom accessories for the Mr. Q series. These are the LBQ-50S ($82.90) and the LBQ-60S ($89.00). These are both leveling heads for the Mr. Q series. Lets go over the difference…remember how there is two different center shaft sizes in this series? Yes, well ok. The LBQ-50S is for the smallest size tripod, the LQ-284C and the LBQ-60S is for the two larger sized tripods. LQ-324C and LQ-365C. 50S is for the small tripod, 60S is for the two larger tripods. These two leveling heads can move +/- 20 degrees. They both have a ⅜” mounting stud on the top as well as a ⅜” threaded hole on the bottom so they can be used on different tripods and not only the Mr.Q series hence the name “Universal”. If your tripod has a ⅜” mounting stud, this leveling head will work.
Alright, well we hope that we have gone deep enough for you into the details. Now its our turn to back away and let you decide what works best for you! :)
