3 Legged Thing Ethan 4 review: a super-strong set of carbon fiber tripod legs for professional hybrid photography and more besides

I’ve been reviewing 3 Legged Thing gear for five years and counting, since first encountering the rather epic Winston 2.0 and AirHed Pro kit from the Pro 2.0 range. Indeed, it’s been my go-to full-sized tripod ever since, and I’m no stranger to the company’s supersized video tripods either, like the 3 Legged Thing Legends Tommy. Over the ensuing years, I’ve also tested and reviewed a bunch of other 3 Legged Thing tripods great and small, desk mounts, window mounts, phone mounts, microphone arms, light stands, L-brackets, camera straps, and other paraphernalia. The company’s product catalog is nothing if not diverse, ranging from photography and videography kit, through field sports and birding, to shooting and target sports supports and accessories.

One constant is that I’ve always been impressed by 3 Legged Things’ design flair and the company’s ability to turn its clever design concepts into expertly engineered and beautifully finished products. The set of Ethan 4 tripod legs that I’m reviewing here is a mighty, super-strong set of carbon fiber legs that aims to stick with that tradition, billed as a professional hybrid photography and tactical tripod system for photo, video, shooting, and tactical pursuits. Let’s see if it lives up to its claims, not just as one of the best carbon fiber tripods, best video tripods, and best tripods for photographers, but for a variety of other duties as well.

3 Legged Thing Ethan 4: Specifications

3 Legged Thing Ethan 4: Price

A full-sized tripod with a mighty 60kg / 132lb payload rating and built from premium Japanese carbon fiber and aerospace-grade magnesium alloy, the Ethan 4 doesn’t come cheap. The legs list at $499 / £429 (AU$ TBA), and bear in mind that you’ll have to factor in a head and maybe a leveling base, if you don’t have them already, which will add to the cost. Even so, I think the legs are set at a very fair price, considering their specifications, so long as the build quality and performance stack up. That’s what I’m here to test.

3 Legged Thing Ethan 4: Design & Handling

Designed as a ‘tactical’ tripod for shooting and target sports as well as photography and videography, Ethan 4 takes its name from Ethan Hunt of Mission: Impossible. As such, it’s ‘engineered for chaos, built for legends’, as 3 Legged Thing likes to say. It’s certainly very tough and endlessly adaptable. In the realm of shooting pictures, I’d say that pro-grade videography is its best fit.

Suitably hard as nails, Ethan 4 is made from premium 3K weave Japanese carbon fiber with an oversized outer leg section diameter of 32mm. Metal parts are constructed in aerospace-grade magnesium alloy, and fixings are made from corrosion-resistant stainless steel. For the style-conscious, the tripod is available in Darkness (black), Olive Drab Green, and Lava colorways; the last of these with orange accents.

With four telescoping sections in each leg, a bonus of the chunky 32mm outer is that even the narrowest bottom sections have an impressive girth to them. The upshot is that the tripod has a super-sturdy payload rating of 60kg / 132lb. Naturally, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a camera and lens combination that weighs anywhere near that much, but the Ethan 4 can also support additional accessories, as I’ll come to later.

There’s an endless debate over whether twist-locks or flip-locks are better for tripod legs. Personally, I generally prefer twist-locks, especially if they’re the kind featured in this tripod, labelled as ‘Oversized Helical Strake’ leg locks. As such, they’re quick and easy to use with minimal rotation required to loosen or lock each section. As with other elements of the tripod, they have a top-quality look and feel, and are fitted with grippy rubber pads. They’re also designed for quick and easy strip-down and reassembly if and when they need cleaning.

While the twist-locks are pretty standard fare, the three-position leg-angle locks have a new patented trigger-pull design. The idea is that you can pull out the mechanism in the more time-honored fashion, or simply squeeze a trigger-action release with your finger.

As I mentioned at the outset, the Ethan 4 is sold as a set of legs, rather than as a complete kit. Especially for videography, to which the tripod legs are ideally suited, you’re best off adding either of 3 Legged Thing’s LevelHed Leveling Base or 75mm Half Bowl, as well as a fluid head. The tripod is supplied with a flat plate for the former, and there’s an optional 75mm bowl mount that you can swap to if you buy it separately.

Naturally, you can attach your camera or whatever else you’re shooting with to the flat plate itself, without using a leveling aid or tripod head. With that in mind, the plate features a dual 1/4in mount with a 3/8in adapter sleeve, catering to both industry-standard threaded sockets.

Keeping moving parts to a minimum, the bubble level is fixed on the side of the chassis, rather than having a rotating base. Being positioned off to the side, it’s easy to keep an eye on and is large enough to see clearly when leveling the tripod.

The Ethan 4 can support more than just its primary load. A threaded socket on the side of the chassis enables the attachment of a magic arm, LED lamp, microphone mount, monitor screen or just about anything else you might want to add on.

Going one better than the standard threaded accessory mount, the tripod chassis also includes a QD (Quick-Detach) socket. Compatible with 3 Legged Thing Axis QD straps and all sorts of other gadgets that use this kind of mount, it enables ultra-quick-and-easy mounting and detachment with a simple pushbutton mechanism.

A ballast hook is featured under the flat mounting plate and also serves as the grab handle for tightening or loosening the main dual 1/4in and 3/8in threaded mounting screw with sleeve. Using the ballast hook enables you to hang a weight off the tripod, again taking advantage of its hefty payload rating and adding stability if you’re shooting in windy conditions.

When it comes to tripod heads, you can naturally fit pretty much anything that takes your fancy. One that works particularly well for videography with the Ethan 4 is the revamped and revitalized 3 Legged Thing AirHed Cine CC fluid head, which I’ve reviewed separately and very favorably in the past. The head has a list price of $249 / £229 and is available in black or grey colorways.

The tripod comes with chunky rubber feet, which give a very firm and stable footing while also doing a good job of absorbing vibrations. They’re not the only choice, however, as alternative footwear is available as optional extras from 3 Legged Thing. Choices include smaller Little Bootz (rubber pads), Heelz (metal spikes), Stilettoz (elevated metal spikes), Clawz (metal ice/rock grips), and Vanz (dual metal spikes and rubber pads).

In keeping with the multi-talented nature of Ethan 4, you can remove one, two, or all three of the legs. Each of the legs can work independently for monopod duty, and leaving two of the legs attached to the chassis enables use as a bipod. Removing all three legs might sound counterproductive, but I’ll come back to that in a moment.

Getting back to the optional Vanz footwear that I mentioned just now, these dual metal spikes with rubber pads can serve up a neat trick. If you unscrew all three legs from the chassis and then screw the Vanz into the empty sockets that are revealed, you can effectively transform the Ethan 4 into a tabletop tripod, stretching its versatility even further.

The tripod comes with a 3 Legged Thing Toolz2. It’s a neat multi-function tool, with a keyring. It acts as two different sizes of hex keys, a coin/flat blade key, a bottle opener, and a carabiner. It’s handy for a whole range of tripod/photographic tasks as well as for grabbing a quick drink when the going gets thirsty.

It annoys me when some of the most famous tripod manufacturers sell very expensive tripods and don’t bother to bundle a carrying bag of any sort. The situation here is quite the reverse. The Ethan 4 comes with a very high-quality padded soft case and, typical of 3 Legged Thing, it’s not short of crafty design flourishes. There’s an internal mesh pocket and two securing straps, both with Velcro fasteners. You also get a side pocket with additional room and a zippered three-section organizer. The zippers themselves have comfy pullers for easy operation. There’s also a detachable, adjustable shoulder strap, a carrying handle, plus a carabiner-style hook. I’d use the last of these for attaching the bag to the ballast hook on the tripod, after popping a weighty object or two inside.

3 Legged Thing Ethan 4: Performance

Let’s cut to the chase. Performance of the Ethan 4 is exemplary in every respect. It gives rock-solid support for even the heaviest of cameras and accessories, right up to and including its maximum operating height of 162cm / 64in (without head). The legs and rubber feet combine to give excellent resistance against unwanted flexing and vibrations, even when the leg sections are fully extended.

As with most video-friendly tripods, there’s no center column, but an upside of this is that when the legs are splayed to their widest locking angle, you can shoot from ultra-low levels for creative effect, without the center column getting in the way. Again, without an attached head, the minimum operating height is a mere 14cm / 5.5in. The 4-section legs also enable a fairly compact carrying length of 61cm / 24in.

While the maximum payload rating is a huge 60kg / 132lb, the tripod itself is easy on the back for carrying around, weighing in at 2.4kg / 5.3lb. It’s also very easy to live with from an operational perspective. The twist locks work with simple efficiency, requiring minimal rotation to lock and unlock the leg sections. The trigger-action leg angle locks are similarly simple and intuitive. As well as enabling ultra-low-level shooting and working on uneven terrain or around obstacles, the multi-angle legs add stability at their intermediate setting when shooting at low to middling heights.

Not just a tripod, the Ethan 4 works equally well in bipod mode or with any of the three legs removed for monopod duty. You can attach a camera or anything else to the mounting screw in the flat base, but the addition of a head makes monopod shooting more refined.

3 Legged Thing Ethan 4: Verdict

Ethan Hunt is a very ingenious, versatile, and action-packed (if fictitious) character, giving his namesake tripod, the Ethan 4, a lot to live up to. True to the role, however, this 3 Legged Thing tripod can take on a barrage of different scenarios and win out against seemingly impossible odds, delivering a sure-fire success rate.

I love that the Ethan 4 tripod is so rock-solid and utterly dependable, and so resistant to any unwanted flexing or vibration. The twist-locks for the leg sections work impeccably, and the new trigger-action leg angle locks are a pleasure to use. Ultimately, this tripod offers wide-ranging versatility while also being entirely intuitive and simple to use, so you can concentrate on your creative flow rather than wrestling with a finicky tripod.

The fact that it also works flawlessly as a bipod or monopod reinforces its credentials as a ‘tactical’ tripod for photography, videography, shooting, and target sports. Just add a head, and you’re good to go.

Alternatives

The 3 Legged Thing Legends Tommy is one of the company’s biggest and strongest video tripods, with three-section legs and an interchangeable flat plate and 75mm bowl mount. It’s also one of the company’s most expensive sets of tripod legs (much pricier than the Ethan 4) and again comes without a bundled head.

The  Winston 2.0 and AirHed Pro kit is another very robust tripod, this time more ideal for stills rather than video capture. The full kit comes with the latest edition of the company’s top-flight ball head, but you can also buy just the legs (or the head) on their own.