What mini tripod do people use, (if any)

I have a Manfrotto 709B. It fits in my Billingham, takes up next to no room and as you can see in the images works in 'Portrait' as easy as Landscape.
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Steve.
 
I use a Leica table tripod and ball head. It is very small but strong. I also use it as a shoulder brace when shooting my Spotmatic with the 200mm and 400mm Takumars.
 
On compact cameras like the X1 I use a Manfrotto Modopocket, a really neat little contraption that folds down unobtrusively when not in use. I've used the Manfrotto tabletop folding tripod, the Ultrapod and many others, but the best pocketable tripod I've found so far is the Novoflex Mikrostativ. It's much smaller than a Leitz tabletop tripod, and sturdy enough to hold a Nikon D3 with a 50mm lens.
 
I use a Manfrotto 345 kit (composed of the 209 table tripod legs, the old 210B ballhead, the double telecopic extension and the proper dedicated bag).
Ciao.
Vincenzo
 
Another vote for the Manfrotton 709B. The best spent 30 euro ever. I used it A LOT with Rolleiflex T - they were a perfect match (you look from the top, so you do not have to lie on the ground). I carry it nearly everywhere with me, even though it is less practical with RF cameras if no stone/car/table is at hand.

Thinking about it - TLR is a perfect MF camera to travel light in low light ;)

I tried the tripod with Pentax 645N with the 45-85 zoom lens - no problem at all (2.2 kg weight of the camera & lens).

The only thing to watch is that the little cork feet have a tendency to fall away (bad glue I guess). Just re-glue them with some good glue and you will be fine. Good thing is that these little cork pads sit a bit "inside" the leg so are shielded from the sides.
 
I tested the Manfrotto 709B, the Slik Mini Pro V and the Ultrapod, and wasn't satisfied with their stability.

I am now using an old Japanese Hakuba HTC-1H table-top tripod (On the picture, it's the one on the right. The one on the left was modified using a RRS ball head - not a bad idea either). This thing is made of die-cast aluminum, it weighs 378g including ball head, and it is stable enough to even support my D300 with a hefty 17-55mm zoom lens. The ball head (when not worn out) allows for a very fine-grained setting without wobble or sagging. You can still occasionally find it on Ebay for a song - just make sure the ball-head is not worn out too much.

I also compared the Hakuba with the Leica 14100 table-top tripod w/ Leica head 14110: While the Leica product shines with superb workmanship, the Hakuba is on par with the Leica in terms of stability.

Caution: A design similar to the Hakuba is still offered on the net under various retail brands, but made of plastic. I've also had one of these, and it wobbled terribly.
 
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Leitz table pod (14 100) with the bigger ball head (14 121). No that I'm leica-only, but I got it almost for free and serves me well as long as you don't forget to balance your camera well. Otherwise it'll tip over which doesn't look cool at all!!!
 
I love my Leitz tabletop with a Giottos 1302 small ballhead, until I lost it last week in Ohio (email me if anyone tries to craigslist it). Super solid for smaller cameras and for my D90 with most lenses. When I went to a lens larger than my 70-300 Nikon, I found the limiting factor was the ballhead.

The rubber feet on the leica are exactly positioned to hook over a 2x4 board or railing.
 
My mother gave me a GorillaPod. I probably wouldn't have bought one (or any mini-tripod), but now that's what I have. I've used it a few times, but only to shoot videos for YouTube.
 
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