I’m an amateur photographer who likes wandering around the city taking street photos. Last month after helping my friend move all day, I spent the next day walking around with my camera and tripod on my back and my shoulders were killing me at the end of the day. I finally decide to replace the tripod with something lighter, besides setting up a tripod is also such a hassle in spots like narrow alleys and staircases, and sometimes by the time I’ve got everything ready, the moment I wanted to capture is already gone.

So I finally decided to give a monopod a shot. So far I’ve been using one for almost two weeks, and the biggest difference is the weight, or rather, the lack of it. It’s around 27 inch when folded down, so I can just slide it into the side pocket of my backpack and forget it’s even there, which made walking around the city so much less tiring. Adjusting the height is also really smooth, with the extent from 35 to 67in gives me plenty of flexibility depending on what I’m shooting.…