So, you've let Auto Pack select your lenses for you (see yesterday's commentary), do you also bring the tripod on vacation?
Since I wrote my support article a few years ago, a lot has happened and nothing has happened in the tripod market. By "a lot" I mean there are many more competent options these days, including some lower cost carbon fiber pods. By "nothing" I mean that everything that I wrote in my article is still true. If you want rock stable photos with mind boggling acuity--especially with that D3x you snuck by the spouse--you need a rock steady set of legs and head.
Since we're tackling the vacation questions this week, one of the inevitable ones I get is this: "can I get away with the Gitzo Traveler?" (Substitute any of the super light, five-legged wonders that fold back on themselves, since every maker seems to have one now.) It's interesting to me how many people use those exact words: "...get away with..." I think they know the answer but are hoping that I won't put on my wizard coat and get behind the curtain and give you the "you don't need a new leg" answer, but simply say "yes." Sorry, the answer is "no."
I've got a Benro C-069 M8 traveler tripod with the matching B-0 head, which is as good as any of the species. The head is actually very good for a small, light ball head. Assuming it's on a very stable platform of some sort, it'll work just fine with most DX bodies and modest sized lenses.
But those legs. Let me just say, I'm a leg man, so I appreciate good legs. The problems with the traveler designs are multiple. First, they have a centerpost that you can't remove (otherwise you lose the fold-back-over-itself capability that defines the category). Do not think you can extend the centerpost. The Benro's centerpost is as good as any I've seen on this type of tripod, but it still has potential for flex or vibration in it when extended. Yet it's not the weakest point. The weak point are the legs themselves. Five sections, oh my.
One extension from the top works fine, the whole system is still pretty stable (mostly because there's so much mass still inside the first extension). The top two sections extended also works okay for relatively light cameras. The reason I have this pod at all is the m4/3 cameras I've been using. I can keep the Benro steady enough to get meaningful results with the E-P2 and virtually any lens I use with only two sections extended. the whole kit combination is incredibly light and compact. Two extensions brings the camera up to about waist height, by the way.
It's that next leg extention that starts to make the whole platform have flex, and that's a bad thing. Don't even bother pulling out the fifth section. Simply put, you're not going to get anywhere near eye level with a Nikon DSLR mounted on this thing and be able to avoid support movement. I'd suggest a good, light monopod before the traveler tripods for most vacationers. Of course, you can't perform long exposures or self-timer images to get you in the picture if you're using a monopod.
So my advice really stands the same here as it's always been: get a good tripod.
If you use a tripod on vacation, one thing you need to pay attention to is packed size. This is actually one of the things that makes everyone run to the smaller, less adequate tripods: if your suitcase can only handle a 22" long item, a lot of the better tripods won't fit in it. Personally, I bought my big duffel based upon my (at the time) Gitzo 1325's packed length, and my small duffel based upon the Gitzo 1228's packed length.
Bottom line: Auto Pack says bring a tripod, but make it a good one.