2026-10-25 Pentax MT-10 Table Top Tripod

I bought this Pentax MT-10 table tripod with an additional ball head mounted on it.

The MT-10 would normally look like this when it is erected and locked with the relatively large camera mounting face horizontal. As you can imagine some cameras—if mounted along the mounting plate—might overbalance the small legs all being located down at one end. Mounting the camera this way also results in the camera only being adjustable for tilt side-to-side.

So assuming you have a small digital camera mounted on the ball head you would end up like this. You can point the camera straight down off each side. You can also level the camera both horizontally and vertically with some chance the whole assembly won’t topple in even a gentle wind.

But let’s back up.

With the ball head removed and the MT-10 collapsed you end up with this slim and trim “pocket sized” assembly.

From the top the tripod fitting is the only projection. Perhaps it would be as easy to simple attach the MT-10 to the camera’s base and leave it on.

The bottom side view shows the middle “leg” doesn’t pivot with the other side legs.

The two side legs swing away from the center leg, leaving you with this until you release the hub lock.

Speaking of the hub lock, it releases by pressing the lever arm down. You lift the arm back up to lock the legs. It cleverly locks so everything is parallel as you see here.

This over view from the side is just a reminder you must still lift the mounting surface to be parallel to the surface you are standing it on.

From head on you can see the MT-10 has a reasonable “footprint” to not blow over left-to-right. To a degree the heavier the camera, the less likely the MT-10 will topple.

The relative scale of the camera and MT-10 can be seen here.

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