Recommended travel tripod and extra batteries for the Canon EOS R8?

Question

So I finally pulled the trigger on the Canon R8 for my trip to Iceland in three weeks and honestly the weight is amazing but man the battery life is stressing me out already. I've been looking at some spare batteries and everyone says just get the official Canon LP-E17 ones but they're like 60 bucks each which feels like a total rip off when I can get a two pack of Wasabi or Neewer batteries for way less. But then I read that the third party ones dont show the battery percentage on the screen or they give you a weird warning message every time you turn the camera on and I really dont want to deal with that in the middle of a shoot... but paying 120 for two spares is rough.

Then there's the tripod situation. I need something that fits in a carry-on because I am not checking bags for this flight. I looked at the Peak Design travel tripod because everyone raves about it but honestly my budget is more like 200 max and that thing is way over. I saw the Manfrotto Element II which is way more affordable but then someone in a review said it shakes too much in the wind which is basically all of Iceland. My logic was that since the R8 is so light I could get away with a thinner tripod but maybe thats a mistake if I'm doing long exposures?

Budget is $200 for the tripod

Needs to be light enough for hiking

Batteries that wont throw error codes

Anyone found a good balance for this setup or should I just suck it up and buy the official stuff?

madisonavemuse · Accepted Answer

I learned the hard way with my R8 that wind is your worst enemy. I tried a super light set once and almost lost my gear... so scary. You might want to consider the Vanguard VEO 3GO 235AB Aluminum Travel Tripod for that budget. Also, be careful and make sure batteries are fully decoded so you dont get errors. I used BM Premium LP-E17 Battery Pack and they showed levels without those annoying pop-ups, tbh.

robert.murphy · Answer

Adding my two cents... Be careful with that Iceland wind. I'd suggest the Benro MeFOTO RoadTrip S Aluminum Tripod and maybe just one official Canon LP-E17 Lithium-Ion Battery for peace of mind.

Harper · Answer

Coming back to this... @Reply #2 - good point! Unfortunately, I have had some pretty disappointing experiences trying to save money on power and stability for major trips. My last travel setup was just not as good as expected once the wind actually started picking up, and honestly, it was a total headache. To help figure out what will actually survive Iceland, I have a couple questions:

Are you planning on doing a lot of long exposure work like the Northern Lights, or is this tripod just for quick daytime landscapes?

Roughly how many shots or how much video are you planning to churn through before you can get back to a wall charger at night? Reliability is everything when you are that far from home and I dont want you to end up with gear that lets you down...