You’ve noticed that tripods come with two basic kinds of locks — twist locks and lever locks. They’re quite different. Which should you purchase? I’ll tell you my experiences and observations.

I generally like twist locks, or collar locks, but I feel that you have to really go out of your way to make sure that they are locked down because occasionally, if you are not careful, they can slip. 

A great advantage is that you can grab all the twist locks and untighten them simultaneously and deploy everything quickly. You can also, after collapsing the legs, tighten them all down in one motion as well. This is especially true of well-made tripods.

This maneuver is relatively quick. However, in practice, I believe lever locks still are faster when setting up the tripod. I’ll mention why later.

If you photograph in really sandy, dirty places like I do (desert, beach), they can eventually get sand caught in there, and you have to take it apart, clean and lubricate it with marine grease. This is in practice not really a bad thing as I’ve only had to take my tripods apart once or twice in the last eight or nine years, and it’s rather simple to do. 

The advantage of lever locks, or clamp locks, is that you KNOW when they are locked down. I mean, you’re 100% sure. You can visually see it. And when you are pressing the clamp down, you can feel it.

With lever locks, you can accidentally pinch your finger. I’ve never had this happen with twist locks. The locks also sometimes snag on cactus and branches.

Some people say that it hurts their hands when they lock it down. Some with arthritis have mentioned that it’s too hard on their hands. I’ve never had this issue, thankfully, but I thought I might pass this along.

The people who love lever locks really love them and will avoid twist locks at all costs. I get it. There’s a simplicity in locking your legs down, knowing that they’re locked.

From my limited experience with lever locks, they seem to loosen up over time. I’ve also seen more people with broken lever locks than twist locks. This is despite the fact that most of the night photographers I know use twist locks. This makes me believe that if you are going to get a tripod with a lever lock, don’t get cheap ones.

In theory, I prefer lever locks. 

In practice, however, lever locks catch on things either in my car, in storage, or even in the field. My twist locks don’t pull my underwear out of my backpack. They don’t snag on creosote or tree branches. They don’t hitch on to my baggy pants or shorts. I unfortunately speak from experience.

Consequently, I use twist locks.

If you are less clumsy than me or if you are not in these environments, I would give lever locks some serious consideration.

While using twist locks, though, I have gotten in the habit of checking everything before trusting that my tripod is rock solid and ready to go. This is my routine:

Because of this, I believe that using a tripod with lever locks is quicker and more convenient. It might be quicker anyway. And again, there’s that knowledge of knowing that a lever lock is, well, locked.

If you are going to use a tripod with twist locks, try this routine. It works really well for me and has become a habit.

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I am a night photographer. I drive long hours in a dusty car listening to weird music, stay out all night creating photos, get dirty, hang out with other creative sleep-deprived weirdos, see the stars drift across the sky and always find the best taco stands while photographing forgotten abandoned locales and amazing nightscapes. I have two books published with two more on the way. My images have appeared in National Geographic Books, Omni magazine, Los Angeles Times, Westways magazine and numerous other publications.

I have both and I prefer my bigger tripod, a Slik 1000, with lever locks. It also feels more secure to me when I mount my 200 to 600mm lens on it that weighs almost 6 pounds. My smaller tripod, more of a travel tripod, has twist locks. Personal preference I guess. And I have never lost my underwear using lever locks. :) On the Aurora Chasers website, they recommend lever locks over twist locks in the extreme cold. I haven’t gone to Alaska yet to try it out but I do agree with their recommendation. Now if someone would…  Read more »

Another vote for lever locks!! So gad you never lost your underwear with ’em either! But what’s worse is pinching your fingers, but you and everyone else are probably more “aware” or less clumsy than I am!

I have not tried any of this in extreme cold such as Alaska. The coldest I have photographed in so far is just under freezing, so not very cold. As for hand warmers, I guess someone could maybe devise some sort of USB-powered warmer and put them inside the legs! If you patent this idea, Dave, please name the warmer after me. :D

Ken, I believe we touched on that subject, however lightly, last November on our Mojave Desert excursion. It could come down to preference for those who have used both types. Or it could be whichever you happened to start with. My first tripod was a gift back in 1984. It’s a real beast, a Bogen (Manfrotto) weighing in at 9.5 pounds and it has lever locks. It sits in the closet collecting dust, too heavy to use anywhere but a studio. I guess I never considered any other type after that. I have two Vanguard tripods, a regular one and…  Read more »

Absolutely Tony, and thanks. A lot of it is personal preference. I am just sorta clumsy. I kinda wish I preferred lever locks. I LOVE that you can tell that they are locked, and that’s that. Simple and easy. But I’ll probably lose more skin from pinching my fingers if I continue. :D

+1 on the latches. I just feel like the twist locks take way too much time to deploy. With latches, they’re either locked or they’re not. There’s no wondering. There’s no twisting things the wrong way and figuring out that you’re actually loosening things rather than tightening. I think the only downside is they are subjected to more pressure which means they might be more prone to break. I have had a few scenarios in which I’ve had to replace the latch or tighten the latch after some period of time. But I think the benefit of the quick deployment…  Read more »

That’s just it, Tim (and thanks for commenting). It’s so nice and obvious to determine that it’s locked. That whole process I describe above is because I’ve had numerous times in which I could not tell that the tripod was locked down, and I had not twisted the twist locks all the way. That’s why I always perform that multi-step process. So I do wish I preferred lever locks. But after multiple bouts of pinched fingers and levers catching on things, I realized that I should probably just use twist locks.

I have had both and have evolved to liking the twist on my Oben and RSS. I haven’t had a problem with them locking but will worry about that from now on since you have mentioned it. ;-) The deciding factor was my clumsy pinching my finger in the levers a few times or getting my glove caught.

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