Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod

I used to own a Manfrotto tripod one generation older than this. The center column could be loosened through a series of operations, and remounted upside down or horizontally. It was a nice tripod, but cumbersome to operate. This newer model is so much easier to handle with it brilliant flexible head, which allows the center post to be tipped to horizontal with one simple operation. And you don't even have to remove the camera.

It's an aluminum tripod and not lightweight, but I love using it and it's robust and stable, and has held my cameras steady on hundreds of occasions. It's very flexible and can adapt to almost any terrain and can go very low as well as very high - even without extending the center column.