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Digital Camera World
Digital Camera World
Matthew Richards

Neewer Table Top Stand review: a really solid desk mounting stand with dual auxiliary arms

Neewer Table Top Stand.

I’ve amassed quite a collection of Neewer photographic accessories over the years and keep coming back for more. I just can’t resist good quality at a budget price. The Neewer Table Top Stand follows suit, being a very comprehensive camera desktop support that’s well made and very reasonably priced. More than just a pole that attaches to a table or desk, with a ball head on the top, it also includes two auxiliary arms, both of which have their own ball heads for full articulation. You also get a phone mount and thread adapters to step up the attachment size from 1/4” to 3/8” or 5/8” if required. The Neewer aims to be one of the best camera desk mounts but for a viable alternative, you could also take a look at the best tabletop tripods or even the best budget tripods.

The tabletop clamp has a large handle, which is mounted on a spring-loaded mechanism so you can rotate its orientation and avoid it sticking out. (Image credit: Matthew Richards)

Neewer Table Top Stand: Specifications

Neewer Table Top Stand: Price

This extensive kit of parts sells for around $40/£44. The closest competing table top mounting system that I’ve used is the 3 Legged Thing CDMS-2A, which costs $60/£47. That makes the Neewer product very competitive on price in the USA, less so in the UK. For my money, the 3 Legged Thing mount feels rather more luxurious but the Neewer has a stronger load rating (at least for the center pole) and can be mounted on thicker tabletops.

Neewer Table Top Stand: Design & Handling

If I had to sum up this camera desk mount in one word, it would be ‘chunky’. Starting at the bottom, it has an oversized desktop clamp. Where most similar mounts have a clamp that can accommodate a tabletop thickness of up to about 50mm / 2", the Neewer goes all the way up to 90mm / 3.5". That can certainly come in handy if you’ve got chunky furniture.

The tabletop clamp is taller than most, able to fit very thick tabletops and desks. (Image credit: Matthew Richards)

Next up is the 3-section extending center pole, which again has unusually large diameters for each piece of tubing, at 28 / 25 / 22mm. Coupled with a tough looking mini ball head on top, that equates to a beefy heavy maximum payload of 4kg / 8.8lb. Suffice it to say that it’ll take the weight of pretty much any camera you want to mount on your desk or table. Bear in mind, however, that if you want to mount the camera on one or both of the auxiliary arms, for example to add height or shoot directly downwards at something on the table, the maximum load rating drops to just 0.9kg / 1lb.

With a 3-section extending center pole, concentric tubes have diameters of 28 / 25 / 22mm from bottom to top, with twist-action clamps. (Image credit: Matthew Richards)

The Neewer is quick and easy to use. The twist clamps for the two extending sections of the center pole work with smooth simplicity, as does the ball head. The locking levers for the heads and both auxiliary arms are spring-loaded and mounted on hexagonal shafts, so you can pull them out and relocate them at the most convenient orientation.

The first of the two auxiliary arms has a C-clamp for mounting it to the upright center pole. (Image credit: Matthew Richards)

There’s a good range of height adjustment for the center pole, which extends from 44-103cm / 17.3-40.6" in operating height above the tabletop. The auxiliary arms have a length of 28cm / 11" for the one that attaches to the center pole, and 35cm / 13.8" for the second. The idea is that you attach the first arm to the upper section of the center pole, and can then add a camera or other accessory to its mini ball head. Alternatively, you can add the second auxiliary arm to the ball head of the first, rotate it to any angle, and then add a camera or accessory to the ball head at the top of the second arm. That gives plenty of versatility for setup.

Two identical mini ball heads are fitted to the top of the center pole and to the business end of the second auxiliary arm. (Image credit: Matthew Richards)

If you’re shooting with a phone rather than a camera, a spring-loaded phone mount is supplied with the kit, which can connect to any of the ball heads via one of two threaded brass sockets, one at the base and the other on the back side.

Neewer Table Top Stand: Performance

Naturally, any desktop camera mount is only as sturdy as the desk or table that you’re mounting it on. Even so, when attaching the Neewer to a solid dining table or weighty office desk, I found it to be very resistant to any flexing or wobble. Like with most competing stands, the tabletop clamp has rubberized surfaces to avoid any damage to furniture.

(Image credit: Matthew Richards)

The telescopic sections of the center pole extend and contract nice and smoothly, while the twist-action clamps lock everything off very solidly. The same goes for the mini ball heads, which proved very resistant to sagging in my testing, using a Sony A7 II and kit zoom lens, that has a combined weight of about 920g / 2lb. I was equally impressed with the performance of the dual auxiliary arms, when adding LED lamps and other accessories, but there’s a disparity in the load rating, which is very much lower for the arms than for the center pole.

Using one or both auxiliary arms, you can position the camera at pretty much any angle, including facing directly downwards to shoot subjects placed on a tabletop, as in the image below. (Image credit: Matthew Richards)
(Image credit: Matthew Richards)

Neewer Table Top Stand: Verdict

For a camera desk mount, the Neewer is a comparatively heavyweight affair. The load rating of the center pole is mightier than most, well suited to heavier camera/lens combinations, and I like that the desk clamp can accommodate thicker tabletops than most. All in all, it’s a very good kit at a reasonable price. However, the much lower load capacity of the arms can be a concern if you want to mount a camera on one of the arms instead of on the center pole.

(Image credit: Matthew Richards)

Should you buy the Neewer Table Top Stand?

✅ Buy this...

  • You need a camera desk mount that will fit to particularly thick tabletops, up to 90mm / 3.5" in size.
  • You want to be able to add an LED lamp or other accessories using one or two auxiliary arms.

🚫 Don't buy this...

  • You want to be able mount a heavy camera on one of the auxiliary arms instead of on the center pole.
  • You’d rather have a more lightweight camera desk mount that’s easier to slip into a bag and carry around.

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