For your situation, I’d look at Sirui T-1205X Carbon Fiber Tripod with B-00K Ball Head—I’ve dragged it through windy night streets with a small full-frame kit and it’s WAY steadier than most “travel” legs, and it packs tiny. If you want taller/less fuss, Peak Design Travel Tripod Aluminum is super quick and doesn’t feel noodly, just pricier. Watch out for skinny bottom leg sections + a tall center column… that’s where wobble lives.

Like someone mentioned, the value/stability angle in Reply #3 is the right way to think about this for night + long exposures. A small full-frame body like the S9 doesn’t weigh much, but it *still* shows blur from micro-jitter, especially with a skinny center column.

A few budget-friendly, safety-first options I’ve had good luck with:
- Manfrotto Befree Advanced Aluminum Travel Tripod with 494 Ball Head — usually ~$160–$220. Not the lightest, but the leg locks are reliable, and the head is “good enough” if you don’t hang weight off it.
- Benro Rhino FRHN14C Carbon Fiber Tripod with VX20 Ball Head — often ~$230–$280 on sale. A bit above budget sometimes, but IMO there’s a real stability jump vs ultra-compact legs.
- Leofoto LS-254C Carbon Fiber Tripod + Leofoto LH-30 Low Profile Ball Head — pricing varies, but you can sometimes keep it near ~$250 if you shop around.

What to watch out for (this matters more than brand):
- Keep center column use to “emergency only.” If you need height, buy longer legs.
- Make sure the ball head has a proper friction control (helps prevent “creep”).
- For travel safety: check leg lock play, and always do the “push test” before letting the camera go hands-free.

And yeah… wind is the real tripod killer. A small hook + a light bag helps a lot. Hope this helps!

I went through this last year with a small full-frame kit, and unfortunately my cheap travel legs w/ a tall center column were… not as good as expected for windy night stuff (you could literally see micro-jitter on long exposures). Switching to Ulanzi Coman Zero Y Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod with Ball Head helped mainly because I could keep the column down and use a wider stance. Biggest “tip” from my mistakes: prioritize thicker top leg sections + minimal center column time.

Tbh I have to disagree a bit with the focus on tall tripods for a camera like the S9. I used to carry a standard travel tripod through Kyoto, and honestly, the wind just turned those thin legs into tuning forks. For long exposures, height is usually your enemy. Since the S9 is so compact, you might want to consider a much lower, more rigid profile that you can just set on a ledge or a wall instead of trying to reach eye level. I eventually moved to a modular setup because the all-in-one kits always felt a bit flimsy for night shots:

• Leofoto MT-03 Spider Desktop Tripod
• This thing is basically indestructible and fits in a jacket pocket.
• Vanguard VEO 3T 235C Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod
• If you absolutely need height, this one is surprisingly stiff for its size.
• Sunwayfoto XB-28 Low Profile Ball Head
• Swapping a stock head for something lower like this really helps with ball head creep. Just be careful with those super thin 5-section legs people recommend. They look great on paper but in the real world, the bottom section is usually about as thick as a pencil. I once had a leg lock slip during a 20-second exposure near a bridge... lets just say Im lucky I had the strap around my wrist. Make sure to check the leg diameter before buying, anything under 10mm at the bottom is gonna wobble if someone even breathes near it.

Building on the earlier suggestion, not to disagree, but I’d skip the “tiny carbon travel” hype if you want value + stability for long exposures. Look at Leofoto LS-254C Carbon Fiber Tripod (pair it with Leofoto LH-30 Ball Head or similar) — usually lands around your budget if you shop sales. Also, keep the center column down and hang a small bag from the hook… wait, getting sidetracked, but it seriously helps in wind.

Coming back to this after looking at some specs... unfortunately most of the travel stuff out there is just not as good as expected for actual long exposures. Ive had issues with leg flex on almost every sub-200 tripod when doing 30-second shots at night. Before I give you a solid recommendation tho, what lenses are you planning to put on the S9? If youre using something like a heavy zoom vs the kit prime, it really changes what kind of leg diameter you need for stability. Quick tip: keep that center column down or your camera basically becomes a bobblehead in the wind. If you compare the build quality, Vanguard VEO 3T 235CBP Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod usually feels way more stable than the generic Benro or Ulanzi stuff. Another one to look at is the Slik PRO CF-634 Carbon Fiber Tripod because Slik uses much better carbon weave that actually damps vibrations instead of just being light. Vanguard definitely has better leg locks than most in this price range...