Dan Martin

I have been on the quest for a new tripod for a few months now, and just last week I finally found one that suited my needs... the Benro C328n6.



My priorities were:
1) it had to be tall enough for me to be able to shoot at eye level.
2) it must be very sturdy for bracket shots and long exposures.
3) it has to fit on my backpack with a ball head installed.

Since I'm 6'5", the first priority was the hardest to meet. There are many pods that got close to eye level with a ball head installed and the center column raised as much as possible, but I wanted something that I could use with the column down for stability. Height is no problem with this pod!



That's a standard 7' door for comparison and the center of the pod is directly under the frame. It measures 73" fully extended which is actually 5" taller than the spec sheets suggest. With a ball head on top and my 30D mounted, it would be 8" higher than my eye!

Sturdiness is not an issue whatsoever. It could easily support a 500mm f/4 with a full wimberley mount and all the standard goodies attached. The top tube is 32mm (1.26") in diameter which is very beefy. The locks are all very solid and open in just a quarter turn. The legs are of the anti-rotating variety which makes setup a snap. The current 3-series Gitzo's don't have anti-rotating legs, but they will have them in a few weeks (at ~$150 more than the current models).

I went with the four section version even though I would prefer a three section. The three section pod would have been about 4" too long to carry on my backpack, this one is perfect. If it were any longer, it would get snagged on everything on hikes.


So what about quality?
If you didn't read my little blurb about the origins of Benro in my Sigma lens thread, Benro is as much of a perfect copy of a Gitzo as one could possibly make. To make a long story short, Gitzo got greedy about a year ago and decided it could make a couple extra bucks by moving their manufacturing facility from Italy to China. Well, the guy who set up the factory for them in China set up an identical factory 15km away and put the same equipment in both plants. They have the same equipment, materials, and manufacturing techniques so their product line is practically a mirror image of the Gitzo catalog.



Needless to say, the quality is very good indeed. I wouldn't say it's 100% identical, but it wouldn't be an exaggeration if I said they were 98% the same. All of the major components (locks, tubes, and castings) are right on par with Gitzo. The only difference I could tell was a little paint overspray on the inside of the rapid column lock. It was only visible when I took the column out to flip it over, so unless someone took apart my tripod, they'd never see it. For that matter, the Gitzo 1327 I played with might have had the same overspray since I never took the column out. There was a little extra glue stuck on the head casting around where the bubble level was glued in, but I just scraped it off with my nail. That's it though. Everything else is fantastic.

The real attraction to Benro is value for money. The C328n6 goes for $355US, where a comparable Gitzo 3530LSV will go for $750 when it comes out next month. You get more than just a better price with the Benro though. I received a carrying bag, a shoulder strap that can be used when you don't want to put it in the bag, steel spikes for soft ground, a double-headed box wrench, and an allen key. That's probably another $80 worth of goodies included in the box.


I'll have to get some field time with it, but I like what I see so far.

dragon084

thats crazy large.

I just purchased a mini tripod.

I can stack boxes and put it on top

Bdog

That's sweet, and not that much either.

wndrlst

Congrats!! That's an awesome tripod! My Gitzo only came witht the box & allen wrenches. Definitely no bag or carrying strap in sight. I like the strap, though - I may have to look for one of those for the times I don't feel like carrying the whole pack. And, of course, no level, but the ball head has one. Nice buy!

Oh yeah, and dayum that's tall!! I'd need a step-ladder!

Dan Martin

I didn't even know it came with the strap, so I was ready to buy this one next week: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

The Op/Tech one is pretty highly regarded and it's a good price, so I'd say it's a safe buy.

It not only has a level, it has a compass built in. I don't know why I'd need a compass on my tripod, but perhaps that will be revealed to me at some point in the field.

Street Spirit can stand under it.

EuRTSX

Finally, a Tripod made JUST for Honey Dippin' Dan.


Looks great!

wndrlst

Thanks for the link!

moeronn

Damn that's tall. How much does it weigh?

Dan Martin

It's just under 5lbs. If it were Aluminum, a tripod this size would be pushing 11lbs. I took off one of the legs tonight just to see what the sections weigh and they're incredibly light. Word of advice, they're a bitch to put back together, so just take my word for it.

moeronn

Not too bad. That means one for my height should only be around 3 lbs

Dan Martin

Yep, that's about right. The C227n6 (3 segment) is 3.5lbs and the C228n6 (4 segment) is 3.7 lbs.

If you're looking for a really lightweight and compact solution, Feisol just released a new travel tripod and head combo that weighs 1.1kg: http://feisol.com/english/CT3441B.htm
For the first 100 customers, they're only charging $299 for the combo, which is less than most legs go for.

badboy

That looks like a nice pod...the only thing missing is a quick release.

Dan Martin

It has one, it's just a different style. It looks like you unscrew the top screw and lift the plate out. The plate also doubles as the panning mechanism. The nice thing about this setup is the paning axis will always be parallel to the camera, so your pans will always be straight. It's a lot faster to level with the ball head than it is to level the legs of your tripod.

The Arca-Swiss Z1 Dual Pan uses the same concept, but on a larger scale. Now if Arca would just hurry up and make some inventory, I could place my order...

leftride

iTrader: (1)

very cool! some day i'll upgrade my cheap sunpak with 3way pan/tilt. I did just pick up a sunpak mini tripod with ball head that i am excited to play with.