I’ve recently become massively annoyed with my old ProMaster XC525 tripod. Back when I bought it, I honestly wasn’t that much into photography, and didn’t know what I needed. Turns out, what I needed wasn’t really a budget priced, mass market tripod that’s a pain to use, has a jammed center post, and leaves gooey gunk on my fingers after only a couple of years’ use. That sent me on a mission to find something better.
The Back Story
Buying a tripod doesn’t seem like something best left to an e-commerce experience. I buy plenty of things online, but I didn’t want to repeat my haste and mistakes that led me to the ProMaster, so when I was recently at Denver Pro Photo (they’re in my Vendor Directory), I talked about the store’s choices with one of the guys — all seasoned photographers. The shop carries Benro, a brand I was wholly unfamiliar with.
After an initial look, I did do some exploration online. My interests were two-fold:
- See if I could get a better price.
- See if what I’d seen in the store was the right choice for me.
As for the price, Benro is one brand that uses the common MAP (minimum advertised price) approach, coupled with the notion of authorized dealers, to keep pricing consistent and level. You could label that price controls, if you want, and perhaps it is, but apparently MAP pricing — common in the music gear world too — doesn’t run afoul of ever-weakening consumer protection laws, so it is what it is. The flip side is it didn’t matter if I ordered it from B&H out of New York, or bought it locally, the price was essentially the same.
As for right choices, well, that’s simply hard to know. On the surface, a tripod is a tripod, and beyond the choice between (very expensive) carbon fiber and (much cheaper) aluminum, it becomes a matter of seeing what other people think (online reviews) and what’s “in the box.”
- Reviews
Everywhere I went, reviews of the Benro tripod and ball head I was considering were pretty consistently good. I take reviews on e-commerce sites with a serious grain of salt, but on balance, all seemed to point in the right direction. - In the Box
I’ll talk about it more in a moment, but the accessories included with the tripod seemed to match up with my needs and wants, so again, things were pointing in the right direction.
Spending US$300+ on a tripod wasn’t something I was relishing, but one of the drivers here was using heavier cameras (like the Graflex Pacemaker 45 Crown Graphic, Mamiya RB67, etc.), and I wanted seriously stability and safety — a job best not left to a cheap wannabe-grade tripod. And truth be told, I still do shoot digital sometimes, and my enormous Tamron telephoto zoom lens for my Canon DSLR is a heavy beast of a lens that needs decent support. In the end, I opened the wallet.
The Product and The Experience
The TMA37AL is part of Benro’s Mach3 range. Where the “37” comes from, I don’t know, but this particular choice was longer when folded-up (specs say 26.8 in. or 68 cm) than the other aluminum option Denver Pro Photo stocked. I didn’t realize it when I was making the selection, but the longer legs mean you don’t have to extend and extend and extend to get a usable extended height. With my compact ProMaster, I had to use three of its four extensions — making four leg segments in total — to get a usable height. Twist unlocking, extending, and twist locking, multiplied by three legs and three segments, is a lot of what makes the ProMaster a pain in the rear to use. I do NOT recommend compact tripods for this reason alone; you just can’t deploy them fast enough, and then you have to do it all in reverse to move on.
It has some heft; the specs say it’s 5.2 lbs. (2.36 kg), but I have no need to hike the back country carrying it, so weight honestly wasn’t a primary factor. I was more interested in its capacity, which is stated as 35.3 lbs. (16 kg) — far heavier than I’ll ever ask it to manage. The legs are beefy; they’re in three sections with the outermost leg being 1.3 in. (32.4 mm) and the innermost 1 in. (25.2 mm). That strikes me as pretty substantial.
Testing the unit in the store, I particularly liked how quickly the twist-locks for the legs worked. They required less travel than the ProMaster, and it’s faster and easier to set it up. Additionally, the legs are long enough that I only need to deploy one extension, not two, before the height is where I need it (provided I also raise the center post). Untwist, extend, and twist just three times and I’m done (vs. the ProMaster’s nine times). I was liking the choice.
Benro, like other manufacturers, gives you a choice of head options, but the most common for still photographers is the ball head, and there are three options: B1, B2 and B3. Leroy at Denver Pro Photo suggested going no smaller than the B2; the B1 has a smaller base that doesn’t fit the tripod well, and the B3 is frankly beefier than I needed.
The B2 has a 35.3 lbs. (16 kg) capacity — a nice match for the tripod itself, and again, for more capacity than I actually need, but I wanted to “up-spec” a bit.
The ProMaster was the first tripod I’d used with a ball head, and honestly, the experience wasn’t great. The head simply flops all over the place, and while that’s OK with a very light camera, it’s dangerous to unusable with anything heavy. The Benro B2 is a completely different experience.
First, the ball movement has a drag control, so there’s never a risk (when it’s properly set) of the ball just flopping to the side under the weight of the camera. Initial adjustment requires some care, with the camera on the unit, but once set, you’ll only need to fine-tune when necessary. The main tensioning knob can then be safely loosened, the camera positioned accurately and with ease, and tightened back up. Frankly, I love it.
Second, I absolutely love the quick release operation. Designed for safety of your gear, it’s a two step process. The first loosening of the QR knob will free the plate movement, but removable stops keep anything from coming off the tripod. Once you have a firm hold on your camera, you then pull the knob outward, where you can loosen further, and remove the camera (and the plate) from the head. There’s simply not an opportunity for you to have a camera fall off of this thing unless you’re trying.
My only advice? When you’re putting the camera on, make 100% certain the plate is fully inserted — both sides — on the head. That goes without saying, but it’s worth kneeling down and make sure, and not just doing it by feel.
Third, I love the way the center post is operated. The clamp for it is easy to get leverage against, and simple to use. The ProMaster’s twist style clamp for the center post never did work right from the very beginning, and the post itself has since nearly completely seized-up, making it hard to move at all — regardless of the twist clamp.
One final thought about this tripod vs. my old one; one thing that drives me crazy about the ProMaster is the fact that, with the legs extended, if you gather them together to carry the tripod without collapsing it, the legs will cross the centerline. Small point, but it makes the tripod harder to use and carry with the legs sort of all over the place. With the Benro, you can leave the legs extended, fold them inward, and carry it — the legs will stay neatly parallel.
The Accessories
What comes in the box with the Benro is everything you need. The tripod itself comes with both a light slipcover, and a really nicely made soft case that gives the appearance that it’ll last through years of use.
The case has two large zipper pockets for additional items. As shipped, one contains the shoulder strap that you can attach, and the other has the tools, manual, and spike ends that you can use in lieu of the rubber feet that came attached to the leg ends from the factory. This allows easy use indoors, or out.
Also provided is a short center post, which you can swap out for the long one that’s inserted at the factory. For my purposes, I doubt I’ll ever use it, but it’s nice to have, I suppose.
The Verdict
In the end, having and using the Benro tripod and ball head is a joy, and I don’t regret the investment. It may have cost double what I paid for the ProMaster, but for me, it’s more than twice the tripod. If you’re in the market for some camera support, definitely give it a look.
