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Alternative tripod, Benro, Benro A298M8 Tripod, Benro A298M8 Tripod Review, Benro Review, Benro Tripod, Benro Tripod Review, camera, Cheap Tripod, Cheap tripod review, Cheaper Tripod, D7000 Blog, Digital Camera, Digital Photography, New D7000 user, new DSLR, Nikon, Nikon Blog, Nikon D7000, Nikon D7000 Benro Tripod, Photography, Tripod review, Using a Nikon D7000
So I want to do gear reviews from time to time and although I wanted to eventually do a review on tripods, I felt a need to write one sooner due to this Blog/Podcast post I read/listened to here: http://www.photography.ca/blog/2011/04/26/tripod-photography/
First off let me say that I absolutely love this podcast! It’s very informative, fun to listen to as it’s not too long, and Marko keeps it moving quickly without any rambling, or useless chatter. I always enjoy it when the episodes randomly play on my MP3 player at work. An added bonus is his accent which makes me chuckle everytime I hear him. J/K Marko! The major points of his advice are these: 1-Don’t go cheap, 2- Don’t buy on the internet, try out the tripod at a local store, 3-Buy one with a seperate head-again don’t go cheap. 4-Carbon Fiber to save weight. He really hammers home the advice to not just buy it after reading reviews online but to absolutely go try it!!
I completely agree with him on all these points! That being said I pretty much broke everyone of them! That happens when you’re on a budget, I can hear you now saying “hey dummy you just bought a $1,500 camera and you can’t afford a $800 tripod and $400 Head?” Yeah that’s exactly what I’m saying, it took me 4 years to save up for the camera and honestly I just don’t have the patience to wait 4 years to save up for an expensive tripod and head. Also I’m of the opinion that most Photography related items are highly overpriced and it’s very disheartening to see those prices and know that you really need these things, so anytime I can “stick it to ’em” I will. Plus I’ve got glass to buy… (don’t get me started on those prices)
So onto the review, even though I live in a decent sized city (Salt Lake City, Utah) and we have a number of really great photo stores, none of them carry off brand tripods and I wasn’t going to waste my time looking at tripods outside of my price range which was $200 or less. I think if you can do that you definitely should try before you buy, or even just to see what options you want, or to find the right height. Since that option wasn’t available to me I had to rely on online reviews and for the Benro tripods there are a few, although I wish there were more available so hopefully this one will be useful to someone who is looking. After reading and watching as many youtube video reviews as I could find and there were plenty of pro’s and cons given I settled on this tripod the Benro A-298 M8 I chose this model due to it’s cost, abilities (covered later) and its height. As Marko says you should get a tripod that fits your height, and even with only two of the three leg sections extended I’m able to use this without much bending.
Here we see the Benro with my old Vivitar VPT-2400 tripod this is one of those el-cheapo tripods you get at Walmart for ~$20 I’ve had this for 10 years and it’s worked great for my little point & shoot camera. But there was no way I was going to trust my D7000 to that! It actually fell over once with my P&S on it during a windy day while I was trying to get a group shot of the family on one of our excursions, this is what happened to the camera:
Thankfully it still worked for the next 3 years, but I will never trust my D7000 on it.
The Benro has these features that helped me to pick it: 1- It collapses to a small size – 22″ without the ballhead, but is still the right height for me when extended (I’m 5’9″). 2- Weight, Even though it’s not Carbon Fiber it’s still pretty light – with the ball head on it weighs 5lbs. (Benro has a Carbon Fiber version) 3- the Flexpod arm which allows you to swing the camera out from the center line using the removable/extendable/reversible center column. Some additional things I’ve found since using it is that it’s sturdy, and everything moves really smoothly. I also found that I like the twist locks ( I haven’t gotten them really dirty yet so we’ll see if I still like them after some more exposure to elements) andI love ball heads but more on that in the next review.
In conclusion: Nice tripod, but what do I know I’ve used a piece of junk for 10 years?!
I have no buyers remorse whatsoever, and I’m quite pleased with the sturdiness and finish. I really hope that the influx of these lower priced tripods and other accessories will start to drive some pricing competition into the photography marketplace because it really needs it. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me: newd7000user@gmail.com
Happy -sturdy- Shooting!
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Love Unity Esthevic B. Tira said:
I’m excited to check this mode (Benro A-298 M8) l in our local photography store. Then you so much for the informations you shared.
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JLI said:
Um, okay. Wow. I thought my Manfrotto was awesome. This t-pod is AMAZING.
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grace said:
i just bought benro A300f for 3k only! it’s already ball head and fits in the bag 🙂
chris de schepper said:
your benro tripod fits in the bag, you can bend the legs in the other direction , so that the ball head sits inside the legs, have a look on their website
newd7000user said:
Chris, thanks for taking the time to read and comment. On this particular model the legs do not bend backwards, although I do like that option on their travel tripods. I have gotten it to fit by just readjusting the ball heads position, although I find myself not even using the bag anymore since I now have a camera backpack with a tripod sling.
Dmitry said:
ty to insert central arm backwards… that’s similar to bend legs upwards.
chris de schepper said:
I have a 1681T and can pack it with the head packed inside the legs.It is smaller and lighter as my old Gitzo, and just as stable.Sold the Gitzo.
newd7000user said:
Yeah I’m thinking of getting a travel angel series tripod someday, I’m impressed by the design and portability, seems like they’d be great for air travel especially. What camera do you use? my only concern is the included ball head being undersized for my camera.
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Adam Perkins said:
Thanks for the review. I am trying to decide between a Manfrotto 055XProB and a Benro A2970F. I am leaning more toward the Benro but the only downside was that there were not very many reviews on it, so your review came in handy.