tripod newbie - thinking of Benro

[crockny]

Hi - I'm in the market for a tripod - my first. I need something light or I know I won't carry it around ... I'm thinking of the Benro Travel Angel Carbon Fiber -- about $330 on Ebay -- has anyone used this and if so what do you think of it? How is the ball head? I'm open to any other suggestions ...

I don't know if I'd be using my heaviest lens on it, I have a Canon 7D and the heaviest lens I have is the 400mm 5.6 which I prefer to handhold for birds anyway -- the next heaviest is my Tamron 18-270 ... it's a tradeoff between light weight and stability I know ...

Any thoughts?

[Michael_2010]

I have the Magnesium-Aluminium Benro Travel Angel and I like it pretty good. It folds down to a length that is not hard to carry and it is pretty stable. Funny thing happened though, I paid extra for the ball head that is supposed to support up to 13 pounds and I fooled around and lost the quick release plate out on some site while shooting a sunset. I ordered the recommended replacement for that head and it was way too big. The plate that fit was the one recommended for the smaller head that had less capacity and was much cheaper than the one I bought. Gave me a funny feeling...

I now have a Manfrotto ball head on the Benro legs and I'm pretty content with that setup.

[Krusty79]

I collected a bunch of threads on this site about buying tripods. You can see them here - Everything you ever wanted to know about photography! On DPS!

Just scroll down to my post.

[crockny]

Has anyone used the Benro Travel Angel?