Benbo and an 8x10

[Keith Pitts]

Hi All,

Has anyone ever used a Benbo tripod with an 8x10 monorail? I need a tripod for the new camera and I can't afford Gitzo currently. If the Benbo is not recommended then can you suggest anything. The Burlbach's seem interesting as does the new induro from Mamiya. Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,

Keith

[C. D. Keth]

Hi All,

Has anyone ever used a Benbo tripod with an 8x10 monorail? I need a tripod for the new camera and I can't afford Gitzo currently. If the Benbo is not recommended then can you suggest anything. The Burlbach's seem interesting as does the new induro from Mamiya. Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,

Keith

I have a feisol 3401 I use for 4x5 and it's a great tripod that's much cheaper than a gitzo. I would thinkt hat something heavier like their CT3371 or CT4371 would do great.

[Mick Fagan]

Keith, it all depends to a point, on which Benbo you are talking about.

I have 4 Benbo tripods, my first was the Benbo Baby with extending legs and I also got the matching 50mm (2") ball head. This was bought from Kennet Engineering, which as far as I know, is or was, the originator of the Bent Bolt and design of the tripod. This tripod is about 30 years old and works as well as the day I purchased it.

The Baby is the best and strongest Benbo I have. I have a No. 1 and No. 2 both fitted with 50mm ball heads. I also have the Trekker which as it's name implies is very light.

I have used my No's 1 & 2 with a quite old Calumet 4x5 monorail, which whilst not as heavy as an 8x10 gave me a good idea of just what they can hold.

Benbo Tripods are absolutely fantastic on a rough surface, dirt, grass, rocks etcetera. They do though, have a real problem with smooth surfaces, the legs tend to very slowly slide or drift. No matter how tight I do up the bent bolt, the tripods move a few mm or so when I changed DDS. If I had critical close focus I would take my first exposure then I nearly always turn the DDS around and expose the other sheet. Invariably the second sheet had lost critical focus, took me a while to work out what it was.

I then did some tests and found that the Baby with extending legs, due I believe to it's compact size, was the most rigid of the three I used a large camera with.

The ball head is what I prefer and I thought the problem may lie there. I do have a Manfrotto 065 head which I popped on, same result.

Whilst Benbo do make some very large and heavy duty tripods and I have seen them, I would be wary that the design, unless it has been changed from my normal sized tripods, may not be the best on smooth surfaces.

Having used the same tripod(s) and head with my Shen Hao 4x5 the slight movement is still there. I really think they are great, but it appears to me their legs have a tendency to splay when running with a bit of weight and a smooth surface.

Mick.

[CG]

The big Bogen / Manfrottos - with the leg braces that have wing nuts allowing each individual leg spread to be adjusted from narrow to extremely wide - are great if massive tripods. I use a couple now - one with the bogen head with the quick release, and one with the sinar pan head on it.

Higher priced tripods are probably ultimately better machines - but I'm a sucker for value per dollar.

C

[Kirk Fry]

Majestic! with the geared head with a plate the size of a small air craft carrier. Mine only weighs 19 lb. You could probably park a truck on it. They come up for sale on eBay every once and awhile for practically nothing (this might have something to do with the 19 lb.) Why spend all the time and effort on 8X10 then put it on a dinky tripod. False economy. Buy American Iron! They still make them by the way, the movie industry still uses them. You can get floor wheels for them.

K

[Keith Pitts]

Thanks for the info guys.

I appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Keith