Beware if you use long glass on these tripods, The C358n6 is rated for 22lbs, last weekend My tripod developed another serious, serious problem.
I have a wimbery full gimbal attached to my MK3 with 500mm F4 IS lens attached, I usually carry the tripod over my right shoulder with camera and lens attached, I came to a clearing set the tripod down and looked through the camera, locked the gimbal on the target, something wasn't right the camera and lens were not locked, somehow there was quite a bit of movement in the column and plate that the camera is attached to the column.
When I got home I disassembled the tripod and started to inspect the column, I thought maybe the bushing that locks the column wore out, the problem was much more serious than that.
In the end on the center column there's a bushing that's glued in, there is a small pin that helps to retain it in the end of the carbon fiber tube, the bonding material broke loose which inturn allowed the plate to move around on the end of the column.
The only thing holding my rig on the tripod was a glued in bushing aprox 1/2 in long and 5/8 dia
When I saw this I was in shock that Benro's engineer's would design something so poorly, if they had made the bushing 2 in's long and bonded and pined three place around the O.D. of the column it would have ten times the holding power.
Beware if you own one of these, another serious issue with these.
I have a question here. Not meant to be an ass or picking or anything, just curiosity. With a Mk III body, a 500mm lens, and full Wimberley, why did you choose to go with a Benro legset? These have gotten almost universal bad press around here.
This looks like another cautionary tale we can refer back to & point out that Thom Hogan is right in his article we frequently reference.
claudermilk wrote:
I have a question here. Not meant to be an ass or picking or anything, just curiosity. With a Mk III body, a 500mm lens, and full Wimberley, why did you choose to go with a Benro legset? These have gotten almost universal bad press around here.
This looks like another cautionary tale we can refer back to & point out that Thom Hogan is right in his article we frequently reference.
I purchased these legs before I purchased the forementioned camera and lens, I wanted a stout tripod for my 30D and 400 so I skimped and purchased the Benro C358N6 didn't have enough money for a Gitzo at the time, I know big mistake, live and learn, at my age, I should have known better
bbudman wrote:
One of my local retailers sells the Benro and Induro lines of tripods and heads right along with the Gitzos.
I always thought Benro and Induro were the same company??
I think the issue with Benro from what I heard is the quality control. The legs itself are good but the joints are the weak spot and some are not assembled up to standard. That's why you'll hear stories of them breaking at the joints.
Not from experience though so just take that with a grain of salt. For me, I bought at Gitzo cuz I didn't want to risk breaking $6000 worth of gear just to save $100-$200 bucks.
Steve A wrote:
I purchased these legs before I purchased the forementioned camera and lens, I wanted a stout tripod for my 30D and 400 so I skimped and purchased the Benro C358N6 didn't have enough money for a Gitzo at the time, I know big mistake, live and learn, at my age, I should have known better
Steve
Ah, makes more sense now.
From what I recall it's not just the joints that fail; I've read of a few spiders breaking as well. There's been enough reports of enough problems I personally wouldn't trust any single part of the assembly. As we are seeing here, the more Steve is flogging himself by continued use of the tripod, the more parts are failing. Before long I expect he'll have nothing but a pile of busted pieces on the floor. Oh, and AFAIK Induro is just a new US-market name for Benro, the more to confuse people (and probably to try and hide from the awful rep the Benro name has gotten...nice try).
