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View Full Version : Benro travel tripod + 486RC2 or 488RC2?


Headshotzx
30th of June 2009 (Tue), 04:37
Hi everyone. It seems that my end of year trip with my school has not been cancelled, for those of you who were with me in the 1D3 vs 1D2 + lens thread in the camera forum.

I've decided to save up for a benro travel tripod, and to keep the cost low, I probably won't go with carbon fiber, but instead, stick to aluminum.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c147/JackYang006/BENROTRAVELANGELALUMSPECS-1.gif
Ignore the ball heads shown.

For the heaviest setup of 1 series (probably 1D2 instead of 1D3, because my trip's in November and parents can only get their bonuses in December, thus the lack of funds) + 70-200 2.8L IS + 580EXII flash, which is about 5kg at max, which should I be looking at? I'll be going with the A-xx9 versions with 5 legs for a more compact setup to store inside my backpack.

I've read reviews of the CF versions here at POTN, but I'm not sure of the aluminum versions. Anyone have experience with them? The A-169 seems about right. I'm 165cm, the ballhead brings the setup up 10cm and the setup alone should be about 15cm. So when I stand straight, the tallest tripod normal height I'd get (with column down) would have to be 140cm. The A-269's just about reaching that height, plus it's too heavy to be my travel tripod.

As for a head, I understand that the 488RC2 is quite a bit heavier and slightly larger than the 486RC2. Which should I be going for, if I want maximum compactness YET have the ability to securely hold my gear? For the 488RC2 panning ability... yeah I could get a smoother panning base if I want to do stitched panoramas.

Cheers,
Zexun

SkipD
30th of June 2009 (Tue), 06:08
As for a head, I understand that the 488RC2 is quite a bit heavier and slightly larger than the 486RC2. Which should I be going for, if I want maximum compactness YET have the ability to securely hold my gear? For the 488RC2 panning ability... yeah I could get a smoother panning base if I want to do stitched panoramas.You need to do some ordinary research. The weight difference between the 486RC2 and the 488RC2 is less than one half pound (0.47 pounds, according to the Bogen web site).

The 488RC2 creeps less than the 486RC2 when a heavy camera/lens is mounted and the ball head is set off center (such as in portrait position).

The pan release feature of the 488RC2 is quite useful and not available with the 486RC2.

Headshotzx
30th of June 2009 (Tue), 06:46
Whoops. 200g was my "quite a bit" heavier since we're talking about airline carry on. Yeah i know you can't lock the ball and use the panning on the 486, but for a travel tripod, which would be recommended more often?

The compactness factor is the most important because the legs will fold above the ballhead, so the base of the head has to be relatively small.

Headshotzx
1st of July 2009 (Wed), 08:59
Any help on the legs would be good (: