Anybody tried Benro KS-1 or KS-2

I'm looking for an alternative to the Kirk or Arca ball heads for my Manfrotto 190. The idea in getting this carbon fibre tripod (I have others) is to use it for hiking, etc., so size weight are very important. I like both the Kirk and Arca heads but to outfit my camera and lenses with one of these ranges from $425 to over $650. And I'm not sure that I like them that much! So I thought that if the Benro head is at least half as nice as it looks, I could go that route.

Anyone have one?

Thread at:
http://www.photo.net …ch-msg?msg_id=00EjzA&tag=

Benro KS-1 and A127n6 legset user here. I was very skeptical when my local camera shop recommended them to me, but they let me play with it for a good half hour until I was pretty dang satisfied it would hold everything I needed and then some. The price is good, the build quality is reasonably good. I have never handled a real Arca Swiss but this head does what I need it to. The real thing handles 90 pounds. Put it into perspective, even Canon's 1200mm MONSTER, the Beast Itself, is ONLY 36 pounds or thereabouts. I hear if you buy the Beast, they actually throw the tripod in for free. I have no idea though..

Anyway back to the question. I have been playing with my Bigma on this particular tripod setup and the images are coming out tack sharp. The Bigma is, naturally, my heaviest lens, so if it can hold that one steady, everything else (which is much lighter, I usually use my 5D and 17-40 for lowlight work, which is a fraction of the Bigma's weight) is fine.

The camera shop convinced me this was the one when they put a Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 and a big fat body on it and pointed it up at 45 degrees and it didn't budge.. I figure by the time I can actually AFFORD the Canon version of the 300 2.8, I can dang well afford carbon fiber and a real Arca Swiss

Thanks for the mini review. They do look pretty substantial and for the cost, I think I'll give it a try.

You're welcome, hope it works out. My setup is rated to hold 12 pounds max, limited primarily by the legset. The head itself claims to be able to hold 25 pounds, but it's better to have a slightly-over-spec head so that it doesn't drift. Lockup is solid even with the Bigma sitting on it. Doesn't drift at all.

In comparison, my heaviest setup, contrived just for maximum weight, is a Bigma + 5D + 430EX (not that I ever actually plan on USING this combo). Weighs 7 pounds.

My heaviest setup that I'll actually USE on this is Bigma + 350D, at 5 pounds.

i've got the benro kb-2 and i've been very very happy with it. For the price, you can't go wrong, with the kb-2, i'm getting a 55mm ballhead that is acra-swiss compatible.

i've also got the benro c227 tripod which i too am very happy with.

Do you mind sharing where you got yours? I'm interested in the KS-1 model myself (not sure if there is much difference b/w the KS and the KB other than the finish but I prefer the KS finish)...

In the US it is pretty much eBay-only item...