00:02hi this is Jay Collier from the
00:04photography Workshop Co in Melbourne
00:05Australia thanks so much for joining me
00:07today as I talk to you about the major
00:09differences between these two phenomenal
00:11carbon fiber tripods by benrow and how I
00:14utilize different features and functions
00:16in both of these tripods in different
00:18scenarios in the field so stay tuned for
00:21more details on how one of these tripods
00:24could be the next decision you make in
00:26investing in some insanely good gear to
00:28get you out there and shooting with
02:27yeah today I'm going to have a chat to
02:29you about my choice in tripods being
02:32that is quite a common question I get
02:34asked as to which tripods I personally
02:36use but what I would also recommend
02:39today I've got two different choices
02:41here of two tripods that I physically
02:43use in the field quite regularly and it
02:45comes down to the choice of the two
02:47benro tripods both carbon fiber that I
02:50have here right now which is the benro
02:52tortoise here on my right versus the
02:55benro Rhino here on my left now I'm
02:59going to talk a little bit more about
03:00these but also the most critical piece
03:03of gear that I have in my kit for travel
03:06and that is the lba2 benro leveling base
03:11I'm going to talk a little bit more
03:12about what this does in a moment
03:14but between these two tripods there's a
03:17choice to be made depending on where it
03:19is that I'm traveling and what it is
03:21that I'm taking pictures of so what
03:23you'll see the difference here between
03:24the benro tortoise versus the Rhino is
03:27the fact that the benro tortoise tripod
03:30has no Center column whereas the Rhino
03:32does have a center column and I will
03:34reach for these two tripods in different
03:37situations based on what it is that I'm
03:40if I'm out traveling and it's landscape
03:43specific I'm hiking on foot and I'm just
03:46saving as much weight and size as
03:48possible then generally I will reach for
03:51the tortoise with no Center column being
03:53that I can get down to the ground very
03:55quickly by simply pressing in the little
03:58silver buttons on the side here you can
04:00lock the legs down to be completely flat
04:02on all three legs there is a small
04:05button where you can adjust this by
04:07small incremental changes which will
04:09lock the tripod away at small angles or
04:12if you're standing between Boulders on
04:13uneven Heights you can have the legs at
04:15completely different heights and again
04:17just lock this one up to rest flat
04:19against a taller Boulder that might be
04:21sitting directly next to you to give you
04:23the confidence that this thing is dead
04:24stable and 100 solid and it's not going
04:28to fail on you when your camera's not
04:30going to toppling hit the ground
04:31now in those situations it is mainly
04:34around landscape having that no Center
04:36column just enables you to work quickly
04:39now where I do Reach For A Center column
04:41is mainly when I'm shooting Wildlife
04:43with longer lenses because quite often I
04:45will be in scenarios where I need to
04:47make a very quick height adjustment and
04:50that might be to clear some distracting
04:51foreground or foliage or grass or
04:54something that's interfering between me
04:55and the subject that I'm photographing
04:58so having the tripod with the ability
05:00with that Center column rather than
05:02having to mess around with three legs to
05:04quickly get yourself a height advantage
05:06or lower your tripod quickly it's just a
05:09case of using the center column and
05:11making that very quick adjustment now
05:13unlike a lot of other tripods or
05:14lightweight tripods on the market the
05:16center column on this one also being
05:18carbon fiber but it's quite thick which
05:21is extremely important for the fact that
05:23once you've got weight on this the last
05:24thing you want is this wobbling around
05:26and that might be in Wind particularly
05:28with very long super tele lenses you'll
05:30find that the lens hoods on those like I
05:33do personally use in my 600 F4 if it's a
05:36windy day it can buff it around and
05:38almost actually is a big sale we'll
05:40actually catch wind and transfer into a
05:42lot of camera motion and wobble now if
05:44you are on a trip that is taking in
05:46landscape and Wildlife then in general I
05:49will normally reach for the Rhino for
05:51the reason that when you're shooting
05:52landscape you've generally got more time
05:55on your hands to make those critical
05:57logo ground adjustments we're not having
05:59to move quickly in the case of missing a
06:03where the Rhino does come into play that
06:06you obviously don't have the advantage
06:07in the tortoise being that it is
06:09columnless is the fact that the column
06:11on the Rhino can also flip in upside
06:13down to get you a very low angle shot if
06:17you wanted to so it's a simple case of
06:19unlocking the center column removing the
06:21center column and placing it back in
06:24upside down and once that's locked away
06:27as you'll see you'll get that very very
06:30the only time that this is a concern is
06:32if you're shooting with extremely wide
06:34angled lenses say you're shooting at 11
06:36mil 12 mil or down to 14 mil
06:40depending on the angle of your tripod it
06:42may pick up the two legs in your
06:44foreground plus working upside down yes
06:47you do have their angle flip out screens
06:49that will flip the image up the right
06:50way for you but without that you'll
06:53generally find everything upside down
06:55can be a little distracting and a little
06:57harder to work with but I do find my
07:02for those trips taking in landscape and
07:05Wildlife is the benro Rhino that you see
07:08now another reason why if I'm on a trip
07:10shooting landscape and Wildlife or more
07:13specifically a wildlife specific trip
07:15the Rhino also has another really cool
07:19is that once you remove that Center
07:22it gives you the ability to remove one
07:25of the tripod legs so of the three
07:27tripod legs you'll see one that has a
07:29rubberized grip around it this one will
07:33and then join together with the center
07:35column to create a monopod now a monopod
07:39can be extremely handy thing for
07:41wildlife photography if you didn't want
07:44the extra bulk of using a full tripod if
07:47you are moving around on foot also works
07:50really well as as a hiking pole to get
07:51yourself up and down Boulders or
07:54slippery surfaces things where you might
07:55trip and fall versus using the whole
07:57tripod now where I personally like to
08:00use monopods is when I'm shooting out of
08:01a vehicle in Africa so there are so many
08:04times that you've got Wildlife coming
08:06close to the vehicle where you don't
08:08want to be shooting down on them from a
08:10higher vantage point you want to try and
08:12get down to as close to ground level or
08:14eye level as possible so I'll actually
08:16attach my camera to this flip it upside
08:18down and pop it down to the ground and
08:21using the Canon Connect app as a Canon
08:24user I can see and control my camera and
08:27fire my camera remotely while I can move
08:29this around to change the composition
08:30over the side of the car so it is
08:33something that is quite handy but again
08:35it really depends on the wildlife and
08:37subject that you're shooting and where
08:39you are so you will find a lot of guides
08:42won't allow that it's always best to
08:45check with your guide first if that's
08:46something you want to do because at the
08:48end of the day you really don't want to
08:50disturb or annoy an animal for the sake
08:51of an image that might place you and
08:53other guests in the vehicle in danger so
08:55just keep that one in mind
08:57now once this is put back in and
09:02to be a standard tripod again
09:05the next thing I'm going to show you
09:08is the lba2 leveling base and where this
09:13is really really critical particularly
09:15if you're a videographer where
09:17everything needs to be absolutely level
09:19so as you would know as a videographer
09:22the worst thing is that if your horizons
09:24aren't straight so fixing that in post
09:26is not as easy as it instills because
09:28you're having to adjust every single
09:30piece of footage back to level again
09:32where the leveling base comes into play
09:34also is for landscape photography so
09:37what this will actually do is just
09:38basically a half ball that slides inside
09:41a small base which enables you to
09:44quickly level the tripod without having
09:46to mess around with three legs
09:48particularly I found if you're working
09:50in unstable ground so that could be at
09:53the beach in sand or in sand dunes or
09:56Pebbles things that the slightest
09:58movement is going to throw your tripod
10:00off and in particular if you're picking
10:02a tripod up moving a couple of meters to
10:04find a new composition you have to start
10:06all over again messing with three legs
10:08and looking at one spirit level now what
10:11this leveling base will actually do is
10:12if you remove the tripod head
10:15you can attach that to the leveling base
10:18and then the leveling base to your
10:22so it's designed to sit between your
10:24tripod head and your tripod legs and
10:26what happens then is once that's
10:28attached you'll see that the half ball
10:30that moves this is a quite common thing
10:33to be built into video specific tripod
10:36legs because again trying to re-level
10:39video footage is a pain and it's really
10:41something you don't want to do but as a
10:43Stills photographer what turned me on to
10:45using leveling bases for the first time
10:47is after a trip I did to Namibia in 2013
10:50so that was the first of many other
10:52trips that I've returned to Namibia
10:54I only made the mistake once of not
10:57having a leveling base now I found
10:59myself working in sand in the dunes
11:01particularly in sausage Flay
11:03where the slightest movement you're
11:05having to re-level your tripod again
11:07now I personally use L brackets for the
11:10reason that once you have the tripod
11:13rather than tilting the tripod head over
11:15for a vertical or portrait orientation
11:17shot you're having to re-level each time
11:19so what I'll personally do is just throw
11:21the tripod down wriggle it hard into any
11:24sand to ensure that the tripods are
11:26stable as possible being that if I touch
11:28the camera and make any movements that
11:30it's not going to move then all I would
11:32do next is unlock the leveling base with
11:35a small lever at the side have a look at
11:37the spirit level move the whole tripod
11:39head until the base on the leveling base
11:45and once that's locked off and your
11:48tripod head is levels you've got a
11:50spirit level on the tripod as well is
11:52that you know 100 that if that camera
11:55now rotates around on its axis
12:02that your camera is going to be level
12:05particularly if you're shooting
12:06panoramas because the worst thing that
12:08you can have is that if it's slightly
12:10off and this is where if you're trying
12:13to level your tripod only using the legs
12:15is it might be level pointed at that
12:18direction but as soon as you've turned
12:20the camera if the tripod base is not
12:23level you can't tell
12:24so that's where just using say an
12:27in-camera level is not accurate because
12:29it's level at where it's currently
12:31facing not where it's moving to whereas
12:34once the leveling base is level then
12:36it's a guarantee that the whole tripod
12:38360 Degrees all the way around is level
12:40so if shooting panoramas you'll find a
12:43far more accurate shot
12:45okay now a final question I get asked a
12:47lot is the difference between using the
12:49clip or flip locks versus using the
12:52twist locks which you'll see here on
12:54both of these benro tripods I personally
12:58prefer the twist locks because there's
13:00no steel or metal in any of the
13:02components whereas you'll find a lot of
13:05the flip or the clip locks are supported
13:07by a single stainless steel bolt which
13:10over time if that does rust causes you
13:12the issue that if that snaps or fails
13:15the last thing you want is to have
13:16several thousand dollars worth of camera
13:18equipment on something that could
13:19potentially let go on any given time due
13:23with the twist locks they're componentry
13:27nothing is still on the inside so there
13:29are plastic bushes within the center
13:31columns themselves of the carbon fiber
13:35tubes that if you get sand and grit in
13:37them it's just a simple case of
13:39untwisting them pulling the tubes apart
13:41I generally use a brush or a dustpan
13:43brush in the shower to clean them all
13:46out and then again use a dry lubricant
13:48never use grease it just gets clogged up
13:50if you do but a dried lubricant that you
13:53can purchase from most hardware stores
13:54we'll get these back to running action
13:57very very smoothly and quickly with no
13:59parts that can potentially fail now I
14:02have found over time with the flip locks
14:04with those parts that can seize or fail
14:08to the point where they don't lock so
14:11you can give downward pressure and
14:12you'll see the legs start to collapse
14:14inwards whereas you'll find the
14:15mechanisms on these once you tighten
14:18them you can feel them locking there's
14:19confidence in the fact that they are
14:21locked and having the ability to pull
14:23them apart and service them and bring it
14:25back to factoring new condition without
14:28any rust without any general wear and
14:30tear and parts that can't be replaced is
14:32the very very big reason as to why I
14:34will use the twist locks now another
14:37reason the twist locks are good is I
14:38find it's Quick Test assemble all the
14:42they're making quick adjustments when
14:44you are using them out in the field
14:46in saying that what you'll generally
14:49find is that if you just grab all of
14:50them in your palm and give them all a
14:52Twist you can extend them all the way
14:54out very quickly collapse them all the
14:58and just give them all a Twist to lock
15:00up so thanks so much for joining me and
15:02allowing me to take you through the
15:04difference between the two tripods that
15:05I commonly use out in the field for
15:08those interested in purchasing a benro
15:09tripod particularly here in Australia
15:11you can purchase direct through the
15:13Australian importer and distributor
15:15Maxim as a benro Ambassador you also
15:18will receive a 10 discount when using
15:21our ambassador code pc10 on the website
15:24when you go to the checkout
15:26it also works on any products that Max
15:29and distribute here in Australia so it's
15:31not limited to only benro that might be
15:34a shimota bag Haider filters samyang
15:37lenses there are a multitude of
15:38different products that Maxim import
15:40into Australia where that code will work
15:43if there are discounts currently being
15:45run with Maxim our 10 discount code will
15:48stack saving you an additional 10 on top
15:50of any sales that are currently
15:53so thanks so much again for your time
15:54and attention I've been Jay Collier from
15:56the photography Workshop Co and if you
15:58might like to join me on Safari in
16:00Africa Antarctica kakadu and several
16:04other places in and around Australia
16:06please go to our website
16:09thephotographyworkshopco.com thanks so
16:11much and I hope to chat again very very
