How and why I set up office
Using the Benro Slim Travel Tripod
Note: All images (apart from those above of the tripod) taken using OMD M1 MKii mounted on the Benro Slim. Click to expand images.
My Creative Equilibrium Issues
You may laugh or even relate but by the time I arrive at a location I can be mentally dishevelled by all manner of disturbance, it might be some new level of ridiculous I hear on the radio, traffic lights - all of them on red, a badly driven anything, a parking tariff (at 4am!!), empty motorways with 40mph speed limits etc etc. I don’t want to create the impression I'm grumpy, I'm not, I prefer to think of it as creatively sensitive! I’d really like someone to carry all my gear and hand me items upon request. I’m easily put off by the rigors of nuisance in today’s world. Here is an account of my delicate creative balance in relation to setting up my gear. I envy those who are unsullied by little inconveniences, who can create and more crucially get joy from the process without so much of a flicker of thought to the irritants of the day. Even just climbing over a fence with two bags of gear, if this act does not go gracefully I’m literally all off kilter! Having humped my gear around to said spot, if I am to make an image I need to setup office and I need coffee.
Tripods are a bit of pain for travel. But for me as necessary as a passport. I simply could not consider taking a flight without one. There is too much to miss without a tripod, long exposure opportunities, night shots, interior architecture, low light, even the calm and pace of it which I find facilitates better composition. As much as possible I want clean images necessitating lower ISO’s which in turn forces shutter speeds that are either difficult or impossible to hand hold in some conditions. Besides I see photography as a craft and process to be enjoyed, so upon arrival in a location the first thing I do is setup office. This means the tripod is setup first, I then open my camera bag on the ground with the bag front flap left wide open (weather permitting) providing easy access to my lenses, light meter, filters, and holders, etc. Then I pour my coffee and get into the moment.
I put my camera on my tripod regardless. Even when I shoot handheld I prefer where possible to keep placing the camera back on the tripod. I find I’m able to wander about, drink my coffee, look around with a bit more care, more of an eye and it always just feels easier and quicker to change lenses and filters while the camera is on a tripod. Of course, this wouldn’t work if attending an event spread over a wide are such as country fair with activities across various arenas but where possible that is my preference. The simple act of bending down to get a lens from the bag is so much more of a hassle with a kilo or more of magnesium alloy flying around my neck, to avoid this delicate electronic wrecking ball accelerating into my bag of gear or the ground! I would have to hold it with one hand then awkwardly kneel with the camera hanging from my neck and resting on a suitable bit of bag to enable the use of both hands to grab gear. And if I forget and get up quickly! The slack of the strap is taken up causing the camera to fly with unnerving speed before bouncing off my body. I know it’s all very first world problems but I just don’t like it. It is the kind of inconvenience that causes the shoot or rather the creativity to be sabotaged and along come feelings of can’t be bothered to change a lens. Seems unfeasible but it’s very easy to forgo a better shot because you cannot be bothered to swap a lens! That’s why I refer to setting up office so all tools are available, easy to access and quick to swap out without negotiating unwieldy baggage around my neck and person. I do not want items swinging round my neck in the process. Instead I can drink my coffee, take a phone call, measure the light, enjoy the moment, etc. Also, I really don’t like camera straps if I can avoid them and much prefer using the camera without a strap on, straps always seem to be in my way, disturbing my joy. Hence, I love an office in the field. I’m sensitive to having my creative balance disturbed and all the above matters, I literally get all rattled if the joy is not there.
The Benro Slim in the hand
Upon taking delivery of the The Benro Slim for my then upcoming trip to Montana my initial appraisal was that this is an incredible travel tripod, the name references the very small diameter when closed of all three legs. Because of this configuration you cannot fold the legs back over themselves (which would give a shorter length for packing in some scenarios) but this provides the benefit of remaining unbelievably, Slim! The clue is in the name. You can literally grip all three legs as monopod or carry it with one hand around all three legs. You have to hold a Benro Slim to fully appreciate this. It comes with a very light bag which when over the shoulder is so light you literally forget it is there. The carbon fibre is 8x layers strong, this is notable as you would expect some corner cutting in such a lightweight and affordable tripod. However, 8x layers of carbon fibre is considered the peak of light, strong and rigid in tripod manufacturer and I'm talking about the very high-end products here. Think of the biggest names and their most expensive offerings and you will see 8x layers of carbon fibre. Apart from Benro which have 9x layers in their larger tripods. Probably overkill but here in this ultra slim light weight travel tripod you have all the strength and rigidity of 8x layers. You wonder if it is a cheaper version of carbon fibre? No, it is the same premium material as on the high-end tripods. The twist locks, surely, they will be a little less certain than for example the Benro Mach 3 tripod? No, same precision engineered half turn beautifully knurled twist locks that lock, solid, every time. Ok so what about the head surely there is a compromise there, upon delivery I’m looking for the compromise because the price of this tripod is a ridiculously low at £119. I mean surely that’s an impulse buy! It is priced like a show deal for an outgoing model! No wonder it has been an incredible success, I understand it has sold out in every retailer stockist and and at time of writing is on back order. I would not have been surprised if this was priced up to £240. I’ve seen comparable gear in that territory.
So, back to the head, I was trying to find the weakness as this was being considered for my Montana trip and it was critical I selected the right tool balancing capability to do the job with the least impact on weight and packing space. I have a few choices; all my support equipment is either Benro or Induro for the simple reason I will not use anything I believe to be inferior, I want beautifully engineered tools for the job and for the joy of using them. I want such tools to look after me, I want reliability, longevity and customer service befitting a premium product. Back to the head, it is a pan and tilt ball head, but this is with just the one knob, I’m used to and very much like independent operation of pan and tilt and thought to myself this may well be the compromise that makes it slightly awkward in use even if forgivable. Forgivable because independent pan and tilt would likely make this a considerably larger head that would not sit well with the rest of the profile or incredibly expensive to manufacture. However, it was very quickly notable that the operation can be performed with one hand, not just the panning and tilting simultaneously but crucially the holding of one or the other fixed while adjusting a single direction.
It was a breeze and on my trip to Montana where I used the Benro Slim constantly and exclusively this proved a slick and easy operation due to size and lightness, you can grip the whole head and lever with one hand. The head feels perfectly balanced to the tripod, has a Swiss Arca compatible plate and a nice solid knob to tighten. Everything is smooth and well-engineered. I like Swiss Arca, I find it quick, I'm unsure if its quicker than anything else but it feels quicker. There is no safety lock (the bit where you have a second action to prevent unscrewing the lock fully, here there is no “are you sure”? moment) but the plate has anti slip studs so it cannot easily fall off. I do like that safety feature. With potentially thousands of pounds of gear mounted on it what I want from the tripod is trust, I want to trust my gear when locked in place is secure and of course very still. I spent a good hour at home fiddling with the Benro Slim before concluding I would take it and it alone as my support system for the trip to Montana. I do not go to Montana every week so this was a very fast instilling of confidence that it would alone do the job for a trip I cared a lot about. There is an easy action wingnut style lock to adjust the centre column which itself is grooved to prevent any unwanted twist. There is a spirit level, and the legs have three locking positions enabling any degree of articulation and there is even a panning scale for panaoramas. The specs are just incredible and astonishing at this price point. And the warranty? 5 years upon registeration. Benro back their products.
Using the Benro Slim
In situ I loved the Slim, I carried it either one handed gripping all three legs and I do not have big hands, or in the little bag over the shoulder. On two occasions after visiting coffee shops I had a moment believing I had left it behind. You know that funny little sudden dance you do when you think you have lost something of value like your wallet or camera? I did that, only to realise it was still on my back. I’d sat through my cappuccino having forgot to take It off my shoulder. Seriously it is that light. In use, I found it to be extremely solid, I had my Olympus OMD M1 Mkii with me which has a feature called “Hi Res”. This can only be used on a tripod and for still subjects, many landscape shots work well, blowing in the wind foliage can be hit and miss though. The way it works is the sensor has a little giggle into 8 different positions taking 8 exposures and combining them to produce an 80mp raw file (I think they call it sensor shift, by half a pixel 8 times). This is medium format territory of detail and is very unforgiving if the camera moves. In the right situations, it is an astonishing feature BUT relies on being kept still hence the leap of faith to bring only the Slim on the trip. One photo I took using Hi Res mode was of an abandoned homestead which involved a 20 second exposure, but remember that means 8 x 20 second exposures, that is 160 seconds. Any movement ruins the image, the result was spot on and I can give no higher praise than that test. Granted the air was still and this helped but nonetheless this is impressive performance.
I will continue to take my Benro Mach 3 tripod wherever practicable along with my Benro Gimbal or Induro ball head because they are a combination that is as solid as an airport runway even in very strong winds and (I have video to prove this, see my Mach 3 review!) I just love that beast of a tripod. But when needs suit, be it requirement of lightness for a day of walking, traveling on a plane, wandering around Cities etc then the Benro Slim is an absolute must and a first choice. I know I can trust it. It does also feature a centre column hook so in the wind you do have the option to weigh it down with a bag to give additional stability in some adverse conditions. If it was my only tripod it would indeed work. I would suffer only in the worst weather conditions and or using a heavy setup well beyond its rating. I often use tripods low down without extending the legs and in this respect, I’m sure the weight capacity rating would be well beyond the advertised figure. Of course, I only recommend using it in accordance with the rating but should you get yourself a Benro Slim you will appreciate just how solid it is. Along with the practicality of having such a light tripod another use for it is to mount off camera flash. I did this in the entrance of an abandoned mine. I could position the flash exactly where I wanted it using the ball head, out of sight just inside the entrance and triggered from the camera, perfect.
Conclusion
A massive recommend. The price makes this a no brainer, it is built so well the joy of use is assured. It is so light there is no excuse for not having it with you. It is beautiful to look at, hold and use and it absolutely keeps your gear still even for long exposures. The specs are well beyond expectation. If you are considering a travel tripod, a walk round City architecture tripod as an addition to what you consider your “main” tripod then this cannot be beat for quality, function and price. Everybody I have shown this to has bought one or is buying one.