Can't wait!

[photogdude]

a great way to see how sturdy your tripod is this. mount a laser pointer or small flashlight to your camera hotshoe. put your camera/lens on your tripod fully extended with the light pointing at a wall and see how the light moves. play around with that to see how sturdy it is (or isn't)

[Hangman]

hhmm..I got the BH1 head with the 2690 so its only 13 lbs.. arrggg!!!

[photogdude]

tripod weight loads are like filter flow rates, always get more than the manufactures advertise

[soymilk]

I think 12kg should be right. Make sure you got the right model. I've head of people throwing 20lb of gear on top and it still holds

[Hangman]

The Benro came today. Pretty nice and light. But not as sturdy as the Ravelli. But its also not 11lb like the Ravelli either :) Looks to be a very nice tripod for my travels coming up.. One thing thats disappointing though is that on Benro's site, they listed the load capacity as 12kg. But on the box it says 6kg/13.3 lbs. Kinda mis-leading from the website since I think they might had a mis-type of kg instead of lbs on their site.

[madugo]

Yea from the reviews I've read they said the Ballhead starts having problems at 20 lbs. I'm no where near that so I should be good. Pretty impressive for a cheapish set of sticks.

Gitzo woulda cost an arm n leg. Now I'm just debating between the 2681 vs 2691. 2681 only has 4 sections, while the 2691 has 5. But then again the 2691 is only about 13" folded up. The 2681 is about 15-16"...... Decision...

ya...i am thinking to change out the b1 ball head...its not bad...but not that good to me either...
still a little wabbleing when shooting tele or macro...
i went with the 2681 because i don't really carry it around all day...
it's the 4 vs 5 sections that made the 2681 more stabled...

[soymilk]

Yea from the reviews I've read they said the Ballhead starts having problems at 20 lbs. I'm no where near that so I should be good. Pretty impressive for a cheapish set of sticks.

Gitzo woulda cost an arm n leg. Now I'm just debating between the 2681 vs 2691. 2681 only has 4 sections, while the 2691 has 5. But then again the 2691 is only about 13" folded up. The 2681 is about 15-16"...... Decision...

[madugo]

Lol ya 12kg..
I thought something was weird when i typed 12lbs lol

[soymilk]

2681/2691 is rated for 12kg I believe. I see an a2681 on eBay for 210. Carbon fiber for 350.

The sirui is not bad IMO, you can't take all the bad reviews for face value. Could be user error or manufacturing defect. Even if you look at top of the line gear you'll see people giving bad reviews. For me 220 for the sirui carbon fiber with 12 lbs weight limit or 210 for the aluminum 2681/2691 with the 20-22lbs weight limit..... The benro wins.

People have mentioned the sirui has better build quality.

[madugo]

Sirui is kinda on par with benro...both china brand...sirui is pretty new brand...and less well known name, yet...even in china...
but if the price is not that of a different, i d go with benro...gonna think of the resale value too...sirui would be kinda hard to sell if you wanna upgrade later lol...
as far as if it would hold 70-200, i think the a2691 would not be a problem...
my body along with the grip is close to the weight of a 1d series...yet when i mount the 70-200 2.8 IS II with the body+grip on my c2681...still holds up pretty good...pretty nice hold from the B1 ball head too...
i think both the 2681 and 2691 are rated to 12 lbs? but people do mostly reviewed that the 2681 is a little more stabled than the 2691...

[Hangman]

I don't think that Sirui tripod can handle a load..

This is the review for that exact tripod on BH's website..

"This tripod appears suitable for a point and shoot camera or an SLR camera with
a relatively light lens. The weak point is the camera mounting plate. It is
small and made of aluminum without anything on the surface to prevent the camera
from slipping.

A Nikon D700 with battery grip and a 70-200 zoom lens is
too heavy to be secured. When the camera is rotated to the portrait mode, the
lens swivels down even when the mounting screw is tightened with a hex key. It
was mounted to the lens mounting plate. I'm sure it would be even worse if
mounted to the camera."

And here's another review of it as well..


"I thought I would get great use of this tripod, after
reading the reviews. It is small and lightweight, and would work very well with
a smaller camera. However, my gear is too heavy for this tripod, ( I have a
Nikon d5100) and I don't really care for how you adjust the legs. It has the
twist mechanism rather than the latches. I couldn't use it, so back it
went."

[soymilk]

The cheapy One is carbon fiber though. Let us know how the benro stacks up against a d800 with 70-200

[Hangman]

Thanks for the info. For $60 clams, might as well get the Benro..

[ssrprelude]

You need to make a special area or shelf for your gear.

Lol I have a dresser drawer full of 1liter Purigen.

[ssrprelude]

Rip off of a rip off nice! $60 more for the Benro, its nicer bro.