Can i please ask if anyone is using or has any experience of Benby products. I'm looking for a gimbal type head for my 500mm and i'm trying to keep the costs down.
Another option is the Manfrotto 393. A lot cheaper than the full Wimberley. I've not used one personally but I have seen many recomendations for it from satisfied users.
Posted by Andy Astbury on May 16, 2009 at 11:08 AM
Kev - all I'll say is this, the best might not be so cheap to buy, but is most often the cheapest to own
Have you thouhgt of the second hand market. I've got my Wimberley from there. And cheaper then or equal cheap compared to other marks.
I do not know about other marks but I'm very satisfied with my wimberley.
Posted by szekiat chan on May 16, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Been using the benby full gimbal with a 300-800 for the last few months. Having used the W1 and a 393, i can safely say that its as stable as the w1, just not with the same finish in paint work. Definitely just as secure. No accidents thus far. The 393 is lovely for lenses up to 500mm but i wouldn't try mounting anything bigger as it just sways too much. It also operates on a non-locking system so when walking with the setup on one shoulder, beware of the clubbing from behind!
Hi Kevin , try here http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tripod-Mini-Gimbal-Head-for-Telephoto-lenses-Nikon_W0QQitemZ140321130880QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_TripodsSupports?hash=item140321130880&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1690%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50
I have one on my 500mm . Now it aint the best Gimbal ever created and out of the box needs a dose of WD40 and some candle wax .But I can , for the money , recommend it .I've had mine for about 6 months and it aint let me down yet. Its smooth enough and stable enough to get inflight and static down to 1/30th .Locks up well and comes with a free arca style plate . ( you'll need to let the guy know which lens its going on and he sends you the right one for balance.)At 75 quid or lower ,its a steal.Hope this helps.Mark
Although I’ve never actually seen/used a Benby, looking at the design it appears to be a straight copy of the Mk 1 Wimberley, which I’ve used extensively over a number of years, and have now upgraded to the Mk 2. In my opinion both the Benby and the Mk1 suffer from the same design flaw. That concerns the position of the lower locking knob.
Consider the functionality.
The centre of your lens/camera, needs to be level if not below the centre of the upper pivot. This means that when using either a 500/600, the underside of the heads locking assembly, at the bottom of the swing arm, is very close to the lower pivot knob, and would restrict, if not stop you putting your hand on the top of the locking knob. So you end up faffing around, using only your fingers.
When on a shoot I invariably have my shooting hand on the vertical arm, and my other hand, on the on the underside of the locking assembly, at the bottom of the swing arm. Now if using the Benby/Mk 1,and I want to lock down I would have to remove my hand from the underside of the locking assembly, thus the possibility of the lens/camera swinging horizontally away from my intended lock down position.
The new Wimberley have both locking knobs on the same side so this potential movement is considerably reduced.
Andy raises a very good point. The Benby is considerably cheaper than the full Wimberley, but where is the cost savings, I would suggest in the quality of the build. Better, bushing, bearings, materials etc., I believe the Wimberley uses top of the range sealed bearing assemblies. It is a fact of life that it is frequently the case that you get what you pay for, and the Wimberley is the bench mark that everything is compared against.
Mark suggest a variant of the sidekick. For me, there is a major problem with this design. All the weight of the lens and camera is trying to pull themselves out of the mount. The weight distribution is all wrong mechanically. Not a good thing when you have invested thousands of pounds in your lens/camera. The centre of the lens/camera, needs to be directly above the centre of the tripod.
It’s a common failing that many photographers, tend to skimp on the mounting of their lens/camera when out shooting. Trusting thousands of pounds worth of gear, on a head/tripod which are not really ideal for the job being asked of them.
I also have the one that Mark recommends in his post. I've only had mine a couple of weeks, but I'm already smitten with it.
I was baulking at spending £500+ on a Wimberley Sidekick/Ballhead, so I purchased one of these 'Kirk King Cobra Clones', which is what the design more accurately resembles.
It works fine, and is of simple and robust construction, and I don't see what can fail apart from the welds (which look good!).
By the time you've got your lens foot rotated 90 degress on the lens, you'll find that the camera lens combination sits right above the centre of gravity of the device, so that's not an issue. Regarding the security of such an arrangement, we trust the lens foot on super telephoto lenses to support everything already, so asking it to do it in a different orientation is not a problem in my view.
It's up to you of course, but one of these or the Manfrotto 393 will be a good mount for most body/lens combinations.
Don't forget though that they are only as good as the tripod legs you mount them to. I used the money saved on the head to spend more on the legs!
I use a Gitzo tripod and I’ve just purchased a levelling devise to fit between the tripod and my Wimberley. There is a locking feature on the levelling device and the Wimberley, but not between the tripod and the levelling device. I have drilled and tapped four ¼ BSW threaded holes, drilled at 45 degrees, this gives me most threads, from the underside. I’ve fitted grub screws. This gives me a solid locking feature. BSW threads are stronger than metric.
If you do go down the Wimberley road, on the underside of the lens plates is the facility to screw in two M3 Cap screws, these act as a stop to stop the lens sliding out of the locking assembly. The screws might well be already fitted.
There is one other feature which I really like about the Wimberley. There is a series of brackets which fit onto the swing arm, and allows you to fit a flash off camera, very handy, as the flash will then be automatically track with your camera/lens.
If you have trouble getting any of the screws or taps to cut the threads let me know and I’ll be able to help you out.
Finally beware, we all advocate what we are currently using, as we don’t want to admit what we have isn’t necessarily the best for the job, and I’m no exception. So sit back and look at all the facts, and if necessary, ask the members if they have any shots to illustrate what they are using. A thousand words and all that.
I may be a bit late but I would like to support the view on Jobu. I have one of the first three ever imported into the UK it is now over 5 years old and is great. It handles like a dream is well built and can easily manage a 300-800mm lens. Using this I have manged sharp flight shots @800mm. Cheaper and as good as any better than some
Discussion
11 repliesCan i please ask if anyone is using or has any experience of Benby products. I'm looking for a gimbal type head for my 500mm and i'm trying to keep the costs down.
Thanks
Kevin
Des
Think about that one
I do not know about other marks but I'm very satisfied with my wimberley.
I have one on my 500mm . Now it aint the best Gimbal ever created and out of the box needs a dose of WD40 and some candle wax .But I can , for the money , recommend it .I've had mine for about 6 months and it aint let me down yet. Its smooth enough and stable enough to get inflight and static down to 1/30th .Locks up well and comes with a free arca style plate . ( you'll need to let the guy know which lens its going on and he sends you the right one for balance.)At 75 quid or lower ,its a steal.Hope this helps.Mark
Although I’ve never actually seen/used a Benby, looking at the design it appears to be a straight copy of the Mk 1 Wimberley, which I’ve used extensively over a number of years, and have now upgraded to the Mk 2. In my opinion both the Benby and the Mk1 suffer from the same design flaw. That concerns the position of the lower locking knob.
Consider the functionality.
The centre of your lens/camera, needs to be level if not below the centre of the upper pivot. This means that when using either a 500/600, the underside of the heads locking assembly, at the bottom of the swing arm, is very close to the lower pivot knob, and would restrict, if not stop you putting your hand on the top of the locking knob. So you end up faffing around, using only your fingers.
When on a shoot I invariably have my shooting hand on the vertical arm, and my other hand, on the on the underside of the locking assembly, at the bottom of the swing arm. Now if using the Benby/Mk 1,and I want to lock down I would have to remove my hand from the underside of the locking assembly, thus the possibility of the lens/camera swinging horizontally away from my intended lock down position.
The new Wimberley have both locking knobs on the same side so this potential movement is considerably reduced.
Andy raises a very good point. The Benby is considerably cheaper than the full Wimberley, but where is the cost savings, I would suggest in the quality of the build. Better, bushing, bearings, materials etc., I believe the Wimberley uses top of the range sealed bearing assemblies. It is a fact of life that it is frequently the case that you get what you pay for, and the Wimberley is the bench mark that everything is compared against.
Mark suggest a variant of the sidekick. For me, there is a major problem with this design. All the weight of the lens and camera is trying to pull themselves out of the mount. The weight distribution is all wrong mechanically. Not a good thing when you have invested thousands of pounds in your lens/camera. The centre of the lens/camera, needs to be directly above the centre of the tripod.
It’s a common failing that many photographers, tend to skimp on the mounting of their lens/camera when out shooting. Trusting thousands of pounds worth of gear, on a head/tripod which are not really ideal for the job being asked of them.
Hope this helps, good luck.
Thanks for your comments and advice guy's. I think i'll do some more saving!!!!!
K.
I also have the one that Mark recommends in his post. I've only had mine a couple of weeks, but I'm already smitten with it.
I was baulking at spending £500+ on a Wimberley Sidekick/Ballhead, so I purchased one of these 'Kirk King Cobra Clones', which is what the design more accurately resembles.
It works fine, and is of simple and robust construction, and I don't see what can fail apart from the welds (which look good!).
By the time you've got your lens foot rotated 90 degress on the lens, you'll find that the camera lens combination sits right above the centre of gravity of the device, so that's not an issue. Regarding the security of such an arrangement, we trust the lens foot on super telephoto lenses to support everything already, so asking it to do it in a different orientation is not a problem in my view.
It's up to you of course, but one of these or the Manfrotto 393 will be a good mount for most body/lens combinations.
Don't forget though that they are only as good as the tripod legs you mount them to. I used the money saved on the head to spend more on the legs!
A few more thoughts.
I use a Gitzo tripod and I’ve just purchased a levelling devise to fit between the tripod and my Wimberley. There is a locking feature on the levelling device and the Wimberley, but not between the tripod and the levelling device. I have drilled and tapped four ¼ BSW threaded holes, drilled at 45 degrees, this gives me most threads, from the underside. I’ve fitted grub screws. This gives me a solid locking feature. BSW threads are stronger than metric.
If you do go down the Wimberley road, on the underside of the lens plates is the facility to screw in two M3 Cap screws, these act as a stop to stop the lens sliding out of the locking assembly. The screws might well be already fitted.
There is one other feature which I really like about the Wimberley. There is a series of brackets which fit onto the swing arm, and allows you to fit a flash off camera, very handy, as the flash will then be automatically track with your camera/lens.
If you have trouble getting any of the screws or taps to cut the threads let me know and I’ll be able to help you out.
Finally beware, we all advocate what we are currently using, as we don’t want to admit what we have isn’t necessarily the best for the job, and I’m no exception. So sit back and look at all the facts, and if necessary, ask the members if they have any shots to illustrate what they are using. A thousand words and all that.