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| Go to Namibia with Benro—-Benro Tripod, Ballhead,
Gimbal head Review |
| Ourdoor Shooting Background Introduction |
| Nov 28th to Dec 15th 2008, I went to Namibia Africa taking pictures; 18 days trip across the country of Namibia,the main attractions and national park, include: Windhoek,Swakpmend , Sossusvlei dunes, cross angle, Skeleton Beach, Simba tribes, etosha National Park etc.The main purpose is to take pictures of the wild animals, and the main equipment is : NIKON D200/D700+NIKON 400MM F2.8 AND 80-200MM LENS, and BENRO A257N6 TRIPOD, KB-1 BALLHEAD and GH-2 gimbal head. These Benro products are supplied by Benro company before my trip, and try to test these tripod and head during my shooting.。 |
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| Apperance, Installation and Carrying |
| 1.Apperance —- the professional camera tripod , ballhead and gimbal head are made of top quality aluminium, the appearance and color are the most popular ones nowadays. It is steady, well made and classic, especially the gimbal head which is well designed and easy to use.
2.Installation—GH-2 gimbal head is attached with a lens plate, easy to fix, and I can set it up with one minutes after familiar with it.
3.Carrying—- The weight of GH-2 is 1.4 kgs, KB-2 0.51 kgs, and A-257 2.23 kgs, so the total weight for tripod and ballhead is 4.14 kgs, basically meet the weight requirement; and there is a tripod case (very nice quality) which can put in the tripod and ballhead inside, simple and easy to carry. |
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| Stability of The Gimbal Head |
| Put the NIKON 400MM lens on the GH-2 gimbal head, I really feel the excellent stability of the head(5.15kg lens + D200 camera and handle, over 6.5kgs) and I can adjust the lens in 3 ways.A-257 plus GH-2 works perfect and ensures the smooth movement, and stability . |
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| The Flexibility of The Gimbal Head |
| Put the NIKON 400MM lens on the GH-2 gimbal head , I can turn the lens easily, faster and more stable than normal traditional ballhead, and realized 360 rotation without dead angle, and easy to catch the instant wonderful wild animal picture. |
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| Amongst the four locking knob of the gimbal head, personally I prefer to use the bottom locking knob( for 360 panaroma) and the vertical locking knob(rotate the lens up and down). |
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| The quick lock mechanism and the nice friction control makes the rotation shooting more flexible and fast, and no need to worry about the unstable focus. And the gimbal head is easy to control, suitable for quick capture of the nature animals’s moving and running. |
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| The Inadequacies of Gimbal Head |
| 1.The first installation for the Gimbal head need more time and study, especially the installation to fix the plate onto the lens really cost time, include how to use the hex wrench, I suggest to put the installation introduction into the introduction sheet.
2.The space between the two sides of the clamp is too narrow, when take off the lens from the clamp or adjust the bottom locking knob, I should hold the lens steadily to ensure the plate will not slip out from the clamp.
3.GH-2 is not easy to carry. |
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| Overall Review
1.GH-2 is a nice gimbal head with a reasonable price, and is a nice choice for wild animal or sport shooting and offers excellent flexibility and stability.
2. A-257 tripod, KB-1 ballhead, GH-2 gimbal head combination is suitable for domestic or abroad travel and wild animal shooting, because of the proper the weight and portability.
3.Personally, I am fully satisfied with all Benro products for this Namibia trip. |
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