A travel, photography & nerd blog

I am a big fan of the Joby Gorillapod SLR-Zoom and the world often really is my tripod, but I also love long-exposures and night photography, which isn’t really feasible without a real tripod. That’s why I wanted a tripod for my travels for a long time now, but never found one that is light, small, still sturdy but also affordable. Then I came across Induro…

Benro TravelAngel A-169

Uh? You said Induro, what’s Benro, you ask?

I did a lot of research on the Internet about several Induro tripods and it turned our that Induro tripods are just re-labeled Benro tripods and are then sold for a higher price, mostly to the US. In fact I haven’t even found any reseller for Induro here in Germany. Look at the Carbon series of Induro and Benro for example: Induro & Benro (click Select Products). The specs and the look are the same, just the names changed. And the price of course

Benro also has the Travel Angel series, which I found just awesome, because they are very small, but still sturdy. And with that I already start my review of the Benro A-169…

First of all the Benro is an aluminum tripod that comes in a nice bag:

And as I already said, the A-169 is very small when collapsed (just 38cm):

The lowest possible height is also just 38cm, but it won’t hold your heavy camera well at this position. Nevertheless all the connections and locks feel very sturdy (click to enlarge):

Then I went out to field test it (see result at the top)…

My heaviest Camera/Lens combination currently is the Nikon D90 with Nikon MB-D80 Battery Grip and my heaviest lens, the Nikon 70-300 VR attached, totaling at 1850g. The Tripod legs themselves can hold that load easily. You might need to attach your bag to the tripod in windy situations to get the sharpest result. The legs sometimes twist a little bit, but still it’s a stable tripod for it’s weight and size! Benro says it’s capable of up to 8kg of load. I was also evaluating the A-268, because it only has 4 leg sections (A-169 has 5), but the additional weight wasn’t worth it in my eyes. Also I am usually using Exposure delay mode and the self-timer to give the tripod time to stabilize. And don’t forget to turn VR off

I could only order mine in a set with one of the Benro ballheads. And from what I’ve heard in the forums, they aren’t the best ones, which is why I went with the cheap BH-0 head and the intention of upgrading to a better head later… And yes, the BH-0 head isn’t great. It’s almost impossible to do small adjustments, because you directly loose all directions! But it does at least have a bubble level and an attachment ring (for my BlackRapid RS-4).

It’s not Gitzo, but it’s worth it’s money! I think I’ll get some very sharp images from it as long as I remember that it can’t do wonders and keep some techniques in mind (exposure delay mode, self-timer, use bag for stabilization…)

Take care & enjoy the great weather.