Appearances can be deceptive and I was minded to title this review, “The Real Slim Shady”, since this diminutive tripod delivers the goods big time. It’s almost likes it’s schitzophrenic, a big performance from a tiny package. Performance and reality seem like two differences, a mile apart a bit like Slim Shady being the alter ego of Eminem.
There’s a bit of a story behind me getting the Benro Slim tripod. Several times, I’ve posted time lapse videos of sunrises and cloud inversions but have usually relied on balancing my phone on handy (or not so handy) rocks. It saved the weight of another tripod but was so much of a faff that I rarely bothered.
Andrew Tobin suggested that I needed a lightweight tripod and he was right but I was loathe to carry extra weight into the mountains. I deferred the decision to Danny DUllforce at @Benro UK and he suggested the Slim tripod;
https://uk.benroeu.com/benro-slim-tripod-kit-aluminum/
The tripod arrived nicely packaged in a case inside a box. It’s light weight and compact folded size seemed more toy than tool but, as they say, appearances can be deceptive. I’ll have to be honest and say that the first time I took it out I was so frustrated with it that I nearly threw it from the mountain top. However, put those initial first impressions down to user error and ignorance.
It was bitterly cold on a snow covered mountain and I fumbled in the dark to set things up. The whole tripod felt on the frail and fragile side compared to the Benro Tortoise which I was used to using. Having used the Tortoise so much in both the dark and adverse conditions, I have become accustomed to its set up and controls. Everything about the Slim was new to me. In my defence, it was the first time I’d even set it up but perhaps arrogantly I’d just thought, “it’s a tripod, how difficult can it be?”
Hour upon hour of using the Tortoise in adverse weather had dialled in my muscle memory and everything was instinctive and doable no matter how dark, wet or cold it was. With the Slim, everything was new and frustrating. A quick run through at home would have yielded a big dividend in the field so lesson learnt the hard way.
Once I was used to the Slim, I got to know its strengths and weaknesses and even its weaknesses can be turned into strengths once you become aware of technical limitations and how to work with or around them.
Traditionally, it’s said that the perfect tripod needs to be light, compact, stable and cheap and you can’t possibly match together all these contrasting attributes. A super stable tripod might be heavy. A light tripod may not be too stable. A light tripod may not be cheap. It’s a conundrum that tripod manufacturers and photographers have had many a sleepless night worrying over the perfect permutation of attributes.
If anything, I’ve erred on the overkill side of things knowing that I’ll often be out in high winds and sub optimal weather and wanting the best chance of getting a sharp shot. Whilst I’ve no complaints what so ever about my Tortoise, it isn’t the lightest of beasts especially when paired with my favourite head (the Benro GD36PT hybrid geared head) but at 1.67 kg for the tripod and 0.74 kg for the head it weighs in at 2.41 kg. When you factor in camera and lenses, filters, waterproofs, food and drink etc etc then you pack can weigh a ton.
Whilst I’d intended to use the Slim for time lapse photos that wasn’t really how things worked out. Sure, it worked brilliantly for that especially when matched with the Benro ArcaSmart phone holder. However, with such a dismal “summer” sunrises have been noticeably absent from my photo repertoire of late.
With the sub optimal “summer” I’ve been making more speculative photo trips whether to our local beach or in the Black Cuillin mountains. Sure, I’ll have studied the forecasts and hoped for the best but with such a slim chance of super favourable photo conditions I have been more reluctant to carry so much camera gear on what might well turn out to be a fool’s errand.
Lately, I’ve been going out with a single camera body and a single lens, the Sony A7RV and GMaster 24-70mm. No wider lens and definitely not the weight and bulk of the 70-200mm GMaster. As such, the Tortoise might be seen as overkill and I’ve been taking the Slim in its place.
The Slim has done fantastic work even in inclement conditions of rain and high wind. Shots have been incredibly sharp. Even long exposures of 30 seconds in fairly windy conditions have been pin sharp. The trick is to work to the limitations of such a light tripod. If at all possible, I won’t open the lowest section of the legs which are, obviously, the thinnest. I don’t think I’ve ever even raised the centre column. I’ll bed the feet down well into the soil or look for suitable indentations in the rock and press my weight down on the tripod to hold it steady.
The Slim may look like a toy, its cute appearance hiding serious capabilities. I have been more than happy with how steady a tripod it can be if used properly. To be honest, I’ve been totally surprised by just how steady it can be. The real proof of its capabilities lies in the final image, the print. MAC Group, who import Benro tripods and Shimoda packs into the UK asked if I had any photos of me wearing a pack whilst using one of their tripods. A quick scan of my library revealed a few suitable shots but none that I was 100% happy with.
As a result, I went out the next day with a photo in mind. It was a mega early start to be up on the mountain tops for sunrise. The Shimoda Action X50 proved up to the task of carrying my camera gear and two tripods, the Tortoise and Slim. There was some amazing light just after sunrise and I got some amazing shots on one side of a feature known as the Inaccessible Pinnacle. Whilst I was taking photos on one side, I’d set my phone up on the other to make a time lapse video of the sunrise.
I was dead chuffed with my photos and the timelapse demonstrated the Siim was perfect for what I intended. Now it was time for a bit of experimentation as I set things up for a selfie of me by the Tortoise tripod. Conditions were fairly windy, so I placed the Slim tripod with great care and used piles of stones around its feet to hold it firmly in place. I then secured my Sony A7RV and GMaster 24-70mm on the small ballhead and used a remote control to take the shot.
The end result was pretty good and I sent a hi res file off to Benro who used it to print a wall sized photo which measures about 3.5 by 2.5m. Small tripod, big picture.
I love the small, packed size of the Slim and it will easily fit inside some packs. I love it’s lightweight of 1.2 kg for the aluminium version and ball head. It’s a bit of a bargain at £105 although for £140 you can get the carbon fibre version which weighs even less.
I’m not so keen on the ball head with its single control for both the ball and to traverse the head and may look into alternatives but, having said that, it has delivered the goods.
Perhaps most enlightening for me is the fact that the Slim tripod has unlocked some pretty much set in stone tenets about tripods and camera kit in general. Many mountaineers operate on the premise of “light is right” and the Slim has kindled ideas of creating a superlight set of gear for photography in the hills. Perhaps a light tripod, a single body and maybe just a single prime lens, two at most.
All in all, the Slim experience has been a bit of an eye opener for me and one that will have long lasting effects on my photography. As they say, less (is often) more and with the right kit choices you can reduce the burden carried.
Watch this space to see what could be might ultimate light weight mountain photography set up.
Many thanks to Danny Dullforce at Benro UK for suggesting and supplying the Slim tripod. The Slim might not be perfect but it is the perfect balance of size, weight, stability and cost and somehow Benro seem to have done the impossible and overcome the laws of both physics and economics.
I like to think of the Slim as my Big Little Tripod, small in stature yet capable of top notch results. Many of you will know the quote along the lines of the best camera being the one that you have with you. Well, the same goes for tripods. If it's too big or two heavy then you may well not have it with you. The Slim enables you to stack the odds in your favour, its lightweight and minimal size meaning that you are more likely to take it with you.
