I’ve been wanting to get a beefy(ish) tripod lately but didn’t want to spend RRS money on one. I stumbled upon a local Facebook marketplace place listing for a tripod that ticked all the boxes, but the seller didn’t want to separate the tripod from the Benro S6 fluid head he’d listed it with. After some minor negotiation he offered the rig at a price I’d have been happy to snag the tripod by itself at, so I picked it up. I expected the flat adapter to be on the tripod under the head when we met, but I was pleased to see he had the bowl with the tripod even though his pictures didn’t show it. Originally I’d planned to buy a 52mm ball head for this new (to me) tripod, but the inclusion of the bowl made me pause before hitting the buy button on Amazon. The fluid head only offers tilt and pan, but no cant adjustment. This makes leveling the cant a difficult operation via leg length, and that’s unacceptable. The bowl changes things because you can quickly level the base of the head with the bowl and the level on the head base, and lock it down. From there, all pan and tilt are handled by the fluid head and are silky smooth with cant remaining level for a full 360 degrees of rotation, as does the tilt no matter the axis. Though I've spent no real trigger time behind his combo, it seems very promising so far. the only negatives I can imagine is the limited load capacity of only 12lbs for the S6, and that it’s bulkier and heavier than the ball head I’d been considering. Also, the QR clamp isn’t Arca Swiss compatible. However, the guns I’m using on this are under the weigh limit, the bulk of the head isn’t intrusive, and I’ve ordered a QR clamp that is a hybrid design, accepting both Arca Swiss and picatinny on the same clamp. I think it’ll be a winner.
