Since I’m a very much a PC man, I am happy to provide Cracked an infinitesimally small improvement to their PageRank scores by linking to said article right here.

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I am not a professional photographer. I am, however, a pretty keen amateur. These two things together add up to me being a guy that wants a good quality tripod, but without spending a great deal of money. Reckon you’re in the same boat? Read on.

I spent the thick end of 6 months looking for a good tripod under $200 (AUD). There aren’t many. With some help from a friend I came across Benro, a company that essentially makes cheap knockoffs of high-quality pro-gear like Gitzo (le choix des professionels!). Normally wary of imitations, I scoured the ‘net for reviews of the various Benro offerings on eBay and came up with squat. There is info out there, but it’s all for stuff that they don’t appear to make anymore, or at least, not under that name, for sale in Australia.

Most comments regarding those Benro products were positive though, so I took the plunge and ordered an A300 aluminium tripod matched with a BH01 ballhead from Photo Shop Studio in Sydney (protip: buy through eBay for no shipping fees).

First things first, what does your 160 clams get you? You get the tripod legs and ballhead, a carry bag, and some tools – specifically a cheap spanner and an allen key for tightening the legs and head. Whilst not valuable in itself the tools serve as a reminder to buy a good multitool in the future for when they inevitably get lost or break.

I’m pretty pleased with the bag. It’s made of a thick nylon weave, has a removable shoulder strap and if you lift a velcro flap, you can see an owner’s info card through a plastic window. The bag is padded and seems very well made.

Like far better tripods, the legs and head are separate (though they do come preassembled in the box). The A300 has three-section aluminium legs that stand 1165mm high. With the centre column extended the tripod will reach a height of 1395mm and with the legs contracted as far as possible a minimum height of 325mm.

The legs have a small groove down each side – a clever way of making sure they can’t twist. Each leg can also be set to one of three angles, offering a quick way to drop the tripod down, or keep it level on an uneven surface. When opened out wide, the legs do seem a little bendy, so I am finding myself retracting the legs to shorten the tripod (and thicken the leg wall) before I reach for the angle locking mechanism. The levers that lock the leg sections into place feel strong and trustworthy.

The centre column locks with a plastic wingnut that looks like a horrible solution, but seems to work quite well. Admittedly I try not to use the centre column much, but when I do, it raises and lowers smoothly and locks firmly with a half-twist of the nut. The centre column also has a hook on the bottom so you can hang something heavy (like your camera bag) from it when there’s a bit of wind, for added stability.

The coolest thing about the centre column is that you can take it out and re-insert it upside down. This lets you get your camera right down to the ground – provided you can find a way to actually USE it like that.

Last and very much least about the tripod legs is a small compass (largely irrelevant) and spirit level (completely irrelevant with the BH0 ball head).

Speaking of the ballhead – it’s pretty good. It sits 71 mm high, raising the whole thing to over 1200mm without resorting to the centre column. It’s easy to move around and it locks alright. It is only a BH-series though, which is the most basic of Benro’s ballheads. This shows in the single locking mechanism, which holds the camera’s weight alright, but not without the tiniest bit of drag. This means your viewfinder’s perfectly-composed scene will be just a touch off. On my D60’s 90% viewfinder, this is amplified somewhat in the final shot. It’s not a deal-breaker for me. It’s something that I can easily judge and compensate for, but it is kind of annoying. I guess $160 tripods are allowed to have their foibles.

Honestly, this is an awesome tripod at the price. There’s a few minor issues with the head that will, over time, get worse and start to piss me off, but the legs are sturdy and the head can be replaced for a more expensive, better quality one when it finally starts to cause a problem. For now, it’s perfect for a limited-budget amateur like me.

Check out my photostream through Fluidr.

Thanks, Microsoft. I’m not always sure what the next step should be when I’m prompted for a password or confirmation.

I found this amusing little nugget deep in Microsoft’s Technet pages about a little-known Windows 7 feature, though this message is probably used quite a bit around Technet.

For those playing at home, the feature I was looking up enabled Windows 7’s indexing feature to search text straight out of TIFF image files. Nifty, but resource heavy. Windows ME heavy.