Benro Mach3

£213/$260 The Mach3 is a stickler for tradition

Benro has designed some increasingly innovative, exotic and diverse tripods over recent years, but this isn’t one of them. The idea behind the Mach3 is to keep things simple, combining a conventional feature set with high-grade materials. As such, the legs don’t swing up for compact storage, which is a fundamental difference from the Benro Travel Angel, also on test. This TMA28AHD2A kit comes with a 3-way head, but a TMA28AB2 kit is also available, with Benro’s B2 ball head.

Although very traditional, the Mach3 isn’t entirely devoid of clever tricks. One of the legs can be unscrewed and used with the centre column as a monopod. However, the three-way head doesn’t really suit a monopod. Extras include rubber pads and metal spikes for the feet.

As with heads in all but the Manfrotto kits on test, the Benro comes with an Arca-Swiss compatible quick-release plate. It’s a generously long one, providing a particularly good platform for both camera bodies and the mounting feet of big telephoto lenses.

Features

The Arca-Swiss compatible quick-release plate is rather longer than usual.

The 3-way head has rotation scales in 5-degree increments for pan, tilt and swivel.

Performance

Thanks to having four rather than three leg sections, the Mach3 folds down to a reasonably compact 60cm. The triple-angle facility for the legs is easy to operate, and a secondary short centre column enables low-level shooting. Stability is very good, even at the maximum operating height, and accurate levelling is made possible by a bubble level on the tripod legs and three spirit levels on the head.

WE SAY

Solid build quality makes the Mach3 a good choice for a conventional photo tripod.