Pixiq

Recently I was lucky enough to get a personal tour by Izzy Flamm over at B&H Photo and Video.  If you're a photographer and you've been to NYC or live in NYC I'm sure you've been to the B&H Superstore. It is an insanely large place, and every photographer's dream playpen. 

I plan on writing more about some of the amazing things I saw while on the tour, but today I am going to review a tripod that B&H was kind enough to loan to me. I saw a whole line of Oben Tripods on display and asked Izzy what they were. I had never heard of Oben, and he was more than excited to let me test one out to see for myself how great this brand is. 

I'm going to assume you know a little bit about tripods if you're reading this, but if not, 2 bits of advice: don't buy one if you aren't sure you'll use it, and don't buy a cheap one.  My tripod got a ton of use while I was traveling, taking sunset shots on beaches, long exposures of the sky etc... but now that I live in NYC I almost never use it, because it just isn't needed in most of the type of shooting I do. However, when I do need it, I'm glad I have a good reliable tripod. If you buy a cheap one now, I can guarantee you that you will end up spending more money down the road getting a good carbon lightweight tripod down the road. Take my word for it. 

Anyway on to the Oben. I received the Oben CC-2310L legs with the BA-1 Ball head kit.

I'm going to break it down into pros and cons.

Pros:

1. Price Normally just $353.95, if you buy it before Dec 31st it's only $303.95. Try finding a Manfrotto or Gitzo carbon tripod WITH a ballhead for that cheap. Here are the legs without the ball head for only $249.95 until Dec 31                                             
2.  Solid Construction I was a little wary of a new brand in a market dominated by 2 big names, but the Oben is solid. The legs lock when you need them to lock, it is sturdy, doesn't shake or wobble when it shouldn't.                                     
3.  Swiveling center column The center column can swivel and lock in any position. This is great for product, macro, low angle etc...                 
4.  Spiked feet You would be surprised how handy these can be, and Oben couldn't have made it easier to hide and reveal the spikes by just screwing up and down the rubber feet.         
5.  The Case It's small details like this that really matter. The tripod comes with a really nice padded carrying case, a padded shoulder strap, an inside pocket and a heavy duty zipper. Other brands charge $99 for the same case!

Cons: 

1.  Plastic latches While the rest of the tripod is super sturdy and looks like it will last forever, the plastic latches used to extend the legs seem like they might not make it through the life of the tripod. They're definitely not cheap thin plastic, but they're still plastic, and the way I bang a tripod around when I travel, I could see these breaking somewhere down the road.          
2. The Ballhead The construction is solid here again, and I really like having the bubble levels built into the ballhead (and the tripod legs) but having only one control for both the ball and the pan means extra work for the photographer. I've been using the old model of the 495RC2 for years, and it's been great. 

That's it! Not many cons with this tripod! Leave a comment below if your own or have used an Oben Tripod.