Packing for an overseas trip can be a real headache, especially when it comes to choosing a tripod. I always pack my tripod legs in my hold luggage, wrapped up in plenty of clothing for protection. The problem of course, then comes when you’re trying to stay within weight restrictions; a heavy tripod can be the item which tips you into excess baggage territory.
The photographic industry has of course, come up with a solution: the travel tripod. Travel tripods will always be a compromise. By necessity, they are lightweight and need to fold up small enough to fit into a suitcase. To achieve this, they lose a little stability and height. The trick is getting the balance right.
With a trip to Venice looming towards the end of 2023, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to take my usual Benro Mammoth with me; it’s a great tripod, but would be difficult to fit into my suitcase and would risk taking me over my weight allowance. I also wasn’t relishing the thought of carting it around the streets of Venice all day for the duration of the trip. I did a little research and settled on the Benro Rhino.
Benro make several versions of this tripod, and I plumped for the 4-section FRN24-C, which comes bundled with the VX25 ball head. It has a maximum height of 168.5 cm (with the centre column fully extended) but folds up to fit easily into a smallish suitcase. At just 1.74 kilos, it meant I was able to stay within my weight limit, but it also claims to be capable of supporting 18kg.
I’ve never tested the maximum payload, but I can say that it’s perfectly stable with my Nikon Z8 with my heaviest lens (the 100-400mm) mounted on it. I proved the perfect tripod for my Venice trip: easy to carry around, unobtrusive, and more stable than I’d anticipated a tripod this size would be. It’s also very flexible: I was able to shoot from enough height to reduce keystoning on buildings and if I needed a ground-level shot, the centre column is reversible.
Did I find any downsides? Well, yes. The weak link in the system for me is the ball head. Benro make some excellent heads (my day-to-day head is the 3-way geared head) but the VX25 isn’t one of my favourites. I found the movement wasn’t entirely smooth, and it lacks a separate friction control. Some people might prefer it if the legs were sold separately from the head, but if you decide to swap the head for another, at least you have a spare head as a back up if you ever need it.
I’ve also used the Rhino in London, where it also proved to be a perfect companion. As a tripod for city work, I have no hesitation in recommending it. But I’ve also used it in much tougher conditions, taking it to Iceland on a winter trip when I really needed to save weight and space in the suitcase. I have to say that I went with a little trepidation, as I know from experience that the conditions in Iceland can be brutal - I’ve literally seen people blown off their feet by extreme gusts of wind, so I wasn’t entirely sure how a lightweight travel tripod would hold up.
It turned out that I needn’t have worried. Yes, there were some extreme conditions, but the Rhino performed brilliantly and never let me down once, even when photographing in strong winds; hanging my bag from the hook at the bottom of the centre column really helped here. The tripod also survived freezing conditions, salt water and the notorious black sand on the beaches (that stuff gets everywhere).
Since then, I’ve used the Rhino on a regular basis. Not as my main tripod - the Mammoth still remains first choice - but for city work, international travel and also any other times that I need to travel light. It gets regular use when I’m running workshops. I carry a lot of kit - my own camera(s) and lenses, filters and so on, plus loan kits of filters, first aid kit and so on - and so saving a little weight where I can makes a big difference.
To sum up then, this is a tripod I recommend unhesitatingly for its intended use for travel, though you might want to use a different head. It can take a surprising amount of abuse, as I found in Iceland, but if you’re looking for a set of legs to use as your main tripod, the slightly larger FRHN34C might be the one to get.
