Benro GD3WH Precision Geared Head Lightweight Magnesium Alloy, 3-Way Movement, Quick-Release Plate, and 360° Rotation for Professional Photography

I am a landscape photographer and the Benro Geared head was recommended to me on a photography workshop by along with an L bracket to improve my composition skills. If you use a tripod a 'geared head' is I have found an essential pice of kit.You can pay a lot of money for a 'geared head' for your tripod but the Benro whilst being relatively cheap is manufactured to a very high quality. Its easily replaced the 'ball head' on my carbon Vanguard tripod without the addition of a spacer and locked securely in place. The Benro geared head (or any geared head) unlike a ball head offers precise adjustments to your composition in the field. It has certainly greatly improved my work flow. The Benro whilst a little heavier than a ball head is engineered to a high spec it is built to last. Precise adjustments are possible quickly unlike a 'ball head' The locking plate is also so much easier to use, allowing you to switch from landscape to upright quickly (using an L bracket).It is excellent value for its price and will last for years. It will also for a relatively small outlay will greatly improve your photography.

It is light, wow. The cheap ones on eBay are not the same, the real ones on general sale in the UK are made from Magnesium, hence the price, around £179, the ones on eBay are made from aluminium and weigh a lot more, and their price £100ish. Found one on eBay advertising Benro GH3WD .....magnesium, but when you opened up the description it said Material: Aluminium!! Just one thing, if using with a tripod similar to the Gitzo Systematic range then you need the adaptor to lift it as some control knobs are actually below the base of the head. But apart from that, fantastic precision controls and very very stable, you can even tighten the controls by turning the large quick release backward, it ensures no play. Just to point out that I have no issues with L Brackets or any Arca Swiss style QRPs, You have to turn the release knob on the head until it reaches the stop, where it tells you to pull, but while pulling you have to keep turning to fully open the clamp.

So a year on I thought I would write a review on this not inexpensive gearhead with the benefit of a lot of use.For context Im a landscape and astrophotographer so this mount gets a lot of use in some less than favourable environments and weather conditions :)My assessment is that this is an excellent mount which is super helpful for framing landscape and astro compositions, but it has one mechanical flaw which is the knob for the arca plate which keeps falling off.This has happened to me 5 or 6 times now the last time requiring me to hunt around in a field with a torch at 2am and -5 degrees...not a happy bunny.The issue seems to be that the screw that holds the knob in place gets loosened over time and as it is spring loaded can fire the knob quite some distance without warning. If found its easily fixed but these are very small parts and its only luck that i havent lost them thus far, but I do wish Benro had made this component a bit more enduring.Otherwise this is an awesome mount and well worth the money, just watch that knob :)

For the last 20 years I have been a big advocate of ball and socket heads on tripods because they are really quick to use and just work really well.However, I took the plunge and bought this after watching a few YouTube clips and I've got to say I'm really blowing away with how it changes my workflow.It's all about the precision at allows, You can set a landscape shot up with your ball head really quickly, but find tuning the composition is never that easy and quite often you find that when you let go of the camera, it always moves slightly as gravity takes over from your hands.But with this head, And it's gear knobs, You have a different experience, especially when using one of those articulated screens on your camera body.Yesterday I was in the Yorkshire Dales doing landscape and rather than having to kneel down and look through an awkward view finder to get a lowdown photograph, I could pretty much stand above the tripod looking down onto the articulated viewfinder and with the three knobs ease the camera into position and perfectly compose the photo I wanted. No longer having to Neil down and look through the viewfinder.I can't really compare this to other geared heads because I've never used them, but I found this simple and quick once used to it, It is Arca Swiss so You can get tripod plates for all your camera bodies. Very cheaply.Oh I have used it for kitchen and bathroom photography jobs and it was brilliant for those too, very easy to get the camera perfectly level using these control knobs and with a tilt shift lens. You can really blitz these jobs and speed up your editing because everything is correct when you shoot it.

great piece of kit, bit heavy but with all the leveling devices it sure to be. Well worth the effort of carrying. The pay off is worth it.