Simon, Not worried about the weight but more so the image quality when a 1.4 tc is used with this lens. This gives 560mm (896 if you inc crop factor) would have thought that this is plenty to hand hold.

Yep, in dull northern europe, where shutter-speeds of over 1/250 are usually just something we read about on the web, every bit of stability is vital :eek:

Thanks to everyone for their input. As the Benbo has not been dismissed out of hand I think I will wait and try it before deciding if I need something new.

I used to own a Benbo Trekker that fell apart after 18 months amateur weekend use. To my mind the Trekker is a bit too light for a long lens, and the ball head supplied in the kit is too small.

IMO Benbo/Uniloc tripods are excellent (I use a Uniloc 1600) but they are a bit fiddly to use, and can collapse and damage the camera/lens if care is not taken (always hold the camera until the centre bolt is tight). Their advantage is that they are versatile, and well suited to low level photography, or photography in awkward places. If that matters, then go for it. I keep meaning to replace mine but cannot find anything better.

Warehouse Express were doing some tempting offers on Velbon carbon fibre tripods.

As far as I can see stable ball heads are either heavy or light and very expensive.

Roy you probably realize that you will loose autofocus with the 1.4x unless you are use a 1 series pro body.

Yes, I do realise this thanks Simon - will go to f8 and therefore no autofucus on 350d. This is another reason why I wanted a tripod because I find it easier to manually focus on a pod.

You should also realize that this is not the best combination and one of the problems using this as a main prime lens. I have it and really enjoy it for flight photography but I doubt i would ever put an extender on it. you will need to stop down to at least f11 to get things really sharp and use the sweet spot of the lens.

I have already got a 1.4 tc so it is going to cost me nothing to try!