Benro Hi Hat w/BV8H Video Head supportin Z 9 / Z600f4 TC
If you watch football and you’re like me, you look at all the shooters on the sidelines, you’ve more than likely seen the Benro Hi Hat many, many times (my record is 21 Hi Hats at one game!). If you’ve ever watched the BTS for wildlife documentaries, you’ve probably seen the Hi Hat many times. And if you’ve ever tried to buy one you know how hard they can be to get and that’s because they are in such high demand. And you might be wondering with so many out there why you’ve never head of the Hi Hat? Well, that’s because it’s a tripod that at most only reaches 11″ in height! It is a very specialized tripod that took me six months to find and get, it’s in that kind of demand. What the heck is it for and why did I so want one?
NFL sports depend on them for all those amazing ground view film they shoot. The stability of the Hi Hat / BV8 video head produces the smoothest panning for big rigs you can imagine! This isn’t for macro shooting, not for static plane photography, this is for action shooting with big glass. The #1 reason I wanted it is to photograph waterfowl at water level. Whether shooting stills of video, when I get down this low I am not stable and I can see it in my photographs. That’s until I mounted my rig on the Hi Hat and now everything is sharp. My other application for this tool is ground-to-air aviation video. Like I said, this is a highly specialized tripod that not everyone needs but if you work close to the ground with big glass, you gotta check it out. Hi Hat, man oh man!