Captain Postal posted:

Well, I don't mean to be a dick about it I will be, but man-up. As you say, 6'5" means eye level is about 5'10", minus 4-6" for head, minus 5" for body+grip (buy a grip, they rock) and you're looking for 5'. The 055 series are 4'7", requiring you to duck your head by a measly 5" to take the shot, but if you're using wide-normal lenses there's nothing wrong with extending the centre column by that 5" (it's only a no-no for tele).

The benro's are knockoffs that are perfectly fine - I have a 200 series and its just at eye level for me (6'0") being between the 190 and 055 manfrotto series in size; it's carbon, cheap and works as well as any other mid range tripod. The 3XX and 4XX series are even taller. I had a 055 and it was taller than I needed with column down.

Bigger issues though: Do you take every photo standing in the same pose straight upright? If so then your pictures must be loving boring. If you do vary your stance, then you won't always want the tripod at full height anyway for composition reasons. If nothing else it'll mean your photos aren't always looking down on your subject from above (you're a tall bugger). Do you really want to take the tripod outside? Decide now because bigger is definitely worse. That's two good reasons to buy smaller than you think you need.

As for carbon, maybe 15 years ago when it was still space-age stuff you had to be either a pro or a wanker, but it was the same for lithium batteries and IS. The technology has trickled down to the point that mere mortals like us can get away with it. And if you go outside it's a must.