Ball head or 3-way Pan and tilt?

[Janice]

I know there will be advocates of both, and I can see pros and cons for both, but who prefers which type of head on their tripod?
I can't decide which to buy.


My present ballhead does that "sagging" thing once youve tightened the nut, then the camera settles down and it goes below the subject,.
On the other hand, is the 3way head quick enough to cope with birds which move about on a branch while you are waiting to photograph them?

 

[digitalfailure]

I use a 3 way head on my 190 and tbh, i don't think it's the correct choice for bird photography.

I think you'd be better with one of those gripy handle type heads

 

[Hoodi]

A good ball head won't sag like you describe - and I'm pretty sure all of manfrotto's ball heads fall into that category. So that's not an issue.

ball heads are definitely better for speed - no doubt about it (what about a pistol grip? ) and far more suited to birding etc.
3 ways are better for panning (very easy to get very good pano frames ready to stitch) and allow you to just change one "variable" at a time - which is how I like my shots to be taken. I usually have all three knobs on my 3-way head loose to begin with, so that it flops about. I get my composition just-about how I want it, and tighten all three... Then I go back to them one by one and make fine adjustments.

A ball head is perpetually floppy, which annoys me.
ball heads are also likely to be better sutied to macro work.

in short :

ball heads : speed.
3 - way heads : slow, methodical composing.

a 3-way head suits my work better, but it sounds to me like a ball head would suit you better!

 

[Janice]

Damn! I do bird shots, landscapes AND macros! Id better buy both!! :shrug:

 

[Hoodi]

I don't think you need to - a ball head is more than adequate for landscape work, and many landscape photog's prefer ball heads - it's not my personal preference, but I could certainly use a ball head for landscape stuff.

Noah uses a ball head, and he does a good bit of landscape style work.

 

[leoedin]

I love my ball head - I had a cheapo 3 way, and didn't like it much, but then thats probably a lot to do with the fact it was a 3 way

Anyway...I'd get a ballhead

 

[Janice]

Perhaps I should get a bigger one than the benbo compact head I had before, perhaps thats why the camera sagged on it.

 

[Steep]

I'd never used a ball head until I got the benbo, I must say I like it, one thing that always annoyed me about the 3way head was the levers getting in the way. No sag (yet) on my ball head fingers crossed.

 

[P-E]

I use a ball head for landscapes which suits me just fine.

 

[Janice]

Perhaps Im wrong in my explaination of "sagging" . I dont mean the actual ball head moves or is anyway loose in the socket.
I mean that I hold the camera's weight when I am moving it to a new position, I tighten the screw up to tighten the ballhead and as I let my hold off the camera and it takes its own weight, it settles down a bit so the subject isnt correctly in the viewfinder any more (ie flower macro etc)
The camera is only a 350d, with a 28-75 2.8 lens, shouldnt be too heavy.

I have to set it slightly high so that as it takes its own weight it is on the subject.
Does anyone else find this?