which tripod head. ball or pan and tilt

dean messenger

dean messenger

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Dean
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after much deliberation ive decided on a Vanguard alta pro 263 tripod.
these come in 3 essential flavours, as a bundle. a trigger head which ive dimissed as it has low weight limit., the tbh-100 ballhead ( 10kg limit or something silly like that ) or the PH-32 pan and tilt head which has a max load of 5kg.
if i was going to get a ball head i would much prefer the friction controlled larger tbh-250 but cant find the tripod bundled with that and dont have the budget to buy them seperate.
the only other option was the manfrotton MT190xprob with bundled 804rc2 pan and tilt head ( 4kg load )
but the vanguard seems to edge it a little over the manfrotto and comes in around the same or slightly less in price ( about £10 difference at most ).

so the tripod will be used primarily for 3 things. night shots, landscapes and wildlife.
so the question is ball head or pan and tilt?

ive had both and found pro#s and cons in both the ones ive had ( cheaper low quality ones mainly )
 
IMHO I'd get the tripod legs that you want then perhaps look for a high quality ball head secondhand
 
allicio said:
IMHO I'd get the tripod legs that you want then perhaps look for a high quality ball head secondhand
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id love to be able to do that but the legs on there own are only around cheaper without a bundled ball or pan head and there isnt much out there of any note SH for £20.
sods law as usual on fleabay i got gazumped on my bid with 2 seconds to go and missed out picking one up for £87
 
Manfrotto 055 legs and the junior 410 geared head in a manfrotto bag!

In my opinion it's a great combination
 
IMO, a 3way head will suit you better. Night shots and landscapes don't require "fast" setup and benefit more from individual axis adjustments. With "roll" locked down and pan/tilt tensions individually adjusted you have a good solution for wildlife/long lens use... it's what we used to use before gimbal heads were introduced/became common (pan tilt/fluid heads). In fact, it's essentially what I use now (UniqBall).

A geared 3way is out of your price range and not suited to wildlife IMO.
 
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also out of my budget.. at mas i could have pushed to around £180 but the head alone is around £130.
ive got the 190xpro 3 now with the basic Manfrotto 804RC2 Tripod Head that came free bundled with it. not great but will have to suffice for now until i can get a better head. was looking at the Bieke Gimbal thats around £50-60 on ebay. i know it has issues but generally its related to just needing stripping down , clean out the rubbish gunk in them and put in some quality lubricant ( looks like neweer do an idential one with a rather pointless vertical compass on it )
 
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prrof will be in the pudding. off to shoot some little owls tonight so will see how it handles on the tripod and head.
 
sk66 said:
A geared 3way is out of your price range and not suited to wildlife IMO.
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Sorry didn't see he shot wildlife! I shoot birds in flight handheld
 
Mark twiglet said:
Sorry didn't see he shot wildlife! I shoot birds in flight handheld
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this would be more for static birds.. from hides and the like.. kingfishers, owls and whatnot normally setup at resting points . for birds in flight i think i would struggle to keep track while attached to a tripod and probably end up knocking the whole lot over lol
 
Geared head then! Second hand from the bay! I've had mine about 3 years and it's brilliant
 
If you're not going to be shooting BIF from the tripod (it does suck) I don't see any reason to spend for the gimbal (but the bk-45 is a bargain and better than a lot of side mount options IMO).

I still don't think a geared head is a good choice as you can't set a friction level that allows quick repositions... even from a blind the position isn't usually going to be "fixed" (maybe if shooting loose...).
I do use a 410 junior in the studio (product shots) but I don't think most field work really requires that level of precision. And work that does (macro/panoramics) benefits from other types of heads more, like the (modified) Manfrotto 303 I use.

(I hate Manfrotto mounts so I attached Arca clamps to both of my manfrotto heads)
 
Never heard of arca mounts
 
having looked at a few youtube vids in all honesty i cant see the benefit of what a geared head would give me. seems its more geared ( scuse the pun) for precsion work / macro. or still liffe where you need to make fine micro adjustments.
for shooting in a hide or sat somewhere to catch wildlife ( river bank or woodland etc ) or even for landscapes , that level of precision isnt a key factor, the ability to adjust very quickly if need be is though.
that of course and having a head thats going to solidly support the big tamron lens , but equally be suitable for shooting wide angle landscapes with my 10-18 or setting up portrait work on my 85mm.

The option of the BK45 gimbal would be for better fluidity if capturing moving subjects ( airshows maybe or sports events ) but more so for the added support it will give to a big lens.
 
A gimbal *IS* just a pan-tilt head. The only advantage it has over other pan-tilt heads is the ability to balance the lens' center of gravity so that it holds any position if you release the camera. An unlocked gimbal provides weight support, but not "stability" really. And a gimbal *should* have some friction applied for smoother tracking just like your pan-tilt.
A gimbal is never going to be the best choice for maximum stability. There are too many pivot points with too much leverage on them... it's kind of like extending the tripod's center column.

I've gone away from using typical gimbal heads and ballheads... and now I have a bunch of them I need to sell off (I'll probably keep one ballhead though). I currently use UinqBall heads for everything except studio/product work (I own both models). I use a Manfrotto 410 Jr in the studio, and I have a 303 modified into a 3 axis rail system for pano/macro work (but it hasn't seen daylight in over a year).

I'm *not* suggesting you should get any of the ones I use... I'm just trying to make the point that a good 3way pan-tilt head is a very good "do-it-all" solution with fewer overall compromises than either a gimbal or a ballhead. Adding additional specialty heads comes with its own set of compromises, not the least being expense.
 
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