Which type of tripod head for product photography ?

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Jay
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I am doing more product photography. I have not looked at heads for 15 years or so, so I am totally out of touch with developments with styles of head and with mounting plates. I have no loyalty to any brand.

I have been using a pan and tilt. Should I bother to consider a ball head (that can take heavy loads to reduce slippage risk), or perhaps a pistol grip - or is it most effective to stick with a pan and tilt?

Are there any helpful features I should look out for in a modern head and mounting plate system, or anything I should avoid?

Thanks for any ideas on this.
 
anything I should avoid?


Product photography means, most of the time,
tabletop work. With this in mind, my only recom-
mendation goes for the geared head.

There are many makers offering similar features
but not with similar precision, go for the later.
 
I do a bit of tabletop work and have switched from ball head to three-way as it gives much more control. If I did more I'd go for a geared head such as the Manfrotto 410 Junior for absolute control. This is still the best approach even if your product is as large as a car as you have the time to adjust the head exactly as required.
 
As already mentioned, for precision control use a geared head.

The Manfrotto 410 is the cheapest (I'm ignoring their XPro geared head, as the plastic used allows for a bit of 'flex' in the head, which defeats the purpose of having a geared head), though you can spend more if you've got excess cash you are determined to spend...
 
Looking for low or medium pricing, def not high end goods, sadly, not got the cash to spare!
 
It all depends on the product photography you are doing. I use geared heads, but I also use a pistol grip ball head. They both have their own advantages.
 
A geared head is the way for product photography, and the Manfrotto 410 is good and popular because of the affordable cost (but heavy). Then convert to the Arca-Swiss quick-release system by simply bolting an A-S clamp to the Manfrotto plate - £10 from Amazon/ebay (y)

Edit: then get an L-bracket for vertical framing.
 
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