Ballheads vs 3-way Panheads

I was reading somewhere that Panheads where designed for videocameras

and are not handy for still photography and we should all buy a good

ballhead. Then I took a look at the ballhead options, and saw some

really expensive heads (Arca Swiss, RRS, Kirk etc). <br><br>

I have a Bogen 3021 (Manfrotto 055 PRO) tripod with a 3-way 3047

Panhead (Manfrotto 141RC) and I find it pretty handy to use and very

sturdy for the 2 kg I usually put on it. I am wondering, what more

would these expensive heads (twice the price of my current gear) give me?

Ballheads can be rotated to all directions with only one knob used to control. With panheads, you have to do it with 3 controls/knobs, which in my opinion, will take much longer time. If you feel that you are O.K. with what you have then why bother? I don't know what camera are you shooting with, but in my experience, when you shoot with 35mm or DSLR, ballhead is a much better choice, however, if you shoot a large format gear, it would be a different story.

I first started off with a Bogan 3030 panhead. It was great for verticals and horizontals. When I started doing serious macro work it quickly became obvious that there were some angles I couldn't easily get. Also a good panhead is generally pretty bulky and if you hike can be a pain. But I agree if it works for you, why bother?

Everybody gets a 3047 sometime in their life. Me too,then sold it. Only trying in practice a decent (read costly) ball head and release system will tell you if it is a step up for you or to forget it. Also do read the Photo net article on ball heads re the speed advantage. No three axis levers to adjust for one. Speed and follow through in changing direction of movement. Pan and tilt are fine for many. For video,a fluid head is another type most useful for panning speed control. Ball heads are a tougher engineering design ergo they can get up to four to five hundred pesos.. GS

There are plenty of decent ballheads that don't cost a fortune. Don't buy into the rhetoric.

John is very correct. The Arca Swiss family and manufactures who use this quick release are selling very high quality pieces of equipment that have become almost a standard for many (if not most) nature photography advanced amatures and professional alike. However it is not essential and when you figure you can get an excellent ballhead from Manfrotto for the price of some of the Arca-Swiss plate alone its worth considering the lower priced option. The flexability of the Arca Swiss plate options is ultimately why I purchased the Markins form of the Arca Swiss Ball head, but my previous work with Bogan heads is generally indistingusihable from this higher priced equipment.

I've used a Bogen pistol grip, it's quite flexible in positioning and is truly one-hand operation. There are some positions that are awkward and can be difficult from a leverage standpoint and some people report creep issues. The more compact or maybe "centered" ballheads have less leverage to deal with but usually are two hand operations - one to move with, one to "clamp." Both types can have some "pointing" quirks, close work being more difficult to deal with than long work.

 

And as you've noticed, the consensus or rhetoric as you will leads to more expensive ballheads, certainly more expensive than many very adequate pan-tilts.

 

I'm sure that there are a lot of individual factors involved, types of shooting, gear used, etc.

First off, you may as well follow the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' for now. If your panhead becomes annoying to you though, spring for a really good ballhead. I had to own a few progressively more expensive ones before I got an arca-swiss. For me it was the combination of creep, and how tight I had to tighten other heads to feel solid. Since I bought it there have been several new entries as you have found. The RRS one sure looks nice!

 

Acratech also makes one that isn't quite as expensive or sturdy as the others, but it's quite light. Great for backpacking or extended hikes.

<p style="font-style: italic; border:1px solid #AAAAAA;">I am wondering, what more would these expensive heads (twice the price of my current gear) give me? </p>

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What the ball head gives you is the ability to recompose, reframe very quickly. You can also set <b>good</b> ballheads so they allow movement but are still 'tight' enough to steady a photo quite a lot. This works especially well with medium to sort-of-long telephoto lenses.

If you need a ballhead for a heavy long lens 500mm or a 300mm f2 monster then a Markins has one of the highest load capacities arround. Its expensive but nobody has reported it sticking or freezing up. My observation is that I would get the bigger Markins that is only a few dollars more and weights .25 lbs more and has a bigger ball and larger quick release mount. The Markins is still cheaper than the Arca Swiss.

Don't forget that a ballhead is not always better. The ability to adjust one axis at a time is practical when shooting a still subject. Since you find your 141RC handy to use, I see no reason not too.

The benefit is speed to achieve a particular position and whether thats relevant will depend on the sort of photography you're doing. I don't imagine there are many people photographing animals. birds, or macro seriously that are using three way heads, but for something like landscapes its more a question of preference and what you're used to. Also as has been pointed out there are a wide range of ballhead prices available and it is not reasonable to assume that the cheaper ones will necessarily be worse for your purpose. Sure, if your photography demands that you make lots of adjustments to you framing the more expensive brands you mention will help the speed and accuracy of that a lot. But I personally can't see what an Arca Swiss might add to landscape work, for example, that I can't achieve with a mid-range Manfrotto.

There's no perfect head, any more than there is a perfect camera bag. Some applications cry for a certain configuration, like geared heads for macros and table-top photography. Low-profile heads work well with view cameras.

 

The prime advantage of a good ball head is ease of operation. It is much faster to set up, compose and shoot, especially when the legs are not level. Three-way handles have too much slop by comparison, and geared heads too slow and fussy. A good ball head is smooth enough when partly loosened, and the aim point stays where you put it.

 

Up there with reason number one is that the Arca-Swiss QR system is common on ball heads, but rarely used on 3-way heads (or heads with fixed axes of orientation). A/S plates are available custom-fitted to prevent rotation, and are fast and secure to use, and can be left on the camera when not in use (unlike the teacup-sized Manfrotto plates).

 

Ball heads are also much easier to carry. There's no way to get the handles of a 3-way head out of the way, whether on a strap or on a backpack.

 

Good ball heads cost 2 or 3 times that of a comparable 3-way head. Still, that's where (35mm and MF) photographers who tend to use tripods in the field end up - sometimes after several costly trades. The "weight capacity" is not a valid comparison, unless it is clearly to small.

 

Smoothness of operation (no slip-stick action), keeping the aim point when tightened, greaseless operation and ruggedness are characteristic of the high-end ball heads - Arca Swiss, RRS, Acratech and others. Cheap ball heads are frustrating to use and often not secure - better to save up than to jump in too early.

 

The unique (and deal-making) feature of the Arca Swiss B1 is the out-of-round ball, which tightens as the head is tilted, preventing sudden camera "flop". The B1 also has a very gradual tightening action. In use, I seldom have to lock the ball completely with a DSLR or Hassie. When I do, it will easily hold an 8 pound view camera at any angle.

Edward, I agree. No one need spend more than they can think they can afford. The popularity and sales of the Arca Swiss,Kirk BH-1,Markins and other high end ball heads is not only fashion,nameplate fancy,or myth. It is just as you say. Great quality pays for an item that will last a lifetime. Or beyond.

When the A-S works its fine but google for user reports and you will find plenty of users frustrated with the ball getting so stuck they need to use a hammer to un- stick it. This seems to be common and a design flaw. The Markins will handle the heavy loads at all angles a lot of users of nikon gear use it with heavy lenses. You can get just the Markins ball and add RRS and A-S releases and plates to work with the ball.

Yes Harvey. I have read those reports. The only thing that I add is that why do some users, myself,Ellis Vener (who is on retainer,he does disclose) never have the lockup. And if the lockup is so serious,why is it so easy to get unlocked. Yes, I think it happened to me once now that I recall, and I followed the remedy and voila. Also, I seem to note that the latest version has an interior screwset fix that has eliminated this. As to Markins and others, I don't knock them. I can only say that the Arca Swiss with Gitzo legs is such a nifty (read sweet,cool,slick) product,it is a shame it has gotten this rap. Possibly in Arctic conditions it is more prevalent. The aspherical ball is unique. I mean,like, have you ever tried to machine an aspherical ball in your life? It aint easy. GS. Satisfied Arca Swiss style advocate of ball heads over three way pan tilt if you can spring for them. Ball heads and tripods are still interesting. They can not be outdated with each model year either. Has anyone seen the STUFF lately that Really Right Stuff is introducing. Far out..GS

An interesting read from an interesting service center for A-S:

http://precisioncameraworks.com/Pages/monoball_core.html

The way I understood the problem is that the A-S gets harder to move as the head is pointed from horizontal. Also in cold it gets worse. I have read several used hammer strikes to loosen up ball.

 

On Ebay someone has a Gitzo carbon legset, a Markins vibration isolator, a B2 Markins ballhead and an RRS quick relise. Search ebay and see it, I find this setup to be ideal, and a roadmap for my own setup. I have magnesium/aluminum legset and I will be looking at adding the isolation plate, Markins ball and RRS quick release, used if possible.

The sticking problem with the A-S B1 is overstated and easily remedied. It is cleared by tightening the tension knob then releasing. The mechanism has been redesigned to eliminate this problem, and the new heads have a grey, rather than black, tension preset screw. Refer to www.reallyrightstuff.com for more details.

 

I've never had the head freeze on mine (knock on wood) and I carry it everywhere - planes, trains and automobiles.

For the type of work I do, I much prefer a panhead. but there is a dearth of solid panheads that are under 2 lbs., so I tend to use ballheads anyway. I do have hopes for the new Velbon PHD-51Q head, but I've not handled one yet. A Bogen 3047 that weighed 2 lbs would be what I'd ideally want.