Ball Heads

I have always used the pan/tilt type heads. I am about to buy a monopod and I thought about buying some sort of quick release head to mount to the monopod.

I am looking at both the ball and pan/tilt type heads... Is there an advantage of one over the other?

If so.... could you list them. What ever I buy...I am prob gonna get 2 and replace the head on my tripod so I never have to take the base off the camera.

Since Im buying 2 I would like to keep it in the $50-70 range.

Thanks.

I think the main advantage of a ball head is speed Kevin. If you want to swivel around, or flip to vertical, it's easier and faster than a pan/tilt. Only one quick lever on a lot of models and you can move the head in any direction. I believe the pan head would be more accurate for small adjustments, but from what I've seen on here, jsut about everyone goes the ball head route - or a geared head for really fine macro work. But that would be slower and more accurate than the pan/tilt.

I have a Bogen 486RC2, which is pretty sturdy for it's size, and cheap for it's quality. If you're using anything heavy though, you might need something more robust. And $50-$70 is really the very low end for quality ball heads.

What camera and lenses are you going to use? The weight will determine the best heads to consider. If you get a head with an Arca Swiss quick release system the camera/lens plates will work on many different heads that are equipped with this universal system. Unfortunately, your price point is rather low. When I first started the same porcess you are in now I was amazed to see prices in the $350-$450 range. They will, however last a life time.

I am using a Nikon D80 and probably will soon be purchasing a Sigma 50/500 zoom.

I am just a serious amature photographer.... I have not sold any photos.... so it is hard for me to justify alot of the higher end stuff. This is just a hobby for me. I would love to have the Sigma 300/800 but for what I do.... theres no way to justify the price.

The heads that I am currently looking at are actually more expensive than the monopod Im considering (Bogen - 4 Section Light-Weight Monopod $33).... and the tripod I currently have.

Thanks for your input.... With what I read here... I may consider going up in price and quality... if someone can give me the pluses as to why I should.

Thanks again.

I think it just comes down to the quality of the head, and the higher quality heads will hold more weight - but also be easier to use. I have a Bogen 'Pistol-grip' ball head on my tripod. It works well, but is a bit light duty for my Sigma 180 macro (with my Nikon D80). I watched the forums here and on another site and got me an AcraTech Ultimate for only $100. This is rare, as they usually go used for about $200. The Acratech Ultimate has the arca-swiss style quick release and will easily hold 25 lbs. I may be selling my pistol grip bogen, but I doubt it would support the 'Bigma' that you plan on buying.

Nathan

Kevin,

I use the monopod kit from Really Right Stuff. They recommend the Manfrotto 3232 swivel head($21), their quick release clamp($72) and monopod hardware kit ($2). So for $95 you have a great setup for your monopod. IMHO, a full head is overkill on a monopod. Note that you will need an arca-swiss plate on your camera, if you don't already have one.

cheers,

Andre

The Manfrotto swivel is pretty good and well under your cost, but the RRS clamps exceed your budget by themselves. You can get the manfrotto monopod swivel with an RC2 quick release (this is what I have) for about the same price as the swivel with no clamp. I just use my monopod for travel. You could get a Manfrotto ballhead with the RC2 plate and then everything will be fine. This is what I did my first time through, except I got the Manfrotto 3030 - 3 way panning head.

The problem is that most of the better ballheads use an arca-swiss style plate and its incompatible with the Manfrotto plates.

Eventually I wanted to shed alot of weight from my tripod (8 pounds) for hiking. I went to an Acra-tech head and that requires arca-swiss clamps. Now I'm stuck having to switch plates occasionally if I want to bring out both tripods (when I'm using multiple cameras).

Andre,

What do you mean by ...a "full head" is overkill on a monopod. Im not sure I understand the terminology.

Mel,

Do you have a link for the Acra-tech head and clamps.... I do ALOT of hiking and would love to drop some weight on my tripod.

Mel..... disreguard my last request.... I found them..... .and they are waaaay out of my price range at this time.

Kevin,

by a "full head" I mean a ball-head like the Acra-tech, Markins 20, Kirk BH-3, etc. A "full head" is well suited to a tripod. On a monopod, you don't need the full range of movements that a "full head", ie ball-head, gives you. The fact that you only have one leg to deal with on the monopod means that you can get away with less and still have the range of movements. For example, on a ball-head, you can rotate the ball-head. With the solution that I suggested, to get the rotation, you just rotate the monopod leg, easy

Note that this is just my preference for a monopod. I know plenty of people that have a small ball-head on their monopod and like it. For me, the Really Right Stuff (RRS) solution minimises the weight of the monopod and also simplifies adjustments.

Link to RRS monopod solution: http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/tripods/03.html

Hope this explains it better,

Cheers,

Andre

You might also take a look at the Giotto's ball heads. The MH-1001-652 comes with a quick release plate and is a very good medium size ball head. It is a little more than you want to spend but not a lot and it has a separate panning lock which I can't live without.

Just a FYI.... I will be taking the advise of the people here and getting a better head. I have decided to go with the:

Bogen-Manfrotto 488RC4 Midi Ball Head with RC4 Rapid Connect System (3271)

Thanks for all your help.