Heady choice!

Hi Everyone,

Now I’d like a pose a question, which is the best all-round head?

I know that not one choice is going to give me the best performance covering all the genres I require but I intend to find one that’ll come close – I hope!

I own a Wimberley Gimbal V2 which in my opinion is a fantastic head when using a long lens (i.e. my 600mm f/4) but is useless when I need to mount the camera on it with a wide angle; therefore I use my Kirk BH-1 Ball Head. Now for marco work I add a focusing rail to the Ball Head or use a geared head.

So all three heads cover different genres and each is fantastic in its own right. The problems lies in the fact that I take a 600mm f/4, 70-200mm f/2.8, 12-24mm f/4 & a 105mm f/2.8 Micro with me in my backpack when I go out for long hikes and I really don’t relish the thought of carrying two or three heads with me when I do.

So the need for one universal head is very important, any suggestions? I have been looking at the fluid heads but will this cover all aspects such as; panning with a long lens through to locking up for a macro work or landscape shot?

Any help is greatly appreciated? It must have Arca-Swiss!

Happy shooting,

Well Paul - I only use two heads - V2 gimbal and 410 geared.

I have 2 plates for the 410 - one is on the lens foot of the 180 macro, the other on the body of the D2Xs.
The geared head makes a great job for landscapes imho - mind you I'm no Ansell Adams, but I find it a pleasure to use on things that don't move

I think perhaps you might be over-complicating things a bit matey

You buy what you are happy with

I have an old Benbo but I only use the big ball and socket head.
I love it. Fits on an old army tripod which is really solid.
Long live car boots !
JohnR

Hi Paul keep things simple and concentrate on your photography. I have only one light Tripod and most of my flight shots is hand held. I hope this helps.
John

I use an arca swiss ball head for all my photographic requirements-500+2x down to 16mm and macro, I would have thought your ball head would be ok for the same

Yes stick with the ball head when hiking with all that gear, if you set up right you can drop the head into the slot and have a rudimentary gimbal, I will often do this with my 400/2.8 which is around the same weight as a 600/4....

The BH1 can easily take the 600's and wide aperture 400's and will lock down firmly.

HTH

Its all part and parcel of deciding which system fits your shooting style, what you want out at the end of the day and what compromises you are prepared to put up with.

There is no single perfect solution, as you are talking about three distinct specialist areas of photography, long telephoto action work, macro and landscape. Each discipline has its own specific requirements

A lot of people stick to 500mm lenses as you can use the Wimberley Sidekick. Its ability to convert a ballhead to a gimbal head in 10 seconds gives the best of both worlds with the lighter 'big gun' lenses. So this gizmo alone probably fits your description of the best all round head perfectly. But as you shoot a 600 f4, is not a safe viable option for you.

Mike

Jack of all trades, will cope with 600mm and is as easy to carry as it is to get fustrated with (when compared to the optimum choice) - Arca Swiss Z1 with quick release

I use the Wimberley sidekick on an Arca Swiss Z1 and QR plate with the 500mm f/4. I have also used a 600mm that I borrow from time to time on that setup and had no issues with it. For everything else I use Wimberley QR plates on camera body or lens foot and use the Z1 upright or in the slot. I have found the 500mm is also ok on the Z1 direct for most things, although I don't find it that easy for panning compared to using the sidekick.

Dave

Thanks for all your replies,

I had originally intended on a 500mm VR and using a sidekick and ball head would have been prefect but switching to the 600mm (non-VR) through being impatient has caused a problem! I use the ball head for everything but in-flight shots and needed something to aid that. By transporting a Gimbal and a Ball Head is just too much on three particular hikes I do – they all yield wonderful marco, landscape and bird photography! Plus a wonderful 15 mile hike!

Shooting flight shots with a 600mm by hand is a task after five minutes! So I’m trying to consolidate all my heads into one. A big ask obviously! I suppose the Ball Head + Sidekick are the ultimate answer. But I did just hope there was something out there besides the Ball Head that I’ve used for years – with the only restriction being free movement of in-flight shots! That’s partly why I looked at the fluid heads – I assumed that it would offer the best of three worlds instead of two like the Ball Head! Oh well back to the drawing board!

Paul...

Drop the ball into the slot for flight shots, you will be suprised at how much like a gimbal it can be, not perfect of course but certainly works, your camera will be and lens will be to one side so just make sure that you have a tripod leg underneath them...

Phil

Cheers Phil - a make-shift gimbal! Tried it this morning and works a treat (it won't replace the Wimberley though!), so that solves my problem for taking just one head on those three long hikes! Best of all it doesn't cost a penny!