Lens Creep

I have a couple of each and am not a fan of ball heads for landscape because you cannot separately control each axis and i fumble to lose my level when i loosen the ball to change the tilt. annoying.

I much prefer the extra control of a 3-way head.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Even though I have an excellent RRS BH-55 Ball Head I find that with long and heavy lenses it can be tricky to handle the weight and movement. The weight is not always well balanced and if you are not careful the lens and camera can tilt one way or another unexpectedly. You also have the issue with a ball head that the weight gets off center axis if you don't have a lens with a mounting ring and you want to change the orientation from landscape to portrait. One way to combat this is to mount by the camera with an L bracket. But changing that is not always convenient either. A Ball Head can pan fairly well if it has a smooth panning base and smooth action. Ball Head is just a lot of compromises to me. I prefer my tilt head on a monopod and a pano gimbal on my tripod even for studio shooting and with short lenses.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

Mobius Loc: Troy, MI

Look at a Manfrotto 222/ Bogen 3625. I don't belive they are made any more, but there are several on ebay. It is a pistol grip on top of a ball head. Very effective on monopods, just tighten your grip and the ball head will let loose, release your grip and the ball head locks in place. I use it with a Nikkor 200-500, it is sturdy enough, don't how well it would work with heaver set ups.

papa Loc: Rio Dell, CA

If not hand-held I mount my 5D Mark III and Tamron 150-600 to an Oben 2400 monopod with a direct mount quick release and no head or for the most stability my "old school" Gitzo Studex 320 with Gitzo 2750 offset ballhead. Were I to shoot a lot of action sports I would very well be looking at a gimbal, but as the Gitzo offset ballhead tension is fairly easy to dial in, I can still have stability and follow movement of the subject; though a gimbal would offer a smoother action.

Retired fat guy with a camera Loc: Colorado

I have a gimbal on a tripod and a ball head on a monopod. It works for me.

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

I just don't like ball heads. I always replace them with pan/tilt heads. Much easier to control.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Considering the size and weight of your largest rig, I'd recommend...

For a tripod that will be used out in the field, I suggest a ballhead with Arca-style quick release platform, rated for at least 30 lb. (many different brands and models avail.) and a gimbal adapter (Wimberley Sidekick SK-100, Induro GBHA, or Jobu BWG-M1). This gives you the best of both worlds.... you're able to use the tripod/ballhead normally with shorter lenses... or use it with the gimbal adapter when using your largest lens (at about 4.5 lb. your 150-600mm really isn't all that heavy.... I've used up to 8 lb. lenses on my Sidekick, in conjunction with a Kirk BH-1 ballhead that's rated for 50 lb.). You'll need a fairly sturdy tripod to support this steadily, too.

For the monopod, get a monopod head. You really only need a tilt movement on a monopod, since you can easily rotate the entire rig for horizontal/panning movement. There are simple, compact monopod heads made specifically for this purpose. It so happens I do use a simpler (single locking knob) medium size ballhead on one of my monopods. But only installed that because I already had the spare ballhead lying around unused. It's really overkill, for use on a monopod.

I use a pan/tilt head on my studio tripod. At one time I used that in the field (mostly with medium and large format cameras), but it's heavy, bulky and the protruding control handles make it harder to pack and carry around.

Ernie Misner Loc: Lakewood, WA

Many of us start out with a pan/tilt 3 way head and get used to it. Main advantage is the separate adjustments (you can fine tune just the horizon line without loosening up the other adjustments). I did that for years but knew I was missing something when all of my friends were using a ball head for landscape photography and they were working so fast and effortlessly. So I finally switched to a quality ball head and admit it took me a while to get used to it. It is so much faster and smoother now that there is no way I would ever go back to a 3 way head for fast paced landscape work. Much more compact to carry as well. Do get a quality head though. The Arca Swiss "P" head is super small and light but very strong. I now have the Arca Swizz Z1, but any of the top brands would be fine. For the monopod, Manfrotto makes a special, small, and lightweight swivel head just for monopods.