jradose wrote:
I understand that a "pan and tilt" tripod head is designed, and best used for video shooting. But, does anyone use a pan and tilt tripod head for still photography? If so, any recommendations on ease of use and product to consider?
Actually, what is generally referred to as "pan/tilt" heads are designed for photography. They have panning and tilting movements, as well as some means of reorienting the camera vertically.
Video heads look similar and have panning and tilting movements. It's fair to say they are also "pan/tilt". However, they are a more specialized type of pan/tilt head that doesn't provide any means of orienting the camera vertically, the way "pan/tilt" heads for photography typically do. All video is shot in a horizontal/landscape orientation so there's no need for the head to allow the video camera to be turned to in a vertical/portrait orientation. It's common for video heads to be mounted onto a "bowl" in the top of the tripod, which allows for leveling on uneven surfaces. Some video heads have "fluid" dampened movements, to make for smoother panning and tilting. Video heads also may have a very high weight bearing capacity... Some well over 100 lb., due to the size and weight of some of the gear involved. This makes video heads themselves rather bulky and, often, quite expensive.
Many pan/tilt heads have protruding levers or control handles (as do video heads) that make them a bit bulky too. This can be problem when trying to pack the tripod for travel or when carrying the tripod in the field. Some have folding or removable levers. But they are typically smaller, lighter and more affordable than video heads... plus pan/tilt can have an advantage (versus ballheads) that when the camera is oriented vertically, it remains reasonably well centered above the tripod's center line.
Ballheads are typically a lot more compact, so might be better for packing and travel purposes. But most of ballheads will "flop" the camera off to one side when the camera is oriented vertically, making things somewhat unbalanced.
There are "L-brackets" that can be installed on the camera and used with either type of head, to allow the camera to be vertically oriented and remain better centered upon the tripod... And thus less likely to tip over!
There are other types of heads....
"Grip" heads are fast acting.... Essentially a small ballhead that uses a spring loaded locking mechanism, which can be released by gripping the head. Like a ballhead, an L-bracket will usually be needed for direct camera mounting in vertical orientation, or the whole rig would be "flopped" way off to one side and make for poor balance.
"Gimbal" heads are designed for use with very large, heavy lenses (usually with a tripod mounting collar). They're designed so that the lens can be adjusted close to equilibrium, making it very smooth and easy to move both for panning and for tilt. (In most cases, horizontal and vertical orientations are achieved by rotating the camera and lens in the lens' mounting collar.)
"Gimbal adapters" are used in conjunction with a ballhead. The adapter provides the tilt movement, while the ballhead provides the panning motion. Adapters usually don't have as high weight rating as standard "full size" gimbal heads. But an adapter allows the tripod to be converted back to "regular" use quickly and easily... while a full size gimbal fully replaces any other type of head, pretty much making the tripod "long lens only", largely unusable for use with shorter lenses unless a ballhead or pan/tilt is swapped with the gimbal.
"Geared" heads of various types have rack and pinion or other mechanisms for precision control. Some tripods also use a geared center column for height adjustments.
"Panoramic" heads are designed to allow very precise mounting of a camera in order for rotation around the lens' "nodal point", so that multiple images taken to make a panorama "fit together" as best possible.
There are also hybrid heads.... pan/tilts with compact designs, ballheads with precision gearing and more.
Personally I use two tripods with ballheads (one with a gimbal adapter), another tripod with a full size gimbal head (dedicated to large telephoto lenses w/tripod collars), and a very hefty "studio" tripod with a pan/tilt head. I have several others accumulated over the years, but those four are my main "users".