Ball head vs pan tilt heads

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Submitted By: John Olexa

Location: Maryland

Joined: Feb 17 2007

Posts:

Ball head vs pan tilt heads

Posted: March 10, 2007 - 3:12pm

My old tripod finally bit the dust. Now that I'm buying a new one, was wondering about ball head and pan tilt heads. Which to you guys & girls like better?
Pro /cons of both.
Thanks
Oh, my old one was a Slik U 8000 Had the ol boy for 10 years! LOL

Submitted By: Larry Berman

Location: Pittsburgh

Joined: Mar 7 2005

Posts:

Re: Ball head vs pan tilt heads

Posted: March 10, 2007 - 7:40pm

I'll only use ball heads and have them on all of the tripods I own, even the small Velbon Maxi 343E:
http://bermangraphics.com/coolpix/velbon.htm

Submitted By: Rhilton4u

Location: Lake Ridge, VA

Joined: Jan 6 2007

Posts:

Re: Ball head vs pan tilt heads

Posted: March 10, 2007 - 11:46pm

I just went through this question a week ago and settled on the ball head (Manfrotto 488RC2 on a Manfrotto 3021B Pro). The ball head seems like it's much quicker and easier to use. You can adjust the camera angle with one hand, and tighten the ball with the other - all in one motion. And the 488 comes with a pan dial, which eliminates the problem with it being unsuitable for panoramics.

Submitted By: ronk II

Joined: Oct 2 2006

Posts:

Re: Ball head vs pan tilt heads

Posted: March 11, 2007 - 4:22am

I like to be able to adjust the parameters separately; I use the Bogen 3030 pan tilt head.

Submitted By: TimothyHughes

Location: Madison

Joined: Aug 10 2007

Posts:

Re: Ball head vs pan tilt heads

Posted: August 10, 2007 - 10:01pm

I have a Slik Able 340DX tripod and I love it! It's not as heavy-duty or tall as a Bogen/Manfrotto but for toting around-it rules. It's got Aluminum-Magnesium-Titanium alloy legs and is quite strong for how light it is. It has a pan-tilt head, but I think it would accept a Bogen pistol grip head which I may buy in the future.

-TH