TRIPOD HEAD GUIDE
BALL HEADS
BH-55: The heavyweight ball head, top of its class in terms of lock-up strength.
Who's it for?
-Any photographer who demands the frame of a composition be preserved and resistant to drift and vibration under any circumstance.
- A fine-art photographer who shoots still subjects at slow shutter speeds for long-exposures.
- A landscape photographer who works in the elements with very narrow apertures for maximum detail and DoF.
- A product/food photographer who focus brackets using an ancillary macro slider.
- Any photographer using an effective focal length greater than 400mm on a fixed, unmoving subject.
- Astro-photographers and astronomers.
- Studio photographers who rarely move their tripod.
- Any photographer who does not mind managing a 2lb ball head for the sake of rock-solid rigidity and lock-up strength to obtain the sharpest image quality possible.
Best tripod union: RRS Series-3 tripods
BH-40: A lighter, mid-size solution which still features independent panning base and/or drag set control.
Who's it for?
- A traveling photographer seeking a lighter alternative to the weight of the BH-55, but still requires a robust head for stationary subjects.
- A photographer who will not use lenses that exceed 400mm in effective focal length, and if so, are agreeable to using higher ISOs and/or wider apertures in order to keep the shutter speed fast enough to avoid soft images resulting from lens vibration.
Best tripod union: RRS Series-2 tripods
BH-30: A small but robust ball head with an independent locking knob for the panning base.
Who's it for?
- A photographer primarily on the go, who barely stops moving longer than it takes to click a shutter.
- A travel photographer whose mobile support system must be balanced with ancillary pieces of gear and baggage.
- A street photographer who primarily shoots handheld but may need to use a tripod occasionally for portraits, low-light moments, scene setting, or cityscapes.
- A photographer working with glass no longer than 300mm in effective focal length.
Best tripod union: RRS Series-1 tripods
BH-25: An ultralight ball head for specialized small-gear support applications.
Who's it for?
- A vlogger with a simple, efficient table-top setup.
- A podcaster in need of an articulating mic head.
- A photographer using inconspicuous ‘pocket-pod’ support when shooting in locations that prohibit full-size tripods.
Best tripod union: TFA-01 Ultra pocket-pod
MICRO BALL HEADS
BC-18 & BPC-16: Surprisingly robust despite their extremely compact profile
Who's it for?
- Useful for cameras ranging from mobile phones, to compact “action cams” such as a GoPro, to point-n-shoots, to full-size cameras with prime and short zoom lenses. In addition, the micro ball heads can be used to support accessories such as monitors, mics, flashes, remotes, etc. The BPC-16 features a 360-degree panning ring, whereas the BC-18 does not, but has a stronger lock-up.
Best tripod union: TFA-01 Ultra pocket-pod, or an RRS Multi-Clamp
