Tripod heads

[Swaroopsankar Sivadasan]

I have been curious to know what sort of tripod/monopod heads people in this forum use for wildlife photography/videography. I use a Leofoto PG1 Gimbal head with my Benro Mach 3 CF tripod and Wimberley MH100 with my Gitzo CF monopod. I haven't tried any heads for videography so far, only shot some handheld ones.

 

[Doomrider74]

I use a Manfrotto video head (MVH-502, or something like that), even though I don't shoot video. It can be balanced like a gimbal but has a lower stack height and was cheaper.

 

[Garfield]

Sachtler Aktiv8 on Flowtech 75
Sachtler Ace on RRS 34L
Flexshooter mini on RRS 24L
Manfrotto 502 on Eckla Eagle

(I'm mostly videography)

 

[Warren D]

I have several, depending on use. For large format, I have a Bogen 3057. For landscape (smaller lenses) I love my Linhof Foti II and for big lenses it's a Wimberly.

 

[eaj101]

In order of frequency of use:

Acratech ballhead. Can't speak highly enough of them. Feather-light, lock solidly, Pan smoothly. Even with tripod legs it's light Wouldn't use with long lenses but great for anything else.
Benro gimball - Necessity for birds and wildlife with long lenses.
RRS BH-55 - very good but heavy, considering selling
various smaller heads for special situations.

My own opinions...

 

[Snapshot2020]

I use the Leofoto PG 1 with the Leveling Base and the Leofoto 324 CL Tall Series which handles the weight of the Z9 800PF. For video the Manfrotto MVH 502 on a Manfrotto Tripod.

 

[Calson]

Depends on the use.

Landscape photo I use the Arca-Swiss D4 GP on a Fiesol CT-3472 with the Feisol Leveling Base added. The Arca-Swiss is in a class by itself and allows both fast adjustments and easy micro adjustments for perspective control.

For Wildlife stills I use either a Gitzo fluid dampened gimbal, or for travel a Custom Brackets gimbal that breaks down without tools for travel. I originally bought the Gitzo fluid head for videos but found it works very well with heavy lenses to smoothy adjust tilt and to pan. The Custom Brackets gimbal head is one of only two gimbal heads that has a safety lever to prevent the lens crashing down when the camera is removed without remembering to lock the gimbal - been there and done that.

Video is with Robus RC-5570 legs with the 75mm bowl adapter and using a Sachtler Ace XL head. For me this is a bare minimum video support setup and at about $1100 in total not difficult to justify buying. The Robus supports up to 55 lbs and the Sachtler has a capacity of up to 17.6 lbs on paper. Ideally the lens and camera load should be kept below 10 lbs and so the Z9 with the 800mm or a Sigma 60-600mm is well within its capabilities.

 

[fulltimewanderer]

For wildlife, Wimberley Gimbal Head WH200 mounted on a Really Right Stuff tripod. No problems with either for 15 + years.

 

[merlinator]

Locally I use Wimberley Gimbal Head WH200 mounted on a Gitzo tripod. For travel a Flexshooter pro on a Feisol

 

[gnpToday]

I have been curious to know what sort of tripod/monopod heads people in this forum use for wildlife photography/videography. I use a Leofoto PG1 Gimbal head with my Benro Mach 3 CF tripod and Wimberley MH100 with my Gitzo CF monopod. I haven't tried any heads for videography so far, only shot some handheld ones.

I have considered a fluid head. Hudson Henry has quite a few videos on his channel that explain the benefits of using them for both stills and video. Here is the link to the search I ran on his channel. https://www.youtube.com/@HudsonHenryPhoto/search?query=502

 

[ARClark]

In order of frequency of use:

Acratech ballhead. Can't speak highly enough of them. Feather-light, lock solidly, Pan smoothly. Even with tripod legs it's light Wouldn't use with long lenses but great for anything else.
Benro gimball - Necessity for birds and wildlife with long lenses.
RRS BH-55 - very good but heavy, considering selling
various smaller heads for special situations.

My own opinions...

I'll second the Acratech ballhead as a small, light but effective head for wide to moderate prime and zooms lenses. Heck, before I knew better, I used the Acratech for years with a Wiimberley sidekick on a Gitzo Series 3 tripod for my 7.5 lb 500mm f/4 lens. It held up with my smaller, ungripped DSLRs and the 500 f/4 until giving out while shooting with a gripped D850 and TC. I had it repaired by Acratech to good as new condition, but now use a Markins ballhead with the sidekick and a 500E Fl the D850 and Z9. You might consider a Markins as a replacement for the RRS BH-55 as a smaller and lighter but still reasonably heavy duty ballhead.

 

[ARClark]

I have been curious to know what sort of tripod/monopod heads people in this forum use for wildlife photography/videography. I use a Leofoto PG1 Gimbal head with my Benro Mach 3 CF tripod and Wimberley MH100 with my Gitzo CF monopod. I haven't tried any heads for videography so far, only shot some handheld ones.

I've use a Wimberly sidekick on a Gitzo Series 3 tripod with Markins ballhead for shooting birds with a 500mm f/4/TC combo with gripped D850 or Z9. In my case, I shoot birds a lot (mostly handheld) along with some landscape and macro. I have the one heavy set of legs for the mulitple uses. The sidekick is nice because it's easy to add to the ballhead for gimbal-like shooting and easy to remove to return to just the ballhead. However, for a tripod essentially dedicated to gimbal type use, especially for heavy rigs, using a full gimbal head makes a lot of sense. I don't shoot video, so don't know if a sidekick would work for that. I also recently got a Benro monopod with a Wimberley MH100 head which I've rarely used so far.

 

[cameraf4]

To answer the question: a Ball-n-Socket head that will hold your heaviest camera-n-lens combination without "drifting". I have had good luck with Slik and a quick-release plate.