Geared Head vs. Ball Head for Landscape Photography

[@99muddy99]

Lovely photo of your windmill. Your friendly delivery was useful and also easy on the nerves. Thanks very much.

[@ScottymanPhoto]

Thanks for the kind comments! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Thank you for watching.

[@PhotographyByRune]

I never hada gear head, but I used a manfrotto 3 way head for 20 years until I got tired of all the faffery involved in adjusting it with 3 diffenrt knobs to open and close to get it adjusted, not to mention the extra weitght. So now I use the simplest ball head I can get my hands on, and love it.

[@ScottymanPhoto]

There's something to be said about simplicity. Seems like we overcomplicate many things today. I most often use my travel tripod with a simple Gitzo ball head, depending on the situation. However, in some situations there's nothing better than a geared head. I think it just comes down to experience and one's personal taste. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[@agnethaladuff8559]

Good talk about the gear head and ball head, they sure do look useful.

[@ScottymanPhoto]

Hello, Agnetha! Thanks for the support, and thank you for watching!

[@georgedavall9449]

Scottyman !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great stuff !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@ScottymanPhoto]

Thank you, George!

[@ArminHirmer]

I tend more to gear head, as I mix landscape and architecture and for that the precise control is I think more important. For landscape only a solid ball head will do. great videos btw

[@ScottymanPhoto]

Thanks for watching, and thanks for sharing your thoughts! Much appreciated!

[@basilbcf]

I just bought a geared head (SunWayFoto GH PROII+ ) and so far love it, but haven't had too much experience with it yet. I still have my Sirui ball head and a Nest Carbon Fiber gimbal head when needed, but for landscapes and Milky Way, I'm loving this geared head.

[@ScottymanPhoto]

Those look pretty solid! Let me know how it goes. Thanks for sharing!

[@basilbcf]

@@ScottymanPhoto I will try to remember to give an update here once I've had opportunity to use it for a while. I had heard of some complaints on the earlier version (the non + version) getting a little loose. Hopefully this newer version will not have that issue. Time will tell.

[@masterstacker2833]

Good video on the advantages of the Gear Head.

[@ScottymanPhoto]

Thank you very much, and thanks for watching!

[@FitnessSheriff]

Shooting real estate and having to do landscape and portrait photos of each shot - nothing beats the speed of a ball head to just turn and slap it 90degrees into the catch groove for portrait mode.

[@ScottymanPhoto]

Very true! The speed of using a ball head over a geared head is one of its biggest advantages. Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!

[@PhilippeCorthout]

Geared head + L-bracket. Best of both worlds ;-) Or... put a Leofoto G2 Geared Panning Clamp on your ball head.

[@SniperPhotography]

Great presentation Michael As you know I use geared and pan and tilt heads.I just feel it’s better for intricate and precise movements that you just can’t achieve with a ball head. But it is a personal thing as you mentioned. Cheers

[@ScottymanPhoto]

Yeah! I really prefer a geared head. I’d like to find one for my travel tripod. Thanks for watching, buddy! Take care.

[@SniperPhotography]

@@ScottymanPhoto take a look at the Leofoto 30vr

[@clarkbarrow6750]

That’s a great photo! In recent years I mostly use my geared head although I generally use the ball head on my travel tripod when I go hiking, mostly because it’s smaller and lighter. I like both and suppose each has some advantages over the other.

[@ScottymanPhoto]

Clark, I totally agree! Because it's so lightweight, I use my travel tripod quite often. I would like to put a geared head on it, but I haven't found one that I truly like. Thanks for the comments, and I appreciate your support!

[@frontstandard1488]

The D4 is also a ball head really, but no droop in it when tightened. It's my choice too for the type of static work I do. I have an arca swiss p0 ball head for stuff like portraits or similar where I may move the composition much more and need speed. Horses for courses. The D4 is so well made with fine tolerance.

[@ScottymanPhoto]

Yeah, the D4 is certainly a well-made device. The quality and craftsmanship of Arca-Swiss is truly remarkable. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[@yongkangzhou2302]

Great video! A perfect demonstration for gear head and ball head. But I'm wondering why do you want to use the leveling base for the gear head. If the gear head has quick adjustment and fine tuning in the same time, the leveling base looks like a dead weight to me.

[@ScottymanPhoto]

@@yongkangzhou2302 True, I really don’t need the leveling base, but it does allow me to quickly through down my tripod and not worry about the tripod being level. Basically, the leveling base provides a quick way to level the tripod without the need to adjust the legs. This is not only convenient, but saves a lot of time fussing with the tripod. To your point, I could just level the geared head and then swivel it for panos. Great point! Thanks for watching and sharing you thoughts!

[@davidg3307]

Thank you. You’ve helped me err towards the D4. I do a reasonable amount of close ups and get fed up with the image shifting in the viewfinder. My main concern (apart from the price!) is how well the gearing copes with dust and sand?

[@ScottymanPhoto]

David, I'm so glad I could help! KZbin is a great resource, but it can be a challenge to find information that's helpful. Thanks for sharing your thought!

[@johneast7987]

Hi, I have a Manfrotto ballhead but never use it. I had a Gitzo Fluid Three way Head and it was too much faffing about! So I bought an Acratech Levelling Head and an Acratech Long Lens Head/Panoramic Head (they're both the same) and they are brilliant. They are made by an Engineer so are accurately machined and assembled.

[@ScottymanPhoto]

John, the Acratech system is excellent and is much lighter than my Arca-Swiss. Indeed, I may end up using one of these in the future. Thanks for watching!

[@ScottymanPhoto]

@@jerryinsc They look fantastic. If it works work as well as it looks, it should be great!

[@ScottymanPhoto]

@@jerryinscThat’s true! And it much lighter than most.

[@ScottymanPhoto]

@@jerryinsc No worries! The truth is that some heads are better than others. Yes, a ball head can do a pano, provided it’s level. On that note, people are doing these hand-held nowadays, but a geared head is so much easier with better image quality! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[@johnrobertsonphotography]

Have you tried the Acratech LLH? Best of both worlds and that's all I use for landscape since moving on from a ballhead (which I think is one of the worst pieces of photo gear ever).

[@ScottymanPhoto]

I’ve not tried it, but I’ve seen them before. Maybe I should consider putting one on my travel tripod????? Thanks for the comments!

[@johnrobertsonphotography]

@@ScottymanPhoto I did a video on it. Not a great video, but a video nonetheless.