The Headless Photographer...

I start at the sound of hoofbeats. The tramping comes again, but now it rings differently. No, that is no horse. I can make out the clink of metal and the knock of carbon against stone. In the clear moonlight of a southern night I recognize a man coming toward me with a backpack on his shoulders.

Merciful heavens! He has no head! The backpack is there, the tripod is there, and the head - is not!

For another minute I keep staring at him with bewildered eyes, as if straining to understand: what manner of unheard-of monster is this?

Sorry - I suddenly remembered Mayne Reid, no idea why. Let’s carry on with our conversation about what to put into the backpack so that later there is something to take out of it. Too complicated? Fine, let me try it another way - let’s talk about what I usually put into my backpack so that I don’t turn pale when I meet a bear somewhere deep in the Canadian backcountry. We have already settled the question of the backpack and the tripod (what? you’re sure a tripod is quite enough for a bear? well, I don’t know…). So the time has come to talk about the head or, as some people call it, the little tripod head. But we are not going to use that dubious term and belittle the thing with diminutive suffixes. A head it is!

Girl on a Ball… Head

What is a head for? To mount the camera on the tripod. Most beginning photographers usually stop at that requirement and then suffer badly for it later. Because a head is needed not only to attach the camera to the tripod (or to some other device for holding the camera), but to do it easily, comfortably and, most important of all, to let you change the camera’s position on the tripod quickly and without effort. That last part matters a lot. Mounting the camera on the tripod is not the goal in itself. The goal is to mount it and compose the frame. Preferably fast and without breaking a sweat. Far from every tripod head delivers a satisfactory value for that parameter (I mean the amount of sweat per square centimeter of the photographer’s forehead).

Heads come in different kinds. But if we set aside the special category of panoramic heads (which we’ll talk about later) and abstract away from the details of any particular implementation, there will be only two options: three-way heads and ball heads. A three-way head has three handles, and by turning them you can change the camera’s position. At first glance it looks fairly convenient. But only at first glance. In practice a photographer using a three-way head composes a frame several times slower than a photographer with a ball head. Doesn’t sound so bad - there’s time to think about the composition, about the subject… Unfortunately, all you get to think about is which handle to turn where and when this will finally be over. In a word, I am a fierce opponent of three-way heads. Because they are torture and nothing more. Surely these heads have some advantages, you’ll ask. They do, of course. With three levers you can position the camera on the tripod with perfect precision. How often is that perfect precision needed in practice? In my practice - never. And you can decide for yourself whether you’ll need it or not. And don’t forget that it comes bundled with slowness and unjustified complexity of control. So the bottom line is: the ball head. Structurally a ball head consists of a base and a ball, to which the camera platform is attached. The ball rotates freely inside a special clamp and, with a light movement of the lever, locks dead in its current position. It is precisely in how those two postulates are fulfilled (“rotates freely” and “locks dead”) that ball heads differ from one another. Well, and also in the method used to attach the camera to the head. But first let’s talk about the ball.

For comfortable composing, the ball has to rotate without effort. The notion of “without effort” is rather subjective, and that’s why good ball heads let you adjust that effort. Which means you can tune it to yourself. Individually. But it matters far more that after the ball is clamped with its lever the camera stays in the position you chose. Not almost stays, not “more or less,” but exactly that and nothing else. On bad ball heads the camera “sags” a little after the ball is locked. Just a touch. Under the weight of the camera and the lens. But that “just a touch” is capable of destroying your composition completely. It’s fine if you’re shooting with a wide-angle lens and it really is “just a touch.” But if you’re shooting with a telephoto - then even a small “sag” can lead to a global change in your framing. Which is very unpleasant, and after three attempts it simply starts to irritate. I know photographers who even manage to build in a “lead” for that sag. You can call that fancy flying, of course, but in fact you just need to swap the tripod head for a better one. And if yours “sags,” that is not a “feature” at all, it’s a “bug” (as my programmer friends say). Which, translated into human language, means: you shouldn’t adapt to shortcomings - you should fix them.

Now Why’d They Fasten It Like That?

I think you’ve guessed that the time has come to talk about attaching the camera to the head. For comfortable work you need this to be fast, convenient and secure. There are different mounting systems, but I advise using the one called Arca Swiss, after the company that first brought this system to market. By now many manufacturers use this mechanism and it has become practically the de facto standard in the world of accessories for photographic equipment. What is very important is that you can buy the components of your kit from different companies, and if they claim to support the Arca Swiss mount, you shouldn’t have any compatibility problems. In theory, at least. And in practice I haven’t run into such problems yet.

Arca Swiss consists of two parts - the plate that attaches to the camera and the matching part that is rigidly connected to the tripod head. The principle is simple - the rails on the plate go into the grooves on the head and are tightened with a screw. Well, not an ordinary screw, but a lever in the shape of a screw with a thickened head. Although the screw is already a classic. Almost like a first-generation Beetle. Appreciated only by enthusiasts. Everybody else prefers mounts with a quick release - a spring-loaded clamping lever which, flipped one way, loosens the grooves, and flipped the other way, clamps them dead. Fast and convenient. One-two. While they’re still cranking their classic screw over there, we’re already: one-two. Convinced? So, we choose a head with an Arca Swiss mount and a quick release. Think that’s all? Right, of course there’s a catch… The thing is, the plates that attach to the camera come in the ordinary kind and the L-bracket kind (a bracket shaped like the letter L). What is an L-bracket? It’s a plate that looks like a corner piece (like the letter L) and has rails on each side of the corner. What for? For convenience, of course. If you need to change the frame from horizontal to vertical, it’s enough to loosen the quick release, turn the camera 90 degrees and clamp it again. Look how fast: one-turn-two. One-…-two. So that you can feel the difference, let me tell you how changing from a horizontal to a vertical frame happens without an L-bracket. The matching part for the plate is usually attached to the ball on a stem, and in order to set the camera in a vertical position you have to turn the ball to the place where there is a special notch for that stem (otherwise it will run into the clamping mechanism). But that’s only half the trouble. The second part of the problem is that the camera drops significantly relative to the level of its horizontal position. Now you’ll have to bend down, and maybe adjust the height of the tripod legs too. Not very hard, but not as convenient as with an L-bracket. You have to admit: one-…-two.

The L-bracket has one more advantage, but you’ll only be able to appreciate it if you take up panorama building.

Besides camera plates there are also lens plates. But those are for big lenses, usually starting from a focal length of 200 mm. Such a plate differs from a camera plate only in being smaller and in attaching to the lens - all heavy telephotos have a special mount on the barrel (that mount is called a “foot”), which lets you put the whole construction on the tripod at the balance point of the camera-lens system (if you attach the camera to the tripod, the heavy lens will pull it down). Of course you can unscrew the plate from the camera and screw it onto the lens, but it’s far simpler to have a dedicated lens plate. It’s purely a matter of convenience. For very heavy lenses (with a focal length of 500mm, for example) the makers of heads and mounts even produce special replacement “feet.” Such a “foot” is almost identical to the one that comes with the lens. The only difference is that the “native” foot has a screw thread in its sole for attaching a plate, while the replacement foot has rails along the edges of its sole. Which means this foot is itself a plate, you don’t have to screw anything onto it. You arm yourself with wrenches, detach the “native” foot from the lens and put the replacement in its place. And you forget about a plate for that lens forever.

If you can’t manage the swap yourself, invite a homo sapiens over. With him it will definitely work out.

Where Do We Take It In?

The theory of heads is basically finished. There are a couple more general considerations you should keep in mind when choosing a tripod head. That would be weight… and weight. Meaning the weight of the head itself and the weight the head is rated for (that is, will be able to hold). How to calculate the weight for “holding” we’ve already discussed - you take your heaviest lens and add the weight of the camera. Well, for complete precision I’d add the weight of the cable release and the lens cap here too. As for the weight of the head itself, that one doesn’t need calculating. It needs adding to the weight of the tripod, the camera and everything else you’re planning to haul on your shoulders to the top of Mont Blanc. Or wherever it is you’re planning to haul all this… Oh, so you’ll be carting it all around in a little trailer? Then there’s no problem, you can forget about this parameter.

Lately I’ve been using a head and plates from RRS - Really Right Stuff (as in, the Straight-Up No-Kidding Right Doodads). The name lives up to itself - the company’s doodads really are right. The flagship of their line is the BH-55 ball head. That’s exactly the head I’ve been using for the last three years. Its virtues are low weight (only 860 g) and enormous endurance (23 kg). And, of course, it never “sags.” Verified in practice.

There are different versions of this head - the “classic” one with a screw, the one with a quick release (mine is exactly that, the BH-55 LR), the one for use with the panoramic add-on and so on. Pick to your taste. If someone doesn’t agree with me that 860 grams is low weight, then I recommend looking at the younger model in this family - the BH-40 head. This head weighs only 470 grams, but can hold just 8 kilograms. Which means I wouldn’t recommend putting a camera with a lens longer than 400 mm on it. Once you’ve picked a head, it’s worth taking up the choice of a plate for the camera. You can take a simple one or an L-bracket. I strongly recommend the latter option, of course. In either case you need to choose a plate for your specific camera model. There are universal plates, sure, but they’re not as good. Because a dedicated plate will hug your camera tightly (which in principle prevents the camera from twisting on the plate itself - a frequent phenomenon with the universal specimens). And a dedicated L-bracket will also have special tabs and cutouts that let you change batteries, connect a cable release and enjoy other useful conveniences without unscrewing it. In a word, don’t chase universality. Although if you have several cameras and want to save money, then buying a universal plate or L-bracket possibly makes a certain amount of sense. Having bought a plate for the camera, it’s worth thinking about “footwear” too… That is, about plates for lenses. And for some, the “feet” can be replaced as well.

Now you are armed to the teeth. Although before going out after the bear I’d also give some thought to a panoramic head. In the sense that with that one you’ll definitely fight him off: the thing is heavy - scary heavy!

Mama, I Love a Panorama Guy!

Although the choice of a panoramic head can be made by something other than weight. By this, at least: are you going to shoot panoramas or not. In principle, simple panoramas can be shot without a special head. Especially if you’re shooting with a long lens. With a wide-angle it will already be harder. Because to reduce distortion, the camera’s rotation during panoramic shooting has to happen around the so-called nodal point. On a simple head it will happen around an axis that passes through the camera body. But the nodal point sits somewhere around the little lens cap (a bit closer to the body, actually). And in order to rotate the camera around that point, a panoramic head has a special bar/rail that lets you move the camera back and rotate exactly around that notorious nodal point. Besides that, a panoramic head also has markings around the circumference of the base, which lets you see how many degrees the rotation covered. And some panoramic heads even have a special mechanism that lets you preset a rotation angle so that passing it produces a click. Very convenient - you don’t have to watch the marks, you just rotate until the click. Click-click. Meaning the click of the rotating mechanism, the click of the shutter. One more nuance - to reduce distortion, panoramas are usually shot with vertical frames. So a proper panoramic head should let you position the camera vertically.

Coming back to the classification of panoramas, there are single-row panoramas and multi-row ones. Single-row ones consist of one row of frames, and multi-row ones… right, of several. If you’ve seriously decided to take up panoramas, then it’s worth making sure your panoramic head lets you shoot multi-row ones. For that it also has to provide controlled tilt/elevation of the camera. That is, to have one more axis of rotation. Such a head is a fairly complex and rather heavy instrument. But you can go after a bear without a second thought.

Ordinary photographers (not panorama guys) mostly shoot single-row panoramas. That’s a place where you can save a lot in terms of weight. The ideal option, in my view, is the panoramic package from the already familiar RRS. This package consists of a base and a rail that lets you put the camera at the nodal point. The only thing this system lacks is a preset click-stop for the rotation angle. But in my view that’s a small loss for the gain in the head’s own weight. Because of the simplicity of the construction, this system only lets you shoot with the camera horizontal. But only when using an ordinary plate. With an L-bracket (remember I mentioned one more advantage?) you can shoot vertical frames too.

A good panorama also requires that the support the panoramic head stands on be level. Which is actually not so easy to achieve. You’ll have to fold and unfold the tripod legs several times to get an “ideal horizon” on its platform. Professional panorama guys lug around a special mechanism called a Leveling Base. It’s a kind of spacer between the tripod and the panoramic head that lets you get level quickly. All well and good, but that thing also weighs a fair bit. I solve this problem more simply - I bought a special mount for my panoramic head that lets me attach it right on top of an ordinary head. And in this configuration my simple head now serves to level the horizon while panning. Quite an interesting combination, that.

But if panoramas are a serious, long-term thing for you, then I advise looking at the head from Manfrotto: 303SPH - that is a very serious instrument. And it weighs a fair bit too, a whole two kilograms. The panoramic package from RRS (Pano Elements Package) weighs only 470 grams. You’ll also need to get the PCL-DVTL for it, to use it together with an ordinary head (works only for the Arca Swiss mount). For a big panoramic head I’d recommend the Leveling Base from Arcatech - Acratech Leveling Base. It weighs only 240 grams, yet is capable of holding a whole eleven kilograms. That is, the panoramic head, and the camera, and even a heavy lens. But without the lens cap.

(If you understood absolutely nothing in the chapter about panoramas, don’t be upset - your time hasn’t come yet. You simply don’t need this for now. When you learn what panoramas are and how they’re shot, you can come back to this article and reread it in the light of your new knowledge and skills. Unfortunately, I simply can’t discuss the question of shooting and building panoramas within the scope of this article)

And finally a few words about the variety of choice. Good heads are made not only at the Right Doodads company. There’s a very good ball head from Kirk (I’ve mentioned them already when I was telling you about the Window Mount), wonderful heads are made by Arcatech - their V2 Ballhead is simply an engineering gem. If you shoot a lot and often with a heavy telephoto, then you absolutely need to look at the products of the family company Wimberley. Just don’t get ball heads from Manfrotto - they “sag.” Even though they cost much less. If you’re going to economize, then practice your “leading.” Usually the companies that make heads also make plates for mounting cameras and lenses. It probably makes sense to buy everything from one company. Although it’s not obligatory. Remember they all support the Arca Swiss type of mount? So they’ll be compatible. In theory… And the practice is now entirely in your hands.