Ball Head? Geared Head? Your thoughts?

[Dave Woeller]

Good day to all. I currently use a geared head for my macro and studio product shots. I also use a ball head when out in the field for scenics or most stationary wildlife. So my question is, does anyone use a geared head for those expansive vistas and scenics, or even for perched birds for that matter. Some geared heads have a quick release function on their knobs to allow for a quick radical change, so would that provide adequate service in nature photography? My guess would be it will suffice for scenics, but not so much for wildlife.

[Robert Amoruso]

RRS BH-55 for scenics, WImberley II or Mongoose M3.5 for the big lenses for birds.

My long time ago use of a gear head leads me to believe a ball head is better for scenics. I use RRS pano head for making panoramics.

[Dave Woeller]

Thank you for the guidance Robert I kind of felt that was the case, but knew that you guys had much more experience than me. Thanks again.

[Andy Wai]

[...] My long time ago use of a gear head leads me to believe a ball head is better for scenics. [...]

Any specific reason for that?

Seems to me that in the last few years, many large format shooters are going for Manfrotto 410 mini geared head. And a small handful swears by the Arca Swiss C1. If people are willing pay the (truly obscene) price for The Cube, it must be pretty spectacular... :)

I was planning to get a Manfrotto 410 in the near future, mainly for studio but partly for scenic as well. That's until I found out a few minutes ago that they just up'ed the Canadian price 20% in the last few weeks. No geared head for now, but eventually I guess. Anyway, your comment on geared head for scenics would still be appreciated.

Andy

[Roger Clark]

Dave,
I've never had a geared head. I like pan heads and used them for many years for 4x5 and 35mm scenics. I really don't like ball heads, but find them so much smaller for travel and they can hold the camera very steady, so I've learned to work with them. When I got my 500mm it was clear after one session on a pan head that only a gimbal head would do, so I got a full Wimberly. Then one day I was traveling light and doing scenics then following some action with a 300 mm on a ball head and I got quite tired trying to hold the lens+camera up. So then I got a sidekick for those situations.
For panoramics I use a home-made panoramic head made from a ball head, sidekick and some angle brackets. I use the viewfinder to pan to the next frame and keep some overlap--works well and is very fast.