Help Me Buy a… Tripod head

A tripod simply gives your camera a solid support: it’s the tripod head that controls its movement. Here’s what to look out for...

What it does and what to look for

Photographers tend to put a lot of thought and effort into choosing a tripod. But the tripod head, which you use to adjust and lock the camera position, deserves at least as much thought.

Cheaper tripods tend to come as a kit with both the tripod and the head included. Usually you can remove the head if you want to and attach a different one, which means you can choose one that suits the kind of photography you want to do. Most tripod heads use a standard 3/8-inch screw to attach to the tripod itself, so mixing and matching tripods and heads is simple. A few smaller heads use a 1/4-inch fitting.

Your main decision is whether to go for a ball type or a three-way head. You can find out more about the pros and cons of both types below, as well as other options.

1 Ball heads

These are the most common type of tripod head. They’re the smallest, lightest and easiest type to use because they operate on a very simple principle. The camera is mounted on a ball which can move freely in a socket, but can be locked firmly in position with a locking knob. Some have separate panning axes to make panoramas or panning shots easier, and some have a friction control so that you can move the camera against a fixed resistance.

2 Three-way heads

Ball heads have one big disadvantage: they don’t let you make small, precise movements in a specific direction. A three-way head enables you to position the camera with a lot more precision. They are larger and typically more expensive, but they let you adjust the pan (horizontal), tilt (pointing the camera up and down) and camera orientation (shooting vertically or horizontally) separately.

3 Geared heads

These high-precision three-way heads allow even finer control. Instead of moving the camera by pushing on a lever, you rotate a geared knob to move the camera in very small increments. Geared heads are good for close-up macro photography or exacting architectural work, where ultra-precise positioning is more important than speed.

4 Video heads

Why would you need a special tripod head for video? Well, video is never shot with the camera in a vertical orientation, so you just need pan and tilt movements; smooth panning or tilting movements require a single, longer handle for more control; and the ‘fluid head’ mechanism on the best models offers a smoother, less ‘sticky’ action than a regular head.

5 Quick-release plates

On cheaper, smaller tripod heads, you simply screw a threaded shaft into the tripod socket on the base of the camera, but most tripod heads come with a quick release plate that makes attaching and removing the camera much faster. The most common is the Arca Swiss compatible plate which can be used, in theory, across different brands of tripod heads.

6 Spirit levels

Spirit levels are quite common on tripod heads. When the bubble is centred, you know that the tripod head is level.

7 Panoramic heads

If you want to create an extra-wide panoramic photo by ‘stitching’ together a series of overlapping images, it’s easier with a dedicated panoramic head. Many are designed for vertical camera mounting for higher ultimate resolution, and the pan axis will typically be graduated in degrees so that you can repeat the overlap precisely.