jargon buster

Ball head

A ball-and-socket system enables all directions of adjustment to be locked with a single clamp. Some ball heads also feature additional pan-only locks and adjustable friction dampers.

Three-way head

The more traditional type of tripod head for stills photography, this has three independent clamping mechanisms for pan, tilt and swivel. In our group, only the Slik Pro 340DX has this.