I said on a recent thread in here that I know almost nothing about tripods and I'm about to reinforce that :eek!:
I have a Sirui T-005X with ball head that I use with my Celestron Regal 80F-ED scope and I'm happy with that. Or at least I haven't yet had any issues with it even though it has been suggested that tripod is a little lightweight for the scope. I also have an Opticron hide clamp that I use with the Sirui ball head, and again I've not really experienced any issues with that set up. A lot of my birding is hide-based, at least with the scope so I use the clamp more than the tripod on most birding trips.
In what circumstances is a pan head preferable to a ball head and vice-versa?
Before I got my scope and tripod I had no real experience of using tripod heads so didn't really have a preference based on previous usage. I bought the ball head partly because of the weight and size factors but recently I have started to wonder whether I should be considering a pan head to give me an alternative. I have wondered about getting a cheap-ish pan head like the Velbron PH-157Q to give it a go. Am I likely to find it easier to track around the reserve with a pan head, for example?
I have a Sirui T-005X with ball head that I use with my Celestron Regal 80F-ED scope and I'm happy with that. Or at least I haven't yet had any issues with it even though it has been suggested that tripod is a little lightweight for the scope. I also have an Opticron hide clamp that I use with the Sirui ball head, and again I've not really experienced any issues with that set up. A lot of my birding is hide-based, at least with the scope so I use the clamp more than the tripod on most birding trips.
In what circumstances is a pan head preferable to a ball head and vice-versa?
Before I got my scope and tripod I had no real experience of using tripod heads so didn't really have a preference based on previous usage. I bought the ball head partly because of the weight and size factors but recently I have started to wonder whether I should be considering a pan head to give me an alternative. I have wondered about getting a cheap-ish pan head like the Velbron PH-157Q to give it a go. Am I likely to find it easier to track around the reserve with a pan head, for example?