The best ball heads for tripods in 2018: take seamless shots
Premium tripod ball heads that offer great stability and smoothness in a portable package
The small ball head of the tripod is obvious to most photographers. You will find one on most tripods - they are often included in the entry-level and midrange models. However, these grouped z818 heads are rarely the best examples of the spherical head.
The compactness and lightness can be good for portability, but if you need to support your DSLR or CSC with a beautiful lens, a ball that is too small can cause a balance problem. Smaller ball heads can also be affected by inconvenient locking knobs and complicated quick-release camera systems that slow down your flow.
But at the time of the upgrade, do not exclude kneecaps in general. A high-quality design aufgemotertes is probably more compact than a three-way head and faster in the application. The trick is to choose ahead with a larger ball diameter: about 40 to 50 mm is an ideal point for increased stability while maintaining portability. Fancy balls tend to be softer and are surpassed by more comfortable quick release plates, often based on the Arca Swiss universal mounting kit.
Spoiler Alert!
Right now, we believe the ultra lightweight tripods you can buy is the Manfrotto XPRO magnesium ball head with the top locking plate. It's sleek, easy to use and offers great value for money. The right choice for you, however, depends on what kind of photography you are going to do. For this reason, you will find in this list a whole series of other candidates, each of which has outstanding properties, such as compactness, ultra-high-quality construction or particularly high load-bearing capacity.
1. Manfrotto XPRO Magnesium Ball Head with Top Lock plate
At first glance, Manfrotto's XPRO patella does not look great, but it's more than it looks. The magnesium construction is designed for 10 kg: enough for almost all settings in full frame, but the head weighs only 520 g.
The heart has a relatively large ball for good stability and the fat-free polymer shell allows exceptionally smooth movements even when heavy friction is applied. Friction is tuned with a tactile click wheel, which is better than most systems for selecting a precise resistance. Instead of using rubberized or knurled knobs, the movements of the ball and pivot are tightened with levers that engage firmly with minimal force.
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The XPRO head can be supplied with different versions of mounting plates. We chose the Top Lock system, compatible with Arca-Swiss. The QR plate is triggered by a simple but effective button. The top plate is surrounded by three individual bubble levels to precisely align the camera. They are all visible with the camera mounted.