Tipod heads, Educate me!

I have seen many photographers using and discussing Arca Swiss, Wimberly, Gitzo, Manfrotto etc. on their tripods when using long lenses 300mm & up.

What are the reasons that nobody uses those pan & tilt fluid heads. They are smooth, lock well, don't drop at a whisper and keep the horizon level.

I've heard that there are 7-8 locks to consider when using a Wimberley on an Arca with plates etc., just miss one of the locks and your gear is on the ground with a thump.

The reason Pan and Tilt heads aren't too popular is because the really long lenses are typically used to shoot wildlife. For wildlife you need to be able to move the lens/camera in all three axis simultaneously which is much more difficult to do with a pan and tilt head.

As for your question about Wimberley, there are two different products. The first is the full Wimberley head designed primarily for 400 f/2.8, 500 f/4, and 600 f/4 lenses. there is only one knob that must be tight to insure the camera/lens doesn't hit the ground - that is its Arca Swiss clamp. The second is the Wimberley Sidekick which is designed primarily for 300 f/2.8 and 500 f/4 lenses. This unit attaches to a quality ball head. There are only two knobs that need to be tightened to prevent the camera/lens from hitting the ground - the Arca Swiss clamp on the tripod head and the second Arca Swiss clamp on the Wimberley Sidekick arm.

Of course the tripod head must be mounte on the tripod properly and the mounting plate must be tight on the camera or lens but that is no different from any other type of tripod head.

Thanks very much EJ.

Isn't the third axis on the lens mount, which rotates for a vertical shot? or, is the pan, tilt and rotate all taken care of by the Wimberleys? and one does not have to loosen the tripod ring on the lens mount.

Fluid heads (not to be confused with three-way pan/tilt heads) seem to be much more popular in Europe. Photographers like Niall Benvie speak very highly of them for bird and wildlife photography.

I've used a Manfrotto pan/tilt fluid video head with a Sigma 170-500 for several years. I find it works very well since you don't have to tighten anything down to shoot. You can leave both pan and tilt loosened off a bit so you can follow your bird as it jumps around, and then when it pauses, click the shutter.

I've now moved to a 500 f4 and a full Wimberley and I'd suggest that the fluid video head behaves much the same as a Wimberly in terms of how you can freely move around without having to stop and tighten things down (on most shots).

I'd suggest that fluid heads are an excellent choice for bird shooting with lighter telephotos (with collars) that don't require the heft of a Wimberley. In fact, I prefer them to ball heads.