Many beginner photographers wonder if there’s much difference between a ball head and a gimbal head and if the difference matters. But professionals know the perfect shot is a precise balance between artistry, the right equipment, and a fair bit of luck. It’s essential to know the difference between equipment. So, what’s the difference between a gimbal head and a ball head?
A ball head enables your camera to move around three axes, giving plenty of freedom. But it requires constant tightening and loosening if you’re taking action photos. Gimbal heads counterbalance the camera’s weight, so you have freedom of movement without tightening or loosening any screws.
Gimbal heads and ball heads are both ideal for different scenarios, so aspiring photographers should ideally have both options at their disposal. But which one should you prioritize if you’re just starting and have a limited budget? Let’s compare ball heads and gimbal heads in more detail.
Ball Head Vs. Gimbal Head: The Basics
Ball heads and gimbal heads are both attachments that you can mount on a tripod or a monopod to help you hold your camera, which is especially useful if your camera and lens are heavy. They also help to add stability to your photographs since you remove the element of hand instability from your photography.
The perfect photograph requires skill, luck, and sound equipment. You can have all the photography talent in the world and own the best equipment. Still, sometimes the ideal shot simply doesn’t happen because of circumstances out of your control, especially in nature or wildlife photography.
But what if you have the skill, and everything aligns so that you spot the perfect shot? It all comes down to the equipment you have with you. Having to struggle to set up your tripod’s camera mount at the right angle can often cost you that photo.
That’s why you should have the best attachment kit for the photo you will take. Ball heads and gimbal heads are great for various pictures and offer plenty of movement and stability.
The Features of a Ball Head
A ball head is a tripod head and camera attachment that uses a ball-and-claw mechanism. The camera is attached to a bolt with a ball at the bottom, and the tripod has a claw with a tightening screw at the top. You can insert the ball into the claw and tighten the screw to mount the camera in place.
How Does Ball Head Work?
Loosening the tightening screw allows us to move the camera around three axes, giving us near-perfect freedom of motion. We can move the camera and lens up and down, left to right, and even tilt it from side to side to level out the shot in an uneven environment.
Once the camera is in a perfect position, we can tighten the screw and take the shot. With the screw tightened, the camera will stay in this position until we loosen the screw again.
Perfect Use Cases for a Ball Head
A ball head is often the type of mounting that beginner photographers choose as a starting point. It’s simple and relatively cheap while offering a wide range of uses.
They are an excellent choice for any still photography. Landscapes, portraits, and nature photography can benefit from ball head attachments.
Disadvantages of a Ball Head
Unfortunately, ball heads have a few disadvantages, too:
- Taking action photos with a ball head can be difficult because you must loosen the screw every time before moving the camera to change the view.
- You can use the camera without tightening the screw, giving you a full range of motion without carrying the weight. However, this quickly leads to accidents.
Suppose you accidentally release the camera without tightening the screw. In that case, the camera will likely drop and, depending on its weight, may throw the tripod or monopod off-balance, damaging your expensive equipment.
The Features of a Gimbal Head
A gimbal head is a more modern tripod head that does the same thing as a ball head but in a much more sophisticated way. They are based on technologies that Hollywood camera operators have been using for decades to stabilize video camera footage even when the camera is moving.
How Does Gimbal Head Work?
A gimbal head allows the camera to move on two or three axes, depending on the model. But the critical difference is that a gimbal head automatically balances the camera, including its lens, on its center of gravity. This allows for a few notable advantages over a ball head attachment:
- You have a free range of movement without tightening or loosening screws. Whenever you move the camera, it will hold that position even when you let go without tightening a screw.
- You can react much faster. If you’re taking action photos, you can instantly move the camera to follow the action without wasting time loosening screws.
- You have smoother motion. A ball head also removes jitter and smoothens your camera experience, but a gimbal head does a much better job at smoothing the movement because of the counterbalance aspect.
Perfect Use Cases for a Gimbal Head
A gimbal head works for the shots where a ball head isn’t ideal. Any action shots or photography that requires plenty of motion will work well with a gimbal head.
A great example is wildlife or bird photography, where an animal can dart away. On a ball head, you would have to loosen the screw before moving the camera to follow the animal. The movement of loosening the screw could also frighten the animal and ruin your photo.
A gimbal head solves that issue because you can simply move the camera without loosening anything first.
Similar rules apply to sports photography, where a gimbal allows you to follow the action without effort. It gives you the same freedom as holding a camera in your hands but without the discomfort of carrying such a heavy piece of equipment.
Apart from these, a gimbal head also works for any kind of photography that a ball head can do.
Disadvantages of Gimbal Heads
There aren’t many disadvantages to gimbal heads, but you should be aware of the few that exist:
- Gimbal heads are more expensive than ball heads. You can get a tripod with a ball head for a fraction of the price of a gimbal head. There are different gimbal models and specifications, so you can opt for a cheaper one that offers only two axes of motion, but they are still more expensive than ball heads.
- Gimbal heads are more difficult to lug around as they tend to be bulkier and heavier than ball heads. This is a problem since one of the ideal use cases for a gimbal head is wildlife photography, which usually requires a lot of walking and carrying equipment.
Conclusion
Ball heads are great for still photography, whereas gimbal heads are ideally suited to action and fast-paced shots. However, gimbal heads can also do still photography. So, if you have the necessary budget, it’s worth spending a bit more on a good gimbal head with three axes. If not, especially if you mainly take still shots, a ball head attachment is still an excellent starting point.
