Gadget Bag: Hold It Right There

It’s a matter of precision. If the ability to point your camera exactly where you want and securely hold it in the same position is important to you, you need a ballhead.

By Jon Sienkiewicz

Published August 1, 2008
Updated October 14, 2016

The ballhead is beloved by landscape photographers for its infinite adjustability and ease of use, combined with the ability to align the camera with precision. In its simplest incarnation, a ballhead is a housing with a sphere trapped inside. A connecting screw attaches a camera tangentially to the sphere, and both rotate together around a single point.

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