Before you read on please note that I am in no way affiliated or employed by 3 Legged Thing. The thoughts and opinions below are my own and based on my experience.
Back in March, I wrote a blog post about the tripod I had recently purchased, Winston by 3 Legged Thing. As you will have read Winston certainly ticks all the boxes for me. I am very impressed.
In the post, I briefly mentioned the ball head that came with the tripod. I have been asked since what are my thoughts on it and how does it perform? So I thought I would write another post to let you know how I’ve got on.
I will start with the technical bits and what 3 Legged Thing have claimed in their product description. The ball head model is the AirHed 360 in Eclipse Grey. I’m so glad they started making their tripods in this colour as I’m not a big fan of the blue and orange combo.
“Top down loads of 200kg”
3 Legged Thing claims that they have tested the AirHed 360 to top down loads of 200kg, giving it supreme stability and locking. Now I have had no way of really testing this and any combination of my kit only weighs a mere fraction of this. What I can say about this though is I have found it to be very stable and the locking mechanism on it to perform very well. It certainly outperforms anything I have used before, especially when using my Nikon 80-400mm Lens. Previous ball heads I used would not lock in place tight enough to hold the lens and camera in position, and I found they would gradually fall backward or drop forwards. Quite annoying when you have just got everything in place and then it moves. With the AirHed 360 however, you lock it in position and that’s it, your camera and lens are staying put.
It has an aerospace-grade magnesium alloy ball, a smooth locking mechanism, and the clamp can also be removed from the AirHed and used on any 3/8" threaded device.
A feature of the AirHed 360 that I have not had on previous ball heads nor have I thought I needed is the Panoramic Clamp. Now I have used it, I’m not sure I would go back to a ball head that doesn’t have this feature. It is so useful and I find myself using it all the time.
"...unlock the ball, carefully pan, hope you kept it level..."
What is the Panoramic Clamp? The Panoramic Clamp enables level panning when your tripod isn’t level. My previous ball head only had base panning, where you pan from the base and the whole head moves. Base panning works great if everything is level. The AirHed 360 allows you to pan at the base and the clamp independently. Gone are the days where you had to unlock the ball, carefully pan, hope you kept it level and then lock it back into place.
I like how 3 Legged Thing has colour coded and positioned the adjustment knobs. I find it helps me easily identify which one I need to adjust. Great idea making the knob that clamps down the base plate bright orange, you don’t want to adjust that one by mistake.
So does the AirHed 360 have any negatives? The answer to this will in part be down to personal preference and what you are looking for in a ball head. If I compare this to others I have used and researched before purchasing this one, there could be a couple of features that are missing that you require. For example, my other ball head by Vanguard has friction control. The friction control though is the one feature on it that I never use, so no complaints from me that the AirHed 360 doesn’t have this feature.
In summary, I think the AirHed 360 is a fantastic ball head and I would highly recommend it. The AirHed 360 is easy to use, versatile, strong and so far has performed brilliantly in every photoshoot I have used it on. Plus I think it looks good too.
Which tripod head do you use?
Do you use the AirHed 360? If so, what do you think of it?
Let me know in the comments.
Please feel free to share, like or comment. Feedback is always welcome.