Name: 3Pod H3 Magnesium Alloy BallHead with Quick Release Plate, (Capacity 28.6 lbs)
Brand: 3Pod
SKU: FP3PH3
Price: 89.95 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 4.36 (14 reviews)

3Pod H3 Magnesium Alloy BallHead with Quick Release Plate, (Capacity 28.6 lbs)

3Pod H3

3Pod

3Pod H3 Magnesium Alloy Tripod Ball Head with Quick Release Plate, Supports

Adorama

Photography

Tripods & Supports

Tripod Heads

Ball Heads

3Pod Ball Heads

3Pod H3 

40% Off: 3Pod H3 Magnesium Alloy BallHead with Quick Release Plate, (Capacity 28.6 lbs) Buy now & save $60. Quick Release: With Quick Release

Smooth as silk, & works just fine.  As again in 10 years & I'll tell you how it held up.

Nice!

I'm 3yrs w/ a DSLR (Canon T3i) & photography but just getting into video.  I'll be trying "how to" wood turning video's and have made a bracket (hanging from the ceiling) to hold my camera from behind, the side and right above pointing down to capture every angle.  I've tried cheaper ball heads but nothing came close to this H3, suggested by the Adorama customer service rep.  I also shoot images and video of wild life from my tripod.  Now that I've found the perfect quick release head at a price I can afford, I wish I could afford to get 3 more !!!  lol   But, for now, I will have to alternate between the four positions. :)  

If you are looking for an affordable quick release ball head, built sturdy, w/ smooth functioning grip adjustment knobs, this is what you want.  I highly recommend the H3.   

BTW, the reps at Adorama have always been generously considerate in their efforts to match me w/ my needs and the products have always been shipped safely and in a timely manor. :) :) :)

Sincerely,
Steph

Wish I Had 3 More !!! :)

I am overall very pleased with this head. I had only one concern and that's The screw that came with it to connect the quick connect plate to the camera was to long and required some
Grinding down.  That's the only major issue I have had with this ball head. It is solid build and very smooth to operate. I have found that when you tighten the ball that you can only rotate the base in one direction. I'm not sure what causes it to do that. Once you loosen the ball up it rotate clock and counterclockwise. Not a major issue just something that can slow things down and get a touch annoying.

Great quality with a couple qwerks

Product performs very well -quite satisfied with it. Movement is smooth, locks hold fixture tight.

Product performs very well

I have needed a new ballhead for some time now but didn't like the choices or the prices, Untill I found the H3 by 3pod. It does everything I need and more and looks good doing it

It does everything I need and more and looks good doing it  

This ball head fastens easily and holds tight. The quick release clamp is easy-on, easy-off. What more needs to be said

Sturdy as a rock

Was really suprised at the ease of the ball head. Light but strong, easy to use.

Great ball head

I ordered this head with reasonable expectations and had most of them dashed.

First, it does feel fairly sturdy, and it looks like it *should* work well. That's about all the praise I have for it. Now for the complaints...

I'll start with the real deal-breaker (everything else wrong is just annoying), the mounting screw is abnormally long. I tried it with two Pentax bodies and one Nikon, and in each case the screw could not tighten enough to prevent the plate from wobbling around. My guess is that it's supposed to come with a small, washer-like rubber ring to pad it and add friction, but it doesn't. If you have an extra one of those just lying around, it would probably solve the problem, but I certainly don't.

Second, even if the dedicated rotation screw is loose, it will not rotate if the ball lock/friction screw is engaged. This means that you can't rotate the camera while the ball stays at a fixed angle. As it stands, the only purpose the rotation dial serves is to prevent rotation when the ball is free, which is rarely useful, as the ball itself can rotate. I'm baffled by this design decision, as it makes the rotation dial virtually useless.

Furthermore, it's a very strange dial. Even when it is fully engaged, the part with the numbers rotates freely and doesn't seem to do anything. I'm really not sure what the point of it is. Also, when I rotated it, it leaked a dark, oily lubricant on my fingers.

Did not meet expectations.

This ballhead seems very well made and is very smooth with all its operations. But, the screw length of the included plate is too long for most of the cameras that I own. I compared it directly to many other Arca-style camera plates that I own, and the screw on the 3Pod plate is unusually long! BE VERY CAREFUL as this plate may not fit your camera.

Be suspicious of plate screw length

I purchased this for my Fuji XE2 with Fuji handgrip which is arca swiss compatible. The problem is the pin that is used so your camera doesn't accidentally slip off the ballhead does not go down into the ballhead so the bottom of the Fuji handgrip cannot slid into place. I still have to use the provided quick release plate which defeats the purpose of the built in acra swiss Fuji handgrip. I also tried my Nikon D7100 and D200 with grips and a Nikkor 300mm f/4 and the ballhead is very tight and strong. The adjusting knobs are well dampened and work beautifully.The panning is also very smooth and can be used for video as well. I will have to buy the H1 which will work with the Fuji handgrip, For the price I cannot complain.Equal ballheads of the same quality easily cost 2 to 3 times more.

Well made Ballhead

I had purchased a different unit initially, but it was not as solid as I expected. Adorama's return policy made it easy to return the original item. This 3Pod head arrived on time without a hitch. It is nice and solid when locked, but can be adjusted smoothly without completely unlocking the tension. It has a pretty good feel. I also like the separate lock for pan. Holds my D600 and 70-200 f/2.8 well.

good value

The good:

The H3 Fit my Dolica tripod with no issues. The ball head has smooth movements throughout the range. Independent controls for the ball and panning work great and locks camera solidly in place with no noticeable creep. 

The bad:

The Quick Release plate 1/4 screw was to long for my Nikon D5200. It would not securely hold and just dangled under the camera sliding back and forth. 

The fix: 

I had anticipated the issue after reading reviews of the product on the internet. I quickly fixed the problem by using a single layer of cork gasket cut to fit the top of the QR plate. Once the cork was placed between the camera and the QR plate the problem was resolved. 

Last thoughts:

The 3Pod H3 is good product for the price. It would have been an even better product had 3Pod included a cork gasket for the base plate. Overall I'm happy with the product, it's good tripod ballhead for the price.

Satisfied Customer

I bought this ball head to use on my Feisol Tournament tripod legs.  The combination is great.  I use it mostly to shoot HDRs with my Sony A6000.

I have used a few lightweight/lower cost ball heads in the past (most notably the Manfrotto 484RC2) and this blows them out of the water.  The price to quality ratio is so much higher than with other brands.  This locks just as tight, if not tighter, than the Manfrotto while having nicer friction control.

You won't find another ball head that is so inexpensive while offering this type of quality AND independent panning.  The panning on the is thing is pretty amazing.  It pans so smoothly I felt like I was using a liquid head meant for video.

The one thing that I would love to see is the addition of a pair of levels on the quick release plate.  The level on the clamp knob is really only useful in vertical orientation.  So if you do a lot of landscape or architecture type shots I would recommend getting a hotshot level or purchasing another arca swiss compatible QR plate that has its own level.

PS
For those of you that don't live the look of that huge red triangle on the front of the head, don't worry.  It's a sticker that peels of easily with no residue.

Great Quality For the Price

I bought this ballhead to use it with a monopod. I do not have much experience in ballheads, but I also have a Manfrotto MKC3-H01 tripod. This ballheads is so much better than the one in the Manfrotto that I will need to invest in a good tripod to be able to use it. It feels really good in hand, seems very sturdy. The lock mechanisms are great and the head is able to lock tight a 5DIII + 100-400L in any position.
This is a very good purchase, I am very happy with it.