Raven - excellent explaination. Only thing I'd add is there are a number of different types of ball heads. The type you linked uses an action grip that lets you squeeze and change all 3 axis at the same time. As Raven said, there's no way to lock one out, so if you just want to do a pan adjusment, you'll have to be very careful or you will also adjust tilt and elevation. There are also some that have seperate knobs for pan and tilt/elevation with a tension control knob (that's the kind I have). I love my Bogens. I have: Manfrotto 3021BPro with 3030 pan/tilt head (like the black, anodized look of the 3021BPro) Manfrotto 3011 with Giottos MH-1001 medium ball head (backup tripod) Manfrotto 680B monopod with 3229 tilt head If you're on a budget and just can't shell out $150-300 for a Bogen/Manfrotto starter tripod/head set then take a look at the JTL tripods. They are -not- at the level of Bogen, but they are good for a first real tripod. Very sturdy if you pay attention. The tension screws tend to back off a little after a while (at least mine did). But if you just do a quick tightening before you use it then it's fine. If I was still using it, I would have added some $0.05 locking washers to the screws by now to take care of that problem. The JTL 6113 with 3-way pan/tilt head was my first "real" tripod. It has a geared and braced center column and the whole thing is very sturdy when you have it tightened up (I think it was rated up to 20lbs). It only cost me $70 new for the whole thing on sale at a local camera store. -=>Donald