Pergear TH3 Pro Camera Ball Head Review

Sometimes a plain tripod just isn’t enough. You might need a ball head. Today, I’m reviewing the Pergear TH3 Pro.

This ball head is sturdy enough for a fairly heavy prosumer-level camera. It is composed mostly of metal, though the four knobs are plastic. It appears to be powder coated with an almost-black dark brown semi-matte, semi-metallic finish.  The unit has matte gold trim.

The ball head comes with two 3/8-inch to 1/4-inch bushings so you can attach it directly to a tripod or onto a quick connect plate for an alternative use.

With an adapter bushing inserted in the base, it weighs 328g or 11.6oz, so it’s fairly substantial.

It comes with one baseplate with standard safety features. (See the video for more detail on the subject.)

The ball head has two circular spirit levels, one for landscape view, the other better suited for portrait or flat-lay, (viewing from directly above, as often seen in food photography.)

One flaw in the user-interface design of this device is that the degree dial is difficult to read. Printing white text on a matte gold background is a poor design decision. Black or even any medium dark color lettering would have been a much better choice. Alternatively, the dial could have been the same matte dark brown as the rest of the device with white lettering.

Because not a lot of people are likely to use this ball head for video pan sweeps, it’s not a huge oversight, but I hope we see a solution in future versions of this device that make the dial more visible.

Also, the d-ring on the base-plate screw is fairly durable, but fits loosely enough that the d-ring drops down and can get in the way while you’re trying to secure the camera to the ball head. On any other model base plate I’ve used, if the fastening screw includes a d-ring, it fits tightly enough on the mounting screw that when you press it to the side, it stays put, making it easier to secure the base plate to the head.

Other than these minor flaws, this device will make an excellent addition to my camera gear bag.