Hi Denise,


I would strongly vote against buying a ball head for a monopod. Asmentioned above, I find that ballheads are not needed, becuase you don't need to pan, because you could just turn the monopod with your hand. However, the problem with putting a ballhead on a monopod has to do with the great awkwardness and instability when it's time to loosen the ballhead knob and adjust it. It is very unstable when you are loosening the ballhead with one hand, holding the monopod with the other hand and holding the camera and lens with the other hand, if you get my drift. This is much less of a problem when you are only adjusting tilt and you can lean the lens against your shoulder.


If you don't have a ballhead or tilt head and you need to shoot downward for macro work, you can just lower the monopod height and tilt the monopod/camera downwards. If you need to shoot upwards then you can raise the height and tilt the monpod backwards. These are only temporary measures, however. If you would like the conveinance of tilt which is certainly a nice feature (especially with macro work or shooting BIF), then I would recommend a tilt monopod head instead of a ballhead.


Here are some examples:


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/554096-REG/Manfrotto_234_234_Swivel_Tilt_Monopod.html


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/554098-REG/Manfrotto_234RC_234RC_Swivel_Tilt_Head_for.html


http://reallyrightstuff.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=MH-01-LR&type=4&eq=&desc=Hi-Capacity-Monopod-Head-with-B2-AS-II





I would probably go with the first one for $23.99 as I don't particulary like the Manfrotto quick release and I feel that it just adds another layer of instability. I will also mention that I did own the Manfrotto quick release tilt version and I returned it, for the above reason. FWIW, I love the Arca Swiss quick release made by RRS.


I wouldalso like to addthat the RRS monopod head is absolutely a wonderfully crafted, and sturdy piece of equipment. It has no lateral flex, while the Monofrotto (due to it's design) has some lateral flexthat causes some instabilty issues especially with supertelephotos. However, it should be fine with the 70-200mm f/2.8 and the 100-400mm. The RRS has no flex in it and is very, very stable.


I do own the RRS Tilt Monopod head above, however it seems a bit overkill and costly to put that on an inexpensive Monopod.


Rich