are there ball head sizes for tripods?

(obviously I am not talking about the little mini ball-heads)

so....one of my friends is going to give me his old induro BHL3
which is a full sized ball head and I wanted to figure out if there are any limitations on fitting the ball-head on any specific or specific type of tripod:

currently I have the manfrotto listed below and I have been looking at new tripods e.g. the travel type of tripods - feisol/benro

I have never seen the BHL3 - but, at least in regards to the manfrotto, since it is a full sized tripod - i would expect no trouble....or should I?

1.) is there any size consideration of the BHL3 to the manfrotto?
2.) if I get a smaller/lighter travel tripod, is there any consideration there?

sorry for such a newbie question - but I got my current tripod as is....
so I never really payed attention to the intricacies of fittings....

thanks

I'm not familiar with the Induro head but most heads come milled to fit on a 3/8 tripod screw. Even if the tripod has a 1/4 inch screw you can buy an adapter for a few dollars that converts the screw from 1/4 inch to a 3/8 inch. Again I'm not sure what you m san by a full sized head but ballheads in large sizes can weigh three or four pounds. If that were the case even though the head would fit on a travel tripod the weight would defeat the whole concept of a light travel tripod.

thanks for your answer.
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it is just that I have read many places people speaking that a certain ballhead was "made for" or "fits perfectly on" certain tripod legs. If all the non-mini ball heads are made approx the same size so as to fit on all legs - (with the notable exception that you mentioned above about the screw size), then so be it. There should be no problem.
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Of course you are correct about the weight of a ball head defeating the purpose of a light setup - but I was talking about physical fit - as opposed to "functionally advisable"
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now I will go see if indeed the BHL3 is just too heavy for a travel tripod!
Thanks again

Dear ceril,

If you have the ball head with you measure the width of the bottom plate that mounts to the top center plate of the tripod and measure the width on the center plate on the tripod. As long as the widths are close and the ball head covers enough of the tripod center plate to allow for you to snug up the allen screw or screws on the bottom of the tripod center plate to hold the ball head securely you will be fine.

You could mount an 8' X 8" X8" landscape timber on the Induro BHL3 ball head, it's rated for 88 pounds so it will be plenty secure on the 055XPRO legs. Just be sure you can snug up the allen screws to keep it from rotating as you pan with the ball head.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

The two concerns you have for size are:

1 - is the base of the ball head wider than the top of the tripod? Doesn't really matter for practical use.
2 - if you have a travel tripod where the legs fold backwards over the head, is the head too big for the legs to fold back all the way?