Tripod head for 8x10 please?

[DREW WILEY]

Precisely. If I were to start my own view camera company it would be called Headless Horseman. Keep it mind that over the course of my life, most of my work has been done with large format cameras, and most of it not only outdoors, but quite a bit in steep remote terrain. I haven't missed my "head" in any of it. It's maybe the smartest thing I did, once I learned to leave that behind and trust in old pioneer surveyor method of setting up tripods using leg adjustments only. It's almost just as fast once one is accustomed to it. The only real issue is pointing the camera nearly straight down. For that, a basic stiff right angle L-bracket can be machined at itself the fraction of the weight of any official tripod head; but I rarely carry those either.

 

[ridax]

I am also a Ries head user. I prefer the Ries because it has the largest top plate of all the heads I've put my hands on (mine is an older version, and its top is not square but more like 6x7").

I am not against a tripod without any head, too. Sometimes the reason to use the head is just my need to make the tripod a bit taller.

Another great option is a cinema tripod with a bowl top and a hemisphere levelling device installed into the bowl. The old wooden ones can be got cheap occasionally, and I have a couple of those.

 

[GKC]

I've shot sans head quite a bit and agree with Drew, although I have found a head (Ries) useful for Architecture.
Since the OP wants a heavy duty head, I'll suggest looking for an old Majestic---they're easy to spot, it resembles a gun a carriage for a small artillery piece.

 

[Wanderlust]

I'd get a used Bogen or Manfrotto 400 geared head. A ball or three-way head would be a bear to use with an 8X10.

 

[EnCavale]

+1 for Magestic heads. Mine is holding an 8x10 deardorff with some heeeavy barrel lenses without any problems, in studio and outside. The geared tilt is very nice.