It's just a matter of practice. The old time surveyors did it that way routinely. I rarely use
a tripod head in any format. Never with 8X10. You can always simply pack a pan/tilt head
on the side, and if you can't get along without it, it's there. But you really do get more
stability without one. Just redundant weight as far as I'm concerned. And after awhile setting up headless becomes spontaneous, and virtually as fast. Don't get me wrong - I
kept all my tripods heads just in case, and sometimes do use them, but more for studio
applications like the copystand - almost never in the field.