FLM Centerball CB-58FT 58mm Tripod Ball Head w Tilt Function Made in Germany

I bought this from another website before Amazon started selling them. It is an excellently made ballhead. you can use it with any quick release plate of your choice. This ballhead is built like a tank.It is a very sturdy ballhead. Has supported a combo of Canon 1DX camera and Tamron 150-600mm lens well as Nikon D810 and Nikon 300 F2.8 VRII with no problem. Nothing near the rated maximum weight of 50 kg or 110 Ib the ballhead is rated for. All the knobs move smoothly.Very friendly to gloved fingers too. Camera stays in locked position once the main control knob is tightened.Has so many knobs with different functions.These knobs may seem intimidating at first but once you are used to them, you begin to wonder why other brands have not thought of them.Please go to Youtube and watch video reviews, to appreciate how the different knobs work. For those who like taking panoramas, there is a knob that once turned ON clicks at every 15 degrees as you pan.It takes away any calculation on your part.If you do not want the 15 degree clicks and you want to pan freely, you can turn off this knob too. The same knob when pushed in, you can with one twist of the ballhead, unmount the ballhead from your tripod.You do not have to make several twists and turns to remove the ballhead from your tripod.There is another Knob to limit the ball movement to a vertical axis only movement. This helps with taking pictures of a night sky in a vertical panning orientation.When combined with the horizontal panorama knob, it can be give you a gimbal action for wild life photography, if you do not want to buy a separate dedicated gimbal head.But beware, this may shorten the lifespan of the ballhead as per the manufacturer. I doubt anyone will use this ballhead as a gimbalheed. Just to let you know that you can but with some risk.There is a tension to help you set the appropriate tension to prevent camera creep or accidentally tilting over, if you let go off your camera. The tension knob has a memory to retain the tension you set even when the main knob is loosened.The tension remains set until you loosen the tension knob.This ballhead is at the top of the ballpark.On a review on DP website, titled "Battle of the Titans", this ballhead was rated the highest amongst 10 other notable ballheads also reviewed.Did I mention the aesthetics yet? It is stunningly and curiously beautiful. Curiously, in the sense that you sometimes will bring out your gear just to admire the ballhead.Cons: A bit on the heavy side for some but still lighter than RRS BH55 ballhead. The other con is the cost for most people, this may come as being very expensive but it is money well spent.It has 10 years warranty on it! I am not aware of any other ballhead with 10 years warranty. I doubt you will need it as I have the FLM CB38mm FTR and 58mm bullheads and have had no issues with them. I also have bought other FLM products which I like.The QRP 70, SRB 60 and SRB 40 clamps. Customer service is splendid. Before I bought the ballheads, I emailed their North America rep Ari, at Canada (FLM Canada) with many questions and got responses back within 24 hours.Never once did he show any irritation with my questions.Highly recommended.