Review on Gitzo GH3382QD Center Ball Black by Maria Ngo

EARLIER THOUGHTS I LOVE this ballhead! I had RRS BH-40 and BH-55, Manfrotto and even some Arca-Swiss. This ball head is not only excellent in handling and stability, but also looks great. There is no slip behavior that is like that at all. And even using it in the 20 degree f range resulted in excellent smoothness. This is by far the smoothest panoramic ballhead base I've ever used. ADVANTAGES When I'm not using the Grand Induro GIT304L tripod with the GH2C gimbal head, I pull out and insert the gimbal head. I use it to shoot everything from 16mm to 560mm and up, all professional glass (and heavy/long). I used to see shaking in the wind on long shots at 560mm and 4K, now it's almost eliminated. and the fine tuning I can do without adding a bunch of buffers is a nice bonus. When shooting at long range I had to guess where my other ball heads would drop my setup once I let go. Now there is only a tiny drop, which can be neglected for the time being. In essence, this ball head is a brilliant master at maintaining accurate frame alignment of the subject while blocking. Because of this I missed. My camera is pretty good at dealing with vibration and the like when shooting, but now I'm noticing a new level of detail when shooting from long distances. Despite being shot at thousands of seconds per second with IBIS and lens stabilization, there is still a sharpness gain :-) PLUS when I shoot landscapes with ND filters at slow shutter speeds, sharpness now increases dramatically. The windier and longer the frame, the more this ball head makes me smile when I feel entitled to pay for it. I use a leveler (MLA23) on my GIT304L Induro tripod. Your level doesn't come with its own bubble level, so without a bubble level on your ball head (which few have), you'll have to guess if the base of your ball head is flush with the tripod (this is VERY important when working at >40MP high res). Panoramas from 5 or more images). What happens when you set the ball head to the arc clamp bubble level or whatever the camera tells you BUT that doesn't mean it's in the same plane as the base of the ball head and therefore the tripod. When you take your panoramic shots, the center 3 might be flat, but by the time you get to the left and right images, they're probably no longer visible. Therefore this ball head has a white line around the center of the ball coated with tungsten disulfide. Just line it up perfectly in the middle of the two body parts and you'll know that the base of your ball head AND the top ball/arc clamp will be flush and in the same plane with your aligned tripod/level. CONS A minor complaint is that the threads on the quick release are too high. a number (aka slower multithreading). On the plus side, you can actually streamline your expensive camera gear. Just be aware that it takes more turns to loosen (perhaps calling it quick loosening would be an exaggeration). My main complaint is a small one. But the minimum friction knob goes beyond the main friction knob. This simple design omission means it's too easy to accidentally hit the button with minimal friction. This doesn't always happen, but simply deepening this grip would eliminate this disadvantage. At $450 you might think I would call the price a scam, but I won't. I do want to say though that the high price tag here is totally justified, it's worth every penny for a photographer who cares about what you're getting with a ball head of this caliber. That's right on price if we consider other ball heads with similar characteristics. COMPETITION? In my opinion no, but an honorable mention would be the Arca-Swiss Z1 that I owned (it has a much larger payload and is cheaper; but I found it less accurate). Also RRS BH-40 and BH-55 which I still have, BH-55. In fact, you can't go wrong with any of the ball heads I list in this review. CONCLUSION If you can afford the costs, I recommend this ball head without hesitation. This is overkill for non-professional use or where your results don't require the highest resolution. It's an elegant design that's fun and keeps you smiling while you use it. In photography, I'm not only looking for equipment that performs at a high level, but also equipment that inspires me to take great photos.