With a holding capacity of 77 pounds, this is one phenomenal ball head. If you're looking for a super high quality ball head that can hold anything you put on it with rock solid stability, and at a reasonable price, you just found it.I'm a professional photographer and have owned and used many ball heads in the over 40 years I've been a professional. This ball head is as good as any you will find including the very expensive ones from companies like Really Right Stuff.The ball head is a beautifully designed precision instrument but it's heavy, weighing in at 1.2 pounds. The workmanship is superior in every way and the ball head locks super securely with no wiggle when tightening. The controls are smooth and tightening the large grey knob prevents any movement whatsoever - even with long heavy lenses mounted on it. There's also a blue stepped-tension adjustment knob which adds additional control over how loose you want the tension to be when adjusting the main tension knob.There's also a smooth slightly-dampened panning knob at the base which also locks super securely when tightened with moderate pressure.The attachment plate on top is an Arca-style quick release clamp and it comes with one Arca-style quick release plate. The clamp also has a nice bubble level but it is often hard to see when you have a big lens or camera mounted.The base of the ball head has a female ⅜"-16 mounting hole but an adapter is included to change it to ¼"-20 if needed. It comes in its own padded pouch for storage.There are no negatives with this ball head as long as you're ok with its weight which is why it performs so well.

This is a review of the Desmond DB-52 52mm Ball Head Arca Compatible, with an ASIN of B0BX7LB1XZ.Short version (TL;DR) - Negatives: Hole-bottomed ball. Lack of documentation. Slow quick release. Listing inconsistency. Meh included plate. Positives: Sturdy. Good tension adjust. Nice pan setup. OK case. Includes tools / adapter.Long version …First off, this is my first ball head in this size class, so I may say things here that are naive and lacking perspective. That said, I have a lot of smaller ball heads, up to 38mm, so I suspect I’m not that mistaken, but judging that is up to you. Anyway, as I said in the headline, this head is OK, but I really expected it to be far better. As for what disappointed me, let’s get into the breakdown …Negatives:* Hole-bottomed Ball - for some reason (from my reading on the matter, apparently often production cost-cutting) this head has a hole-bottomed ball. Especially given the relatively high intended loading for the head, this seems like a very odd choice. The overwhelming majority of my other ball heads are solid-balled, and universally cheaper than this. As for why this matters, due to how ball heads are tensioned and locked, this results in extra resistance when moving off of vertical, or, conversely, less resistance once you start to tip. Since this is meant for higher-loading applications, having things suddenly slide more easily once they begin to tip seems, in short, backwards. Additionally, as the internal pressure surface below the ball will almost inherently be made of a material that’s capable of deformation, and the hole on the ball’s bottom has sharp edges, this shortcut will almost certainly lead to accelerated wear of that surface and possibly debris accumulation within the mechanism. To explain, in case I’m not being clear, when the clamping surface is pressed up against the ball to add resistance to its motion, it’s likely, given that the surface is probably a nylon, HDPE, or similar, that it’ll bend slightly around the hole edge. As that edge is sharp (see related photo), I expect that, when the ball begins to move, it’ll work like a chisel, trying to carve down the high point formed by the lack of pressure in the hole in comparison to the surrounding pressure on the rest of the ball’s surface. Anyway, to me, this is a surprising and large negative, affecting both day-to-day performance and, potentially, longevity.* Lack of Documentation - admittedly, this is a pet peeve of mine, but the head came without any manual, guide, or instructions of any kind. Further, the manufacturer does not appear to provide any such materials separately, either. Given that this head includes a not-so-basic feature in the form of the tension adjust, I find this rather annoying, especially since I’m worried there may be an unexpected “gotcha” to watch out for that may result in my accidentally damaging the head via unknowing misuse. Other, far more basic heads, included at least some pictograms - whereas this … this tells you nothing.* Slow Quick Release - for reasons that escape me, this head uses a significantly finer-than-usual threading on the screw which drives the Arca clamp. In comparison with my other heads, this averages requiring around 50% more turning to release the same plate. If this was a circumstance where extra mechanical advantage from finer threading was important, I’d understand. However, due to how the Arca interface works, especially considering the presence of the anti-fall studs, this seems entirely unnecessary in this context. Maybe they see this as a feature, but, to me, it’s a bug … and an annoying one.* Listing Inconsistency - at the time of my writing this, there are quite a few differences between the listing and the head that I actually received, which doesn’t exactly help to shore up my already-faltering opinion of the manufacturer’s attention to quality. A number of the differences are purely cosmetic, such as the color of the tension adjust ring, the labeling on the head itself, etc… However, there are physical differences as well, including the design of the base plate and outer body of the head, along with which Arca plate is included. Again, that these things are so out of sync doesn’t speak to quality.* Meh Included Plate - to revisit the included Arca plate, it’s rather underwhelming and not what I’d expect in this price range. I have nicer plates that came with heads costing a fraction as much. It’s well enough machined, but it’s much smaller than the plate shown in the listing, has a really unimpressive grip surface on the top, and is lacking a reference mark that’d be necessary to make any use of the scales on the jaws of the head’s Arca clamp. My guess is that this is just another piece of evidence pointing at cost-cutting efforts by the manufacturer.Positives:* Sturdy - this is an exceedingly robust head. Issues with the ball design aside, when this thing is locked it might as well be welded in place. (Of course, somewhat ironically, the hole in the bottom of the ball probably provides extra grip against the clamping surface toward that end.) Beyond that, the overall construction is extremely beefy. It’s so chunky that, should you ever find yourself needing to flee in a hot air balloon, but not gaining altitude fast enough, tossing it over the side could very well make the difference.* Good Tension Adjust - despite my bringing it up in a number of negative contexts, the tension adjust works well and is pretty nice. It’s easy to set properly (I assume, as, again, there are no instructions of any kind.) and is indexed (i.e. it clicks) so it’s a bit less prone to random, accidental tweaks.* Nice Pan Setup - possibly the best element of the head, the pan setup is pretty nice. It’s damped, and damped beautifully. Also, unlike the included Arca plate, this does have a reference mark so you can actually use the scale on it. Unfortunately, the lock knob is all-or-nothing, but that’s pretty normal for ball heads.* OK Case - the included case may be useful for some. It’s appropriately sized, and moderately padded, though I’m not sure I trust the hook-and-loop attachment of the strap on the back - even with two ways to configure it.* Includes Tools / Adapter - this includes the requisite wrenches and a 3/8" to 1/4" adapter. That should be standard, but it’s probably worth noting.To summarize, this head just isn’t anywhere nearly as nice as it seems, with quite a few things pointing to poor attention to quality by the manufacturer, as well as a good chance of detrimental cost-cutting. I just can’t see this as deserving anything more than 3 stars. Perhaps my conclusions are a matter of having a strange perspective on it, or being naive in some relevant respect, but I’ve got a bunch of far cheaper heads which are much nicer.

I've got quite a few products from Desmond Photographic--they make excellent equipment that performs well, can take a beating and sells it at a very reasonable price point. This isn't the fanciest ball head I've ever seen but it would be good for a beginning photographer or a content creator with limited payload requirements. It's got everything you need from a ball head--1/4" screw on a quick release plate with an Arca-Swiss compatible clamp for starters. It's got an integrated bubble level and that's always a nice touch. It's got a tension adjustment ring and an independent pan lock knob. It's also got a padded nylon storage case and that's a nice touch.Perhaps the most impressive feature of this product is the sheer strength it displays. It has a max load of 35kg, which translates to a whopping 77 pounds! That's a lot of payload capacity for a small reasonably priced ball head. Very highly recommended!

This Desmond ballhead is a serious piece of kit with great machining, great looks, and great heft. I got this to go on top of a heavy duty tripod and it totally fits the bill. I'm not using this with a giant camera rig, but my camera does still weigh a decent bit once you've got all the accessories mounted.The base of this has a 3/8 thread built in, which is great because it mated perfectly to the 3/8 on my tripod, but conveniently, in the nice bag that this comes in, it has a 3/8 to 1/4 adapter in case you need to use it on a normal sized tripod.The ball action is very smooth and satisfying, feels really well made, and the dials to adjust the tension and lock it down are well sized and easy to grasp. The top part where you connect to your camera, as advertised, is arca compatible, but I have a smallrig cage on my R6, and it fits just fine as well. This is ideal since I hate having to put a plate on my already existing cage interface.Overall this thing is awesome, and totally worth the money, in my opinion.