Warning! The following is highly subjective and is not necessarily true of all markins products. It just happened to me so i thought i'd share it.
I'm currently in the UK on holiday. I was shooting in very cold and windy conditions(yes its still officially winter here) yesterday and i realized that my ballhead had froze up. Initially, i thought it might have been becos of the tension setting but it wasn't. It just decided to freeze up. Note that the temp. was not below negative. Prob slightly under 10. After much struggling, i managed to get it to move again but the movement was sluggish and not smooth at all. Some patches it will move fine, others it will just lock up. It was fine once i returned to my room, which thankfully is heated.
Point to note. I have used the ballhead successfully over the past year in singapore. This is my first negative experiece with it. It might just be that i need to grease my head a little. but that said, i'm still surprised and i urge all those who are planning trips to cold countries to make contingency plans like getting a small spare head, or bringing so lube or whatever. Freezing is a common problem on ballheads, i'm just surprised at the temp it froze at. I've had a B1 freeze on me before, but that was in subzero cond. Users of markin ballheads, be warned!!!!
I'm currently in the UK on holiday. I was shooting in very cold and windy conditions(yes its still officially winter here) yesterday and i realized that my ballhead had froze up. Initially, i thought it might have been becos of the tension setting but it wasn't. It just decided to freeze up. Note that the temp. was not below negative. Prob slightly under 10. After much struggling, i managed to get it to move again but the movement was sluggish and not smooth at all. Some patches it will move fine, others it will just lock up. It was fine once i returned to my room, which thankfully is heated.
Point to note. I have used the ballhead successfully over the past year in singapore. This is my first negative experiece with it. It might just be that i need to grease my head a little. but that said, i'm still surprised and i urge all those who are planning trips to cold countries to make contingency plans like getting a small spare head, or bringing so lube or whatever. Freezing is a common problem on ballheads, i'm just surprised at the temp it froze at. I've had a B1 freeze on me before, but that was in subzero cond. Users of markin ballheads, be warned!!!!