New Price performance leader for Ballheads, but you may have to act fast

I am writing about the Desmond DB44 Ball head currently $80.00 on Amazon

Nice review and heads up on a nice deal.

Looks like the main locking knob on that ballhead is on the right side with the left drop notch (looking at the front of the ballhead) facing forward. Most users hold the camera grip with their right hand and so need the main locking knob on the left.

the clamp is lame. It'll work if all your plates are exactly the same size, but deviate just a bit, and it stops working.

sunwayfoto for 250..... nobody is paying for that. These look like horrusbennu valued items, and sirui should be priced close as well. The leveling bubble is also unreliable. It has two screws, so you can adjust it somewhat in one plane, but for the other plane, you'll have to shim it with tape. Best to save that money towards a named head, even second hand.

I think that $80 is a darn good price for a quality ball head. With regards to the clamp, I find that all but one of my plates are the same width, but in any event there is a version with a thumbscrew at the same price. I don't care about the level; if I need one I find a hotshoe-mounted easier to see.

I'll provide additional comments next week. But I've used Desmond plates and clamps for a while an have zero complaints. If their ball heads are equal in quality and work as expected, $80 is a pretty good deal.

The lever on this Desmond I would not want to use unless I had all matching Arca plates. Adjustment requires an Allen key, so no good swapping between different plate widths on location, and the ever does not have a locking system to prevent accidental release. I should have mentioned this in my review above, but failed to as I use screw clamps.

I only own one lever clamp, and coincidentally it is a Sunwayfoto DLC-60

It's NOT the one on these Desmond ballheads.

I chose it above all other lever clamps as it has a lever on one side and screw adjustment on the other. No tools required to get it to work with any plate. Worse case scenario you just have to tighten the screw like all my other clamps. I have too large an inventory of mix and match "Arca" compatible rails and plates to use lever clamps. When I started my collection, the lever clamps weren't going to exist for another 6 years or so. If your starting from scratch, in perfect world, all the plates would work with your lever clamps perfectly.

I picked one up, as my primary head migrated to another set of sticks and I needed something on my light sticks.

This is a very nice head indeed for the money. Motion & locking feels great. Haven't had it out yet.

Thanks CyberDyne!

Looks like good bang for the buck. Good post.

I really considered getting the first head with the DCF-432 legs. I opted for the K-30X, but then downgraded to the K-20X. The dual notch would've been nice to have.

Nino

The SIRUI's are proven performers. Much as I like this head, and the deal that it is, I would bank on the SIRUI being around longer.

I agree. I've got a Sirui set of CF legs and a K-30X on it. Sadly, it's in storage so I had to get something else in the mean time. I don't regret going with the K-20X though.

Nino

this would serve me well but have the Sirui K-30 (and the only reason I purchased it was from previous discussions on the forum). If I remember correctly, CDS was involved in that discussion. Looks like he is still sticking by his guns....L

I got one of the last screw tightening ones off Amazon. So far I'm happy. Came in on Friday and didn't really get to play with it until today.

I bought one too. Been using Desmond clamps for yonks on various rail setups and they have been faultlessly reliable.

This thing is flat-out exceptional for the money. I have a sneaking suspicion that I will become defunct before the ball head does