When the tripod arrived I was quite impressed. For the price, it seemed sturdy and although light, I was confident it could easily handle my DSLR camera, with battery pack and a large lens.As I’m not using the camera much in the winter, I put the tripod up in a spare room, with a field telescope mounted. I noticed the ball head movement seemed rather stiff, making panning awkward, but never having had a modern tripod before, I assumed they were “all like that.”I barely used it in the first week I had it, but was getting concerned about the stiffness when panning, and started to wonder if there was a problem. I had backed of the adjusters to their minimum friction, but it didn’t make any difference. On day six, I went to look through the telescope and guided it with my hand on the ball head.....only to feel a very sticky, glue like substance leaking out where it rotates.I have had to return the tripod, and cannot praise Amazon enough for their prompt refund.I can not recommend this item though, for the reasons stated.Add!Since writing this report I have had some positive responses from the seller, and they acknowledged there was an issue with the oil leaking from the ball head...which they have now sorted out. They have also replaced the tripod with another one (and indeed uprated me to a better one!)So I have to amend this review and mark it differently in the light of the great customer service. Very happy with this tripod, and it works and looks brilliantly. Thanks to dcmall (the seller) for sorting this out for me and proving that good customer service can be achieved. It's appreciated.