koolehaodaTripod Ball Head, Φ36mm Ball Diameter All Metal Tripod Head with 1/4" Screw Arca-Type QR Plate for DSLR Cameras Tripods Monopods, Max Load 33lbs/15kg

koolehaoda E2 mini Tripod Head Ballhead with Quick Release Plate. Net weight only 240G,Maximum load: 12KG (E2-ballhaed) This review is for the Koolehaoda E2 mini Tripod Ballhead.Few things to start:Quite light weight and very well made. I was looking for a Ball Head that would not cost my liver but at the same time deliver a decent amount of stability.The load capacity is more than enough for APS-C DSLRs and Mirrorless cameras and as you can see from the photos I've used it for many variety of setups, from holding laptops and panorama Rails.A details I had a look while using it:1- Half rotation for the lever is more than enough to hold or completely unlock a lightweight camera, meaning you don't have to pull and rotate the handle in order to extend the rotation. You might have to do it in case you're using a FF DSLR or using heavier lens like Zooms such as 70-200 f2.8 etc. if you rotate only 1/4 (90 degress) will be enough to create friction to hold the camera and increase precision (mainly if you're using a macro lens which is my case);2- There's only one opening to turn the ball head to vertical position which is about normal, though some more expensive and low profile ball heads offer more openings for that, but if you're using Arca Swiss compatible body plate it can be easily done as it come with an extra side plate for easy vertical shooting;3- There's no friction dial or lever, which means, the same dial that unlock the ball head will be the same one that you will control the friction, with way less precision off course, but it's just a compromise considering it's very small and lightweight;4- In order to remove the quick release plate on top you need to use an Allen key, but it's so well tightened that I couldn't manage to remove it on both ball heads I've purchased meaning I couldn't find out if it was a standard fitting. It probably is as nowadays Manfrotto is one of the few companies that actually use a proprietary fitting for quick releases requiring an adapter sold by Haoge;5- If you don't want to buy the panorama head version you can always buy later an arca swiss compatible panoramic head as I show in the photos, it seems Koolehaoda sell one that is exactly the same. It can be attached as an extra plate on top or probably removing the quick release completely and attaching the panorama on top, both ways you will be just fine;6- The quick release plate is very small, which is good in a way but could be a problem if you plan to use it on top of other quick release heads as the safety screws are way too close (about 46mm). Many quick releases might only be compatible with 50mm or bigger safety screws. It can be easily removed though but it means the camera can easily slide and fall on the floor. Best way to go would probably be buying a bigger quick release. Keep in mind that the plate that comes with won't attach in the panoramic quick release sold by koolehaoda exactly because of that;7- Using it on top of a video slider was just fine, I expected it to shake a lot but it didn't at all, no complains here;8- Holding a laptop was also just fine, keep in mind I've only tried with a 13' macbook air, might not work well with some heavier laptops, if you plan to do so, buy the 45mm ball head then.Overall a great product, not perfect but for the price would be completely unfair giving less than 5 stars.One of my few complains wouldn't be about the product itself but about the Ad, in the pictures it states the E2 version has a 45mm diameter ball which it doesn't, it's actually a 35mm and can be found inside the Ad description, so don't be mislead by what's written in the photos.Another thing is that it's not branded koolehaoda, it come as ''Highlights X1", not sure if it's one of those '' Samyang / rokinon'' thing or it's simply a company changing the names as it could be just a generic ballhead being resold by a distributor and apparently there's not website representing both brand names.It also comes with a small carrying bag, not sure if it's useful, but it might be a plus for some.Any problems in the future I will update here, but so far it's working just fine. I also plan to buy the E3 version with panoramic head so I might release another review / comparison, but might not happen anytime soon as I don't want to spend more money :PHope this review helps a bit those undecided people and sorry for any grammar mistakes as English is not my native language!

I gave this 5 stars because I find the E2 Ballhead to be light, work perfectly and feel like a quality product. I have an Olympus em1 with the 300mm lens there is no slip once in position.I use a carbon tripod and did not want to add a lot of weight so this fits the bill perfectly. Its smaller than the one that came with the tripod and its smoother in operation. I like the leaver to tighten up the ball movement. Without the Quick release plate fitted it weight just 202g.

Edit - 20.11.2021After 2 years of good work the locking lever failed miserable leaving me during a photographic expedition in the middle of nowhere without a chance to keep using it and unable to perform any kind of photography with the tripod..Looks like the spring inside the sliding locking lever collapse/broken leading to a locking of the overall travel of sliding lever Unacceptable and poor reliability of this cheap component..Shame

I bought this tripod head to fit an existing tripod but sadly it is not strong enough to hold my DSLR without it slowly drooping down.Replaced it with a Manfroto version which works really well.This one seems only suitable for very light weighted cameras and certainly cannot hold the weight which they advertise it for.

It looked good when I opened the box and it fit well onto my tripod.I took it with my this morning to do some long exposure shots of a river.It was holding my Nikon Z6 with a 28-200mm lens so less that 2kgs of weight, I got three shots and then the lock lever failed - not a happy photographer.Already packed to be returned.

A sturdy, secure little ballhead that looks to be well made.

Love this, works well very sturdy would recommend