Yes, lubricant on a ball head is generally a really bad idea. I don't know of any manufacturer that recommends lubricant of any kind.
Really Right Stuff has a video on how to clean one of their ball heads properly. I've found that it is just about exactly the same as the procedure described by Arca-Swiss, FOBA, Kirk Photo, Acratech, and others in their owner's manual and literature. https://youtu.be/eR_a8I3Zd_I I would do this first, before anything else. The likely cause of stiction in a ball head is a tiny—microscopic!—film of finger oil and dirt deposited on the ball's treated surface ... get all of it off and the ball head should work as new again. G > Paul Stenquist Fri, 16 Mar 2018 07:18:02 -0700 wrote: > > I use a large heavy-duty Sirui bullhead when shooting off a tripod with big > glass. It’s been excellent for several years, smooth and solid. But I think > it may have picked up a few specks of dirt here and there, and now it has a > bit of a tug and hesitation in its movement. I’m wondering if anyone has > tried lubricating a bullhead with light oil. I think that may make matters > worse by attracting dirt. I can clean it somewhat by rotating it to extreme > positions while wiping it down, but that doesn’t seem to fully solve the > problem. Is lube okay or a bad idea? -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
