bought this tripod for two main reasons: (1) my old "Targus" brand tripod was falling apart, and (2) I wanted less shaky video when shooting with a telephoto lens. I specifically wanted a tripod that would allow me to easily pan in all directions somewhat smoothly. I know that ball heads are not designed to shoot video, but I figured I would give it a shot. This tripod is surprisingly good at delivering smooth video when panning using the ball head. This seems like a no-brainer, but I have also had much less trouble with motion blur when shooting at low shutter speeds (1/30-1/100), and panning is easy enough that I can use the tripod to take pictures of moving subjects without a problem. I have included a video of a Northern Waterthrush hopping around, looking for food, shot with this tripod. I did not use the separate panning feature of this tripod for panning; I only used the ball head. I use a Nikon D3200 with a vintage Nikkor 300mm f4.5 lens. This setup weighs about 4lb. Other than one occasion where one of the legs slipped a little (probably mostly due to me putting some of my weight on it), this tripod holds the weight well. I do not like leaving the camera on the tripod unattended as the ball head has a tendency to loosen up and allow the camera to fall into the downward position. The tripod is solid. The ball tension knob provides pretty good control of the drag on the ball. The flip locks for the legs are quite easy to operate. For me, this tripod was absolutely worth the ~$90 I paid for it. I'm happy!