I have owned a Berlebach 552 for about 10 years and still consider it, together with its successor the 553 to be the ideal 2-way head for use with a birding scope.
A few weeks back the panorama function started feeling a bit gritty, probably due to ingress of some debris, so I applied a drop of Ballistol, which smoothed it up again but made the motion much too light.
I packed it up and sent it off to Berlebach and received it back again today after 4 day's absence, functionally as good as new. Berlebach didn't even charge postage!
They mention on their website a repair turnaround of 48 hrs. and also their willingness to modify their products in line with customers'requirements. This was confirmed some time ago, when they made three modifications to a long QR plate to optimize fit and function on my tail-heavy ATM65 at no extra charge.
The 552 is used on my heavy-duty tripod, an old aluminium Gitzo Studex. I mentioned on another thread that this was just oscillating at 25x in strong winds at the North Sea coast, so I think perhaps a wooden replacement is on the cards
John
PS:- Correction; the oscillations of the Gitzo Studex were there at any magnification. They were visually disturbing at the minimum magnification of 25x.
A few weeks back the panorama function started feeling a bit gritty, probably due to ingress of some debris, so I applied a drop of Ballistol, which smoothed it up again but made the motion much too light.
I packed it up and sent it off to Berlebach and received it back again today after 4 day's absence, functionally as good as new. Berlebach didn't even charge postage!
They mention on their website a repair turnaround of 48 hrs. and also their willingness to modify their products in line with customers'requirements. This was confirmed some time ago, when they made three modifications to a long QR plate to optimize fit and function on my tail-heavy ATM65 at no extra charge.
The 552 is used on my heavy-duty tripod, an old aluminium Gitzo Studex. I mentioned on another thread that this was just oscillating at 25x in strong winds at the North Sea coast, so I think perhaps a wooden replacement is on the cards
John
PS:- Correction; the oscillations of the Gitzo Studex were there at any magnification. They were visually disturbing at the minimum magnification of 25x.
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