While to shooting in rather cold-weather (-14C), the ball-head on my tripod became very stiff and very hard to move. Even with the knobs at their minimum which normally cause the whole thing to drop completely, I had to apply force. Yes, I was partially frozen but two cameras (both freezeproof) I had with me kept working without any issues. The third one (not freezeproof) would no longer focus.
The question is what causes the ball-head to become so stiff?
More importantly, can anything be done about it?
Also, are there models which do not have that problem?
Answer
While Steven's answer is a good guess, it turns out lubricants freeze long before metal contracts due to cold. This makes ball-heads with oil or grease not usable beyond a few degrees below 0C / 32F.
Grease-free and oilless ball-heads operate easily down to -40C / -40F. At some colder temperature, materials will eventually contract but that will be far below the lowest operating temperature of any digital camera.
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