If you want an example of a heart stopping moment, trying to use a long lens on a tripod with a ball and socket head must come close. They are fundamentally unstable because the pivot point is below the camera. Loosen the head too much and the heavy lens and camera combination can topple over, potentially sending the whole thing crashing to the deck or at least damaging the lens or tearing the lens mount out of the camera.
I've recently bought a Custom Brackets Gimbal Mount to use with my Nikon 200-400 f4, not their heaviest lens by a long way but still a handful. The mount works because the pivot point is now above the lens making it fundamentally more stable.
As you can see, it's two L-shaped brackets mounted on top of the tripod, can rotate horizontally at the bottom (by the CB) and at the top right to give pan and tilt. Rubberised hand wheels allow you to lock either or both motions as well as adding some friction. A simple thumb wheel allows you to restrict tilt movement while mounting the lens.
The lens itself mounts on a plate (via 2 thumb-screws from underneath) which attaches in turn on the mount. It can slide backwards and forwards to achieve a perfect balance and the scale allows you to easily re-attach later in the same position. There's a horizontal angular scale for panoramic shots and a bubble spirit level built in.
All in all, it's a great solution and allows the camera to be moved with ease and locked down when required. Not cheap, about £518 including the plate, but that's small beer compared to the damage you could do otherwise to the lens and camera. Recommended.
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