On Jun 27, 2006, at 9:58 PM, Fernando Gonzalez Gentile wrote:
> The rubber padded too :-(
> Thought only the older cork padded QR creeped.
Haven't had the chance to test this yet so I might find there's a bit
of creep still. I just purchased a new Manfrotto head, an 029 3-way
head, mainly for use with my Arca-Swiss 4x5. The guy at the store
just grabbed a hex plate off the shelf to include with it.
When I got home I noticed it's a different design from my older cork
one. The obvious difference is that the padded surface is indeed
rubber now instead of cork. However, the tightening mechanism is
different as well. On my older plate there was a clunky bolt with a
big locking nut on it. The idea being that you tighten the bolt into
the body and then you tighten the locking nut against the plate,
pulling the camera body tight to the top of the plate. On the plate I
received, the bottom is very similar to the MD or battery plates on
the bottom of an OM, it's the same kind of flush piece of metal with
a curved slot (which surely fits some Japanese coin, living in Canada
I find twonies tend to work great). Using a coin this allowed me to
really tighten down the plate onto the body. In addition to all of
this, there are 3 small screws strategically placed around the plate
that you can tighten to help reduce twisting (similar to the screws
that Manfrotto tripods have to prevent the head from twisting). 2 of
those screws lined up with the rail of the Arca-Swiss so I tightened
them down too. With all of this I can say that the plate feels
extremely secure, I tried twisting the plate with my hands and it
wouldn't budge, a feat the cork plate couldn't claim. I tested out
the rig briefly in my apartment but have yet to properly field test it.
It does seem a bit silly to have to go to all this to get a plate
securely mounted, definitely not an option for quick changes but I
plan to keep this plate permanently mounted to the 4x5. I would've
gone for an Arca-Swiss style QR system except I really wanted a 3-way
head for the added ease in levelling a 4x5 and didn't feel like
paying $1500 for the Arca-Swiss cube.
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