Review 4 of 5
Price Paid:
$0.00 Summary: Given that - as I do - you might choose to lug a tripod over rough terrain and up mountain slopes that seem to go on for ever, who could blame you if, once you get where you're going, you'd like your camera to form a reasonably cohesive bond with the three-legged support you've worked so hard to get there.
Fat chance! None of the lightweight mounting systems I'd tried come even close to achieving the integrity that sharp panoramas and macro shots require. Worse still, most of the gear I checked out was either too heavy, too wobbly or too awkward to use. Often all three!
That is, until I happened upon Arca-Swiss-style sliding plates and the open-ended v-groove clamps they’re designed to fit.
By fitting a clamp on your ball head or 3-way and compatible plates to all your camera bodies and collar-mount lenses, you'll never need to fiddle with a tripod screw again.
But what about vertical shots?
With collar mount lenses it's easy - you just rotate the camera body - but when the camera itself is attached to the tripod, verticals become a problem.
Surely, that's what ball and 3-way heads are made for - and then you realize that the camera is now hanging precariously off to the side of the tripod and has dropped and/or shifted sideways relative to the carefully framed horizontal composition you started with.
When I ‘flip to vertical’ I want to do it quickly, without disturbing the general framing and most important of all, without throwing the camera/tripod combo off balance. It makes sense to keep the camera over the centre of the tripod, especially if you're using a lightweight model as I do when trekking, which is why I decided to avoid custom camera plates that allow horizontal mounting only.
Fortunately, that's where the Arca-Swiss compatible L-plate comes galloping to the rescue.
I tried a generic L plate (two 38mm wide rails with v-profiled edges joined end on at 90 degrees) on my Kodak Pro14n but its strangely-positioned tripod mount and rubber-surfaced base meant that even when tightly fastened to the camera, there was still a bit of wobble and it was obvious that I needed something better.
Kirk makes custom L plates that are profiled to exactly fit a number of popular SLR's. The Kodak however, was not one of them. Since it's recently been discontinued, there didn't seem much chance of ever finding a L-plate that would fit it properly.
Then I came across Really Right Stuff's website and downloaded the PDF of their catalogue. On page 25, there it was: exactly what I needed, plus, they had custom plates for my collar-mount lenses at $44 -$65 each, a lever operated clamp to go on my ball head (see review) and a sliding rail/clamp system (their 192 Precision Plus Package at $180) providing nodal point shift for panoramas AND a macro slide for close-ups. It was adding up to over $600 but I gulped, checked my credit card statement and went for it.
The L plate is now permanently attached to the Kodak body, lens plates are fixed to two collar-mount lenses and I have a macro focus/nodal point sliding rail system as well. All of them conform to the Arca-Swiss standard.
I'm poorer (see 'Weaknesses' below) but, photographically at least, a lot better off.
The L plate is a marvel of custom engineering. At a hefty $195 dollars it's the most expensive in the RRS line-up (just my luck!).
It is, without doubt, worth every penny.
It's immaculately engineered - apparently from a solid block of aircraft grade aluminum – is contoured to hug the camera body and makes a satisfyingly solid metal-to-metal contact that permits no wobble whatsoever. It neatly clears the battery compartment and I/O ports on the side and fastens at the top by hijacking the strap lug (a new one is provided at the top of the plate). Other models seem to do without this top fixing.
The soft contours of the plate leave handholding relatively unaffected and the silky black anodized finish means it looks like part of the camera.
When I want to shoot vertical, I just flip the camera 90 degrees and fix the side of the plate onto the clamp. Either way - at least, on the Kodak - the image centre finishes up more or less in the same position. Other models may not be so lucky.
Panoramas are a snip. I no longer need a leveling base - I just level with my Markins ball head and mount a Novoflex panorama base (very neat and light) directly under the RRS lever clamp. Nodal point adjusts by sliding a RRS 192 rail in the clamp with camera fixed at one end (vertical or horizontal) on a RRS B2 Mini Clamp, which is a smaller screw-operated Arca-Swiss-type clamp and costs $60. The same rig also works as a macro focus slide.
All of the components slide smoothly and clamp firmly and the quality and finish throughout is exemplary.
I counted 23 custom L-plate models in the RRS catalogue to fit film and digital SLRs with or without add-on battery bases. There's also a custom L-plate for the Hasselblad X1-Pan and for the non-SLR Canon PowerShot Pro1. For the reasons mentioned earlier, and unless you’ve an aversion to vertical shots, I’d avoid standard camera plates. RRS make a solid looking generic L-plate for $105 which would be a better choice.
The only RRS L-plate I've used is that made specifically for the Kodak Pro 14n but if the other models are anything like as well designed, engineered and finished as mine, then you're unlikely to be disappointed. Strengths: Superbly designed, engineered and finished custom camera L-plate, lens plates and focus rail combo.
Smooth precise fitting and adjustment.
Relatively lightweight compared to other panorama rigs and macro slides.
5 year guarantee that I don't really expect to call upon. Weaknesses: Expensive and costly to bring into the UK
A $617 outlay included the RRS lever clamp plus $43 shipping, attracted a further 92 British Pounds ($162)in import duty, VAT and UK Postal charges. Similar Products Used: Novoflex and Foba plates Customer Service: The acknowledgment of my web order, and subsequent confirmation, carried no indication of dispatch date. I found this by using the RRS reference to the US postal tracking website - but obviously, only after the goods had been picked up.
I could find no sign of ‘thanks for you custom’ on the invoice. Small thing, but I’m a sensitive soul and after all, I HAD just been held to ransom for 92 quid (as we call $162) before the goods could be delivered. No fault of RRS of course, but maybe it’s the reason I’ve become just a little bit tetchy.
RRS seem to prefer customers to order by phone (which I don’t) or on the web (which I do) but they reveal no email address. (They say they’d be unable to cope with the traffic) An earlier reviewer was impressed with attention to his needs over the phone. No doubt, if I’d made contact by phone, I would have been as well.
The RRS catalogue is very friendly and carries the personal imprint of its owners, Joe & Joan Johnson. I’m sure they’re lovely people and I’m equally sure they would like to extend their personal touch to little things like order acknowledgment, follow-up and invoicing.
If I'm to buy anything else from RRS, it would probably be only if they found themselves a European distributor. You guys in US are lucky indeed!
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