Quick Release Plate for LF

[digitalwiij]

I've been looking at getting a tripod since I do mostly landscapes and I since I just recently purchased my first LF, a Sinar F, I'm curious on what adapter for a quick release to get. I'm looking at a Bogen/Manfrotto 055MF3 with 410 Geared Head, heard this works great with the Sinar F, but the quick realease plate is only sized for my 35mm, Canon EOS-1n.
I've measured the thread on my Sinar F and it looks like a 1/2", but I can't find any assemblies that match that. Am I looking at it wrong? Anybody have any ideas? I'm looking at a budget of $500.00 or less to get my LF on a tripod.

Thanks for any help.

 

[nemo999]

As you may know, standard tripod screws are 1/4" and 3/8", with adapters to change a 1/4" screw to 3/8". QR plates are avaialble for the 410 head for both screw sizes:
http://www.fotosense.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=Manfrotto+410
but the plate looks physically too small to accept a Sinar rail clamp, and the load rating for the head is quite low for a 4x5" monorail. The larger Manfrotto/Bogen heads take a hexagonal QR plate which is big enough, I personally use a Manfrotto 229 pan-and-tilt head for Sinar.

 

[Ian Grant]

There's a small adapter that fits in the cameras tripod mount to allow the smaller thread to be used. B&H sell them and they are quite cheap. You need to be very careful using a quick release plate for LF, my Wista parted company with the tripod when the quick release failed.

Ian

 

[mpirie]

I use a 55MF3 with the 410 head and my Toyo 45. The quick release plates have both 1/4" and 3/8" screws with them when they're new. The one you have may have lost the 3/8" screw? I assume the Sinar's come with a 3/8" tripod mount?

Mike

 

[Pinholemaster]

Unless you pay good money for a quick release system, such as an Arca style release, I'd forgo a quick release for LF. It doesn't take that much time to mount a LF camera to a tripod.

Put your money into a very good tripod and head instead.

For some of the best Quick Release products on the market: http://reallyrightstuff.com/home.html

Nothing worse than seeing a Sinar fall off a tripod, hitting the ground in a shattering thump.

 

[Trevor Crone]

I use the Manfrotto 410 junior geared head for 4x5 and the 405 pro geared for 8x10. Both take the 410PL QR plate and they are very positive and stable when locked. You've just got to make sure everything is properly engaged before letting go of the camera. As Mike said when new they should come with both 1/4" and 3/8" screws.

 

[2F/2F]

Bogen/Manfrotto make a 4-inch square quick release plate for hex-plate heads. It is the best solution for a Sinar that I have found, since the regular hex plates will not fit the rail clamp securely enough, and the Sinar tripod head that fits perfectly is over $1,000 new, and at least two to three hundred used. The plate is $40 or less from any camera store that stocks Bogen/Manfrotto equipment.

For heads, I like the 3047.

As for legs, my go-to tripod for everything in every format is the 3050/3250 type. It is much quicker to operate than a 3036 due to the leg extension controls up by the head. When I need to pack a little lighter, I use a 3036. I used to use a 3033, and I wish I had not sold it. It is light like a 3021 (though a little more beefy), but all the legs extend at once, which makes it pretty quick to use.

My advice is simply to buy used, whatever you buy. Tripods and heads lose about 75% of their value once they leave the camera shop. I got my 3050 with 3047 head for $125 and my 3036 with 3047 head for $150. Brand new, that's $1,500 worth of stuff, and I got it for $275.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Bogen/Manfrotto make a 4-inch square quick release plate for hex-plate heads.
...
For heads, I like the 3047.

I use this same combination to attach a Calumet C1 8x10 (not generally known as a lightweight... ) to a heavy-duty Zone VI wooden tripod. Once properly engaged it is very solid, even when the camera is pointed in a non-level direction. Works well for me.

Ken

 

[jeroldharter]

Looks like you are not weight conscious. That tripod head weighs over 3 pounds all by itself. For the tripod consider this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/302816-REG/Berlebach_BE2042_2042_Wood_Tripod_Legs.html

The setup is very quick with only 2 leg sections. the integral leveling base would also make it quick for leveling your pan/tilt tripod head. If you increase the budget just a bit, you could get one of the large Feisol tripods which are great for the solid to eight ratio.

 

[resummerfield]

Unless you pay good money for a quick release system, such as an Arca style release, I'd forgo a quick release for LF. It doesn't take that much time to mount a LF camera to a tripod.

Put your money into a very good tripod and head instead.

For some of the best Quick Release products on the market: http://reallyrightstuff.com/home.html

Nothing worse than seeing a Sinar fall off a tripod, hitting the ground in a shattering thump.

I agree completely with this. As far as I know, the only quick release system capable of supporting a heavy camera is the Arca style system that firmly and positively clamps a plate. And the best plate for a heavy camera would be one with two mounting bolts.

I use the Arca quick release system on my 8x10--even with the heaviest lenses--and have adapted my 7x17 with a Really Right Stuff plate. I have never had the slightest problem, even when tilting the 7x17 on its side occasionally.

Don't forget, the most important part of the system is the tripod. I use a heavy wooden surveyor tripod that has 6-inch spikes that I can sink deep in the ground. Another good suggestion is the Berlebach that Jerold suggests.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I use Linhof plates and they will hold a Sinar with up to 24" of rail and a good modicum of accessories on the camera.

If the tripod is being dedicated for use with the Sinar then I don't use a QR plate but leave the rail clamp on the tripod and use the clamp as the quick-release of the whole camera.

Each time a head or QR plate or clamp is added between the camera and tripod the mount gets slightly less rigid. I find a lot of rigidity is lost in the rubber and cork pads that are used on heads and plates to prevent scratching the equipment - I have removed them and rely on metal-to-metal contact.

 

[k_jupiter]

I find a lot of rigidity is lost in the rubber and cork pads that are used on heads and plates to prevent scratching the equipment - I have removed them and rely on metal-to-metal contact.

I don't. Nothing torques me off more than having the camera rotate on the attachment screw. And nothing is worse for your camera base than over torquing the attachment threads. I run a 3036 with a Gitzo No. 3 head with the large plate on it (They come a couple different sizes) ($150 used). The plasticized rubber on top is very firm but keeps the Deardorf 8x10 well anchored. The weight? I am still a pretty hefty guy. It fits on my shoulder pretty well.

And no, No quick disconnects. It doesn't save enough time to justify the risks you take.

tim in san jose

 

[digitalwiij]

Thanks for everyone’s input. Getting into LF is a bit different than 35mm and I appreciate the help.

Weight is not a big deal since I live on an island and there is not much hiking, but I won't be in Okinawa forever so I may want to be able to take a walk and find something that I want to photograph.
I also just got offered a Gitzo 1341. Anybody have experience with this tripod? Seems like it would work for what I want.

Thanks,

 

[Pupfish]

It's actually easy (if not easier) to drop a camera onto terra firma while fumbling with threading a tripod screw into camera each time you set up. Another disadvantage of not having a Q/R plate is that you'll likely be more tempted to leave the camera set up on the tripod for short-to-medium jaunts through underbrush between set-ups in the field.

I have both Arca Swiss and the heavy duty Manfrotto/Bogen hex systems.

The Arca system sure gets expensive right quick but all the nice ergonomic 35mm accessory stuff is standardized around it nowadays (I consider most of these to be semi-Q/R, and without safety stops they can be downright dangerous. Every pro has got a horror story about Q/R plates).

Nothing yet trumps the safety catch and the instant spring-loaded latching/unlatching of my old Manfrotto Super Heavy Duty Ballhead. ($150 new, is now close to 20 years old with a ton of abuse, still works perfectly). The hex plates all get rounded with a file to be a little more hand-friendly. They can easily enough be fitted with a second set-screw for anti-twist duty.

 

[John Jarosz]

I use the Manfrotto/Bogen hex mounting plate system on my 8x20. That said, I custom mount the hex plate to the camera with 3 screws into the camera wood body plus the regular tripod mounting screw. My Bogen head is an older one that does not use the cam locking device, it uses a thumbscrew lock that forces the hex plate into its receiver. I don't think I'd trust the cam lock on the 8x20.

I used the same setup with my 4x5, and with that camera I used the cam lock version of the tripod head . I believe it to be robust enough for 4x5.

But look around at some of the older stuff, you may find it to be more robust than the "new and improved" later versions.

John

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

You don't need a QR for a Sinar F. The rail clamp is a QR system. Just leave the rail clamp attached to the tripod all the time, and loosen the knob to remove the camera on the rail, and tighten the knob when you replace the rail in the mount.

Now you might want a QR system for a Sinar, if you're set up so that you have lots of other equipment that all uses the same QR system (which I do), but it's otherwise unnecessary. All my cameras have Arca-Swiss style plates, and I have a custom Arca-Swiss style plate that has a round platform with a locator pin that matches the hole on the bottom of the Sinar rail clamp, so it doesn't twist. This was designed by another photographer who had a batch of about five of them made and sold them on eBay. I don't know that you could find one so easily today.

A 3-series Gitzo should be fine for a Sinar F, unless you're using very long lenses or doing very close macro work that would require long extensions.