Rolleiflex Quick Release Plate

[RoboRepublic]

Can someone please explain to me (by way of photos if at all possible) how this gizmo works, and whether it solves my problem, that being: I have to unscrew my arca plate every time I finish a roll of film?
Thank you

 

[Dan Daniel]

Just get it. Screw the Arca plate into the bottom of the Rollei device. Slide your Rollei in from the back, flip the lever to secure. Flip the lever to release and slide the camera out, naked as the day it was born with door latch fully accessible.

 

[RoboRepublic]

Hey Dan Thanks! how does the quick release plate attach to the tripod then?

 

[JPD]

You screw it on there. The bottom of the Rolleifix looks like this: https://photocapital.studiohousepro...-Rolleiflex-Rolleicord-Camera-14-Mount-02.jpg

I hope you have a model that accepts the Rolleifix.

 

[JPD]

If your camera back has this groove around the circular aluminium thing (in lack of a better word), then it accepts the Rolleifix. https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ickAAOSw-pdhsvMj/s-l1600.jpg

 

[MattKing]

You need a tripod designed to "mate" with the quick release plate.
You attach the quick release plate to the bottom of the Rolleifix.
Then you attach the camera to the Rolleifix using the the Rolleifix mechanism.

 

[Nitroplait]

Just for illustration.
I don't recommend this particular type Manfrotto quick release plate in combination with the Rolleifix (it is bigger than ideal), but this should give you an idea:

quick release under the Rolleifix:

And mounted on the camera:

The camera slides onto the Rolleifix from the back and is secured/released by flipping the rear lever on the Rolleifix.

Of course, your camera needs to have the grove as illustrated in an earlier response, in order to be compatible with the Rolleifix.

 

[Down Under]

In the '60s when I bought my (first) Rolleiflex, these nifty small mounts were known as "the Rollei tripod mating device" or some such funny name, which always amused me. I had notions of buying two and putting them together in a dark box, hoping for "babies" which I could sell at a tidy profit - like all goodies from F&H they weren't cheap to buy even back then.

More seriously, this gadget eliminates one of the risks of putting a Rollei TLR on a tripod. The tripod screw hole (again, I'm not trying to make bad jokes here) or whatever they call the mount in-built on the bottom of the camera, is a weak point of this system. This means mounting a Rollei on a tripod could cause the bolt to shear off the tripod mount plate, the camera falls to the ground and can be damaged. It did happen to a photographer friend, a very long time ago, and cost him a fair sum to get the camera fixed - he had to replace the entire back.

I own several Rolleifixes and I use them on camera grips.

Unusually for me, I am somewhat at a loss for correct wording tonight, and anyway others have explained how the Rolleifix works, far better than I can just now. Time for a glass of wine and then to bed, I think...