Stopping your camera rotating

Throwback

Throwback

Well-known member
It sounds really trivial, but I've long been frustrated by the single 1/4" screw that fixes quick-release plates to DSLRs and, nowadays, mirrorless cameras, especially given that sprung pins for a second - anti-twist - point of contact have long been available on quick-release plates for video cameras. The frustration is particularly acute when using a follow focus, where rotation is hard to prevent without a cage: and sometimes you just don't want or otherwise need a cage. I eventually realized there is a solution in a few - albeit very obscure and hard to find - Arca-style plates with lips/edges on the front/rear edges that stop rotation: Arca and Really Right Stuff make ones (albeit around £50 just for a tiny plate!), but I have found a cheaper - and well-made - one from the Colorado Tripod Company (£9). Anyway, I've written a blog post about my travails and the solution, with details of these plates, for anyone suffering the same frustration! https://drbadphil.com/this-camera-is-not-for-turning

Cheers,

Roland

[Edit: See update in post #8]
 
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I made the switch to Arca-Swiss style QR plates a few years ago, but I bought everything off eBay. I got a 40mm Sunwayfoto lever clamp and Haoge QR plate with an adjustable lip. Due the the weird design of my Walimex cage, I had to fabricate a camera bolt that was long enough to go through the QR plate and cage. I'm sure that Arca & RRS are top notch quality, but they're way over priced.
 
Imamacuser said:
I made the switch to Arca-Swiss style QR plates a few years ago, but I bought everything off eBay. I got a 40mm Sunwayfoto lever clamp and Haoge QR plate with an adjustable lip. Due the the weird design of my Walimex cage, I had to fabricate a camera bolt that was long enough to go through the QR plate and cage. I'm sure that Arca & RRS are top notch quality, but they're way over priced.
Click to expand...

Ah, you had more luck than I did finding an Arca-style plate with a lip amongst the usual affordable suppliers like Haoge. That said, that Colorado Tripod Company one I ended up with at £9 is in a different league to the Haoge, Andoer etc. stuff (which I have plenty of too): I struggle to believe that the Arca and RRS plates can be any better quality than the CTC one.

Cheers,

Roland
 
Interesting Ben: thanks for that. Of course a Manfrotto 501PL is a classic example of a long video camera plate with a registration pin which rather rubs it in that stills camera makers never added a hole for such a pin: even with the short length of a DSLR or mirrorless, there would be scope for both a screw and a pin. But thank goodness there are a few solutions, even if I was a bit slow to find them! Let's hope this thread helps a few others find them too.

Cheers,

Roland
 
By way of an update, after a few months of using an Arca plate with a lip (see first post, above), I'm sad to say that I've still encountered the occasional loosening of the plate when using a follow focus. Looking at this closely, it became clear that this was due to the 1/4" screw being within a slot rather than a hole (to allow the plates of this type to fit many different camera models), which allows the screw to loosen. So, in the end, I have added a lip to a flat Arca plate, using a hole for the screw, to make one specific to my camera. A bit of a pain with some very precise measuring required, but, at last, I've got there with something rock solid and dependable! I've updated my blog post accordingly: https://drbadphil.com/this-camera-is-not-for-turning

Cheers,

Roland
 
I'm getting good results from using tripod collars. Not a universal solution. But I bought 3rd party tripod collars that fit my sony 12-24 and 50, sigma 24-70, tamron 70-180 etc. Arca foot on the collars into a QR arca receiver on the gimbal baseplate. And no trouble with camera spinning/loosening from focus motor in this configuration
 
Interesting: so are both the foot of the tripod collar and the bottom of the camera then connected? And have you tried this with a manual follow focus (with it's greater forces)? A photo would be great.

Cheers,

Roland
 
It is worth observing that some DSLRs have various small holes on the bottom about 2mm diameter. Usuall todo with locating the handgrip.

My Canon r6 is an example of this.

Some cage makers , smallrig for example have placed protruding pins in the cages to mate these holes.

Its a 8/10 solution

Using a speedbooster or other device with a lens foot can lead to 2 1/4 screws .. that is a 10/10 solution

I think a lipped plate is a 6/10 solution
 
Yes, I agree about the 2 x 1/4 screws of the speedbooster etc.: though, in my case, I'm using native M43 lenses on a G9. And the Smallrig cage for the G9 has no protruding pins, so can loosen. I did try a DIY plate with a protrusion for the G9 battery grip mating hole, but that wasn't as good as the DIY lipped plate I've finally come up: the latter is dependable and solid, although, obviously not off-the-shelf and needs to be made uniquely for each camera with great care. Just so frustrating that manufacturers of most DSLR/mirrorless cameras don't include a second 1/4 thread or pin hole. With more and more attention on autofocus it is hard to imagine they ever will.

Cheers,

Roland
 
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