Arca Swiss Discovery tripod block question

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I'm eagerly awating my recently ordered Discovery kit and have seen a photo which shows the tripod mounting block as having that dovetail type of shape, presumably to slide into an Arca Swiss head. Is there a hole in the bottom of that plate to accept the screw from a Manfrotto Quick release plate, or is the hole in the monorail itself, or is there no hole at all?

-- Michael Mahoney (mmahoney@nfld.com), April 25, 2001

Answers

Yes the Tripod block. Presumably it is threaded for the "European" (3/8") tripod thread.

-- Ellis Vener (evphoto@insync.net), April 25, 2001.

Yes the Tripod block is threaded for a tripod screw. Presumably it is threaded for the "European" (3/8") tripod thread.

-- Ellis Vener (evphoto@insync.net), April 25, 2001.

I just put my new Discovery on it's tripod today (next is figuring out how to focus). It takes a 3/8" mount, not the standard U.S. 1/4" mount. I picked up an adapter today for my Bogen/Manfrotto head for $7 but am really going to need a plate that takes 3/8 natively since I find the adapter quite wobbly.

-- Jennifer Waak (jen.waak@visi.com), April 25, 2001.

Unless you have an Arca head that mates with the mounting block, you will find that the threaded screw will never tighten down completely on a plain flat mounting plate, no matter how tight you tighten it. This is really apparent when you open the gg to insert the holder. It tends to twist the whole camera. Or when you have the camera tilted down at an angle, the weight of the camera will cause it to twist. It's an easy fix though. I just bought an extra quick release plate for my Bogan head, removed the rubber pad and machined a shallow recess into which the Arca mounting block fits. I leave it onpermanently and there is absolutely no twisting.

-- allan fontanilla (allan@fontanilla.com), April 26, 2001.

The problem is with the bogen head and plate. I never had problems tightening an Arca Swiss camera to a Gitzo Rationale 3B head (small platform), a big Gitzo 510 head, a Majestic head with a small all metal platform, or a Bogen 410 (the small geared head). These all preceded my acquiring an ArcaSwiss B2 Monoball.

-- Ellis Vener Photography (evphoto@swbell.net), April 27, 2001.


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