Converting Manfrotto 410 to Arca style clamp/plate

[Kirk Gittings]

I was actually considering this long before the new DSLR. I use both my 4x5 tripods for my DSLR too both with Manfrotto 410 geared head. As I have switched from a Canon 5D MII to a Sony A7r, the RC4 Plate for the 410 is way too huge now. I want to stick with the 410 (great head for everything IMHO) but change to the smaller Arca quick release and plate. There are a couple of ways to do this but this kit is probably the easiest (link below). Does anyone have experience with this Hejnar kit and/or the knockoff Arca clamp that they make that comes with it? Do you think the clamp would be strong enough for a field 4x5 (Phillips)?

http://hejnarphoto.com/ebay/instruction/m405%20Manual.pdf

[Kirk Gittings]

There is this method too:

http://www.daveparryphotography.co.uk/manfrotto-410-gearde-head-arca

[Bob Mann]

The Hejnar kit works, easy to convert and you can mount any Arca clamp to it. I have one and have had no problems with it.

[Peter De Smidt]

I've heard good things about the Hejnar converter. I have some of his other pieces, and they are high quality.

[Kirk Gittings]

Great, thanks all! Anyone have any insight into all the different clamp sizes?
http://www.hejnarphotostore.com/category-s/106.htm
Remember this will be for 4x5 and the DSLR. I'd rather have it robust enough for the 4x5 and overkill for the DSLR like the RC4 clamp was. Is the difference only the length of the clamp so a standard plate can slide into different positions?

[Peter De Smidt]

That's what it looks like to me. Shoot him an email, though, and see what he recommends.

[MrFujicaman]

I'd just be sure to use some Loctite green on the 3mm bolts so they can't come loose and drop the adapter and camera on the ground.

[h2oman]

Kirk,

Clean out your inbox - I need to send you a PM regarding the dry mount press I'm trying to get rid of!

Thanks,
Gregg Waterman

[Kirk Gittings]

I'd just be sure to use some Loctite green on the 3mm bolts so they can't come loose and drop the adapter and camera on the ground.

Good point. So I am hearing that many people use this clamp/plate for 4x5? It seems so small? I guess it is a well engineered idea (even in the knockoffs) that has a proven track record with 4x5 Arca's et al.

[Peter De Smidt]

If you're camera has a flat bottom, does your Phillips?, I'd get a plate that covers the length of the bottom of the camera and the longest clamp to fit that plate. It'll be plenty sturdy. With my Toyo AX, the mounting circle on the camera is only about 1" in diameter, and it's proud of the bottom of the camera, which is really stupid. Why wouldn't you use the whole bearing surface? As long as the Arca plate covers that whole surface, which even a small one does, that's as good as it gets with my Toyo, unless I were to custom make a plate. I've never seen the need to do that. So, even in this bad case scenario, the Arca system is strong enough that I've never noticed any kind of problem.

[bigdog]

Thanks for this info, Kirk. I love the 410. I don't even use LF, but it is perfect for the RB67! It gets used with my dslr (Sony a850) as is, and I made an "L" bracket for verticals. However, having a quick-change rig such as a ready made L bracket would make some shoots easier. We'll see. I'm retired and poor ... :rolleyes:

[Kirk Gittings]

If you're camera has a flat bottom, does your Phillips?, I'd get a plate that covers the length of the bottom of the camera and the longest clamp to fit that plate. It'll be plenty sturdy. With my Toyo AX, the mounting circle on the camera is only about 1" in diameter, and it's proud of the bottom of the camera, which is really stupid. Why wouldn't you use the whole bearing surface? As long as the Arca plate covers that whole surface, which even a small one does, that's as good as it gets with my Toyo, unless I were to custom make a plate. I've never seen the need to do that. So, even in this bad case scenario, the Arca system is strong enough that I've never noticed any kind of problem.

Yes it has a big flat bottom. Thanks for your thoughts on this.

[HeinrichVoelkel]

I use this http://www.adorama.com/gtmh658.html Put it on the plate which came with the head, saved me the heijnar adapter. Holds the Technika really well, the D800 with a Arca L, and the Sony as well. No wiggling or so, very strong connection and I can put the adapter exactly in the middle or better to say center of rotation of the head, as it is a little offset by nature.

[Kirk Gittings]

Heinrich, do you like that secondary lock?

[Peter De Smidt]

I use a clamp, maybe a Kirk?, on top of the Manfrotto plate, when I use the head with my dslr or Fuji rangefinders, as I have RRS plates on all of them. It works ok, but it's a bit of a kludge. If I needed do this a lot, I'd get the Hejnar.

[Kirk Gittings]

I'm thinking I'll use the Hejnar adapter plate. It's a simple, elegant solution that doesn't look like a hack job.

[vinny]

Flat bottom girls you make the rocking world go round.

[HeinrichVoelkel]

Heinrich, do you like that secondary lock? the secondary lock works quite well with bigger and heavier setups (my Linhof). It doesn't get in the way with the D800 either.
The heijnar solution looks slik, but you can't compensate for the offset in the center of rotation design mishap the manfrotto head has. I considered the Heijnar, but the other solution makes it more easy to rotate right above the middle of the tripod middle.

[Michael Mutmansky]

I may have an old Kirk extended plate that would be a little less than the length of the 4x5 bed. I used it on the 8x10 with two screws into the camera (Dick had two 3/8" threaded inserts in the bed of the larger cameras). On the 4x5, he may have a 1/4" and a 3/8"? I don't recall).

I can send that to you as nobody seemed to have any use for it when I posted it on the forum 5 years ago or so.


---Michael

[dave_whatever]

There is this method too:

http://www.daveparryphotography.co.uk/manfrotto-410-gearde-head-arca

Been using this setup for 3 years now, no regrets, still would be my preferred option if I was doing it again today. Its the cheapest option and mechanically the most solid. Plus you get to add some DIY hackjob chic to your setup. Chicks dig scars!

[Peter De Smidt]

If you do that, get a clamp where the bottom of the part of the clamp that moves doesn't reach all the way down to the bottom of the stationary part. That way you won't have to grind the head. Arca-style clamps are made both ways. Or you could always grind a little off the bottom of the moving part of the clamp, which is a much cheaper part than the head itself.

[dave_whatever]

The heads are soft aluminium though which is much easier to file away and doesn't require much precision, whereas the clamps always seem to be made from much harder metal.

[Rolfe Tessem]

I'm late to this thread, but allow me to add my voice to those praising the quality of the HejnarPHOTO adapter. Very well thought out and very well machined. Manfrotto should have made it this way in the first place...

Rolfe

[pine_cone]

Same here, have converted my 410 head to Arca plates using the HejnarPHOTO adapter (standard 3.25 clamp). No issues.

[Kirk Gittings]

Question. I have not had a problem because of this but as long as I am modifying the head..........one of the complaints about the 410 is the way the camera is offset and does not rotate around the tripod center axis. Could one cure this with a longer clamp or plate?

[dave_whatever]

You would need the clamp offset in two directions, i.e. Sideways and backwards a bit to center it over the tripod. However, unless you're using this head for some sort of pano stitching (in which case you're using the wrong type of head) then its not a problem. I did worry about it before buying one, but since then never given it a second thought.

[Kirk Gittings]

You would need the clamp offset in two directions, i.e. Sideways and backwards a bit to center it over the tripod. However, unless you're using this head for some sort of pano stitching (in which case you're using the wrong type of head) then its not a problem. I did worry about it before buying one, but since then never given it a second thought.

I think that is what this extended plate is supposed to do. http://www.hejnarphotostore.com/product-p/m410longf63.htm

[Kirk Gittings]

BTW I got a Markins L-plate with my A7r when I bought it. I assume there are no known compatibility issues with a Hejnar clamp as they are both Arca knockoffs?

[Michael Mutmansky]

Don't know on that one specifically Kirk, but I have experienced a few problems with non- A-S plates on an A-S design head in the past, normally it was a case of the plate being very slightly too small to be really tight when the head was tightened all the way down.

I actually made a mod to the Kirk head I have to help it clamp smaller, but even so, some plates are just a touch small. A piece of paper is really all that's needed to clamp those plates tight.

I have a Markins plate for my a7r and it is not a problem at all with the Kirk head I typically use it with.


---Michael

[Kirk Gittings]

Thanks Michael. I received this Hejinar adapter today with the extension plate. A simple elegant, bulletproof conversion that took all of about 10 minutes to install. My Markins plate works perfectly with this clamp. It does indeed center my cameras dead on in the head over the pan axis. Nice. By rotating the clamp and using a longer plate one could easily find the nodal point on DSLR lenses for panos if need be. A bit beefier and heavier than I expected but rather that than on the slight side.

137890

[Kirk Gittings]

FYI the DIY hack I linked to in post #2 would not center the camera. Only with some kind of extension like Hejnar can one get the center that far over. You wouldn't be able to just mount the clamp way over to the side as there is not enough support. May not be important to center the camera but if you are curious.....

[dave_whatever]

As I've said before, even that off-the-shelf solution won't centre the clamp exactly, because the native clamp on the head is off centre in two directions (slightly!) so simply hanging the clamp over the end of the original base won't actually centre the clamp, it'll get it in line with centre in one direction, but still off centre in the other if we're being picky. You can achieve the same basic effect of the off-the-shelf conversion in terms of being more centred anyway with a DIY hack by orienting the clamp at 90degrees to mine and just sliding the camera plate sideways a bit in the clamp, that can get your camera's centre of gravity close enough to the middle to make no difference anyway.

Not that the centring actually matters in real life use, in my experience.

[Kirk Gittings]

Not that the centring actually matters in real life use, in my experience.

[Eric Biggerstaff]

I am going to order this conversion, it looks great!

[Matt]

I don't know about the kit you mentioned. I replaced my manfrotto head with a acrateck leveling base added panorama panning base on top of that then several acra swiss type rails and now have the best tripod head I have ever used. All cheap Items from amazon.

[HeinrichVoelkel]

I don't know about the kit you mentioned. I replaced my manfrotto head with a acrateck leveling base added panorama panning base on top of that then several acra swiss type rails and now have the best tripod head I have ever used. All cheap Items from amazon.

good idea, will try this

[Kirk Gittings]

I don't know about the kit you mentioned. I replaced my manfrotto head with a acrateck leveling base added panorama panning base on top of that then several acra swiss type rails and now have the best tripod head I have ever used. All cheap Items from amazon.

Show us a picture. It sounds interesting. For me, I prefered geared movements and my tripods all do double duty with my DSLRs.

[Matt]

Show us a picture. It sounds interesting. For me, I prefered geared movements and my tripods all do double duty with my DSLRs.

This is what I came up with for my tripod head. These are all cheap parts from Amazon. I put this together to shoot stitched panoramic photos and found I could not only mount my canon 50D to it, but also my Crown Graphic and my Horseman HV. I removed the head of my manfrotto and mounted this with a Acratech leveling head. It's very stable and quick to setup.

Stand by for picture seems I am having problem uploading

[Matt]

I have to say also this can be used as panoramic head or gimbal head. I have seen heads similar to this on sale for upwards of 600$. This cost me less than 200$ plus 50$ for used Acratech leveler.