Darin Boville
26-Jul-2010, 00:29
I'm looking for a great Acra-Swiss rail for the bottom of my Toyo 45AX (trying to build the perfect camera, you see...)
So far I have only been able to find ho-hum rails--but with all the choices now out there maybe there is a better solution.
I checked out the Really Right Stuff MPR-73 rail and I'm not sure its the best solution (though it is the one RRS recommended). It's quite short--covers only about half the available space on the Toyo for a flat rail. Of course the real problem is that the tripod collar, which is surrounded by a ring that sticks up a millimeter or three, is going to cause any rail to sit above most of the camera bottom.
Why is that an issue? Aside from the obvious regarding lack of surface contact there is the pain-in-the-butt issue only obvious to Toyo 45 users--the position of the tripod will then always have to be 1) directly between the rear extension locks which may make them hard to get to and, 2) if you use heavy lenses you have the tripod attached way at the back of the camera and the lens racked all the way out at the front of the camera, fifteen inches away--not the best!
What I need is a customized version for the Toyo :)
What to do? My thinking is I need a rail about 4 1/2 to 4 /3/4 inch long with a single 3/8 screw that can attached toward one side. It would run the entire length of the flat bottom of the Toyo. Since the ideal shape (machined to account for the circular tripod mount ring) is not available I'd need to customize it by bonding some sort of cork (?) to it. See photo with my professionally rendered engineering markers:
On the other hand, I know little of the RRS rivals and even less of the many Chinese knock-offs that are appearing. I haven't even considered the possibility of having an RRS rail machined to fit by someone else until as I'm writing this...
Thoughts? Anyone go down this road before? All I'm looking for is perfection :)
--Darin
So far I have only been able to find ho-hum rails--but with all the choices now out there maybe there is a better solution.
I checked out the Really Right Stuff MPR-73 rail and I'm not sure its the best solution (though it is the one RRS recommended). It's quite short--covers only about half the available space on the Toyo for a flat rail. Of course the real problem is that the tripod collar, which is surrounded by a ring that sticks up a millimeter or three, is going to cause any rail to sit above most of the camera bottom.
Why is that an issue? Aside from the obvious regarding lack of surface contact there is the pain-in-the-butt issue only obvious to Toyo 45 users--the position of the tripod will then always have to be 1) directly between the rear extension locks which may make them hard to get to and, 2) if you use heavy lenses you have the tripod attached way at the back of the camera and the lens racked all the way out at the front of the camera, fifteen inches away--not the best!
What I need is a customized version for the Toyo :)
What to do? My thinking is I need a rail about 4 1/2 to 4 /3/4 inch long with a single 3/8 screw that can attached toward one side. It would run the entire length of the flat bottom of the Toyo. Since the ideal shape (machined to account for the circular tripod mount ring) is not available I'd need to customize it by bonding some sort of cork (?) to it. See photo with my professionally rendered engineering markers:
On the other hand, I know little of the RRS rivals and even less of the many Chinese knock-offs that are appearing. I haven't even considered the possibility of having an RRS rail machined to fit by someone else until as I'm writing this...
Thoughts? Anyone go down this road before? All I'm looking for is perfection :)
--Darin