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View Full Version : Quick Release Plate for a Horseman View



jbog
31-Mar-2011, 21:05
What is your recommendation for using a quick release plate on my Horseman view camera with a Bogen or Majestic tripod.

I'd like to use the Bogen/Manfrotto hex quick release plate. I use it on my mediam format & 35mm cameras. It would be nice to have all the cameras using the same system. Is the hex plate system strong enough to use the Horseman on it?

Thanks, Jim

Ivan J. Eberle
31-Mar-2011, 21:45
Depends on your Manfrotto head and which hex plates that you use. There were some very substantial hex plates made over the years specifically to fit LF cameras.

There's also quite a variety of better and lesser Manfrotto hex plates in circulation. If buying older used ones (pre-1990?), note that some are slightly too small for the newer QR bases. The cheap plastic gripper molded insert ones also do a poor job of damping vibrations, I've found, and have less metal in them than the cork-faced ones.

Too, while I have heard a first-hand account of a cast Manfrotto hex plates cracking and breaking with large telephoto lenses (where the whole array tends to be carried over the shoulder), I frequently carried a heavy tele over the shoulder using the Manfrotto QR system for many years with only one incident, but not due to hex plate breakage. The earler Manfrotto head I used for a time had no safety catch, and my 300mm f/2.8 lens and 35mm camera dropped about 5 feet onto a rock. Luckily both survived; shortly after that experience I bought the Super Heavy Duty Ballhead which is certainly strong enough for LF, and has a terrific spring-loaded, pin-cocking release lever, with a safety catch.

One other bit of advice, for LF or cameras with heavy lenses, it's suggested that you use a 3/8" X 16 pitch screw and not 1/4" x 20.