Hi Greg,
I have heard that you can get a bit more extension by resversing the function carriers. I am not sure this will give you enough room to focus your 300mm nikon at infinity, however.
-Nick
Hi Greg,
I have heard that you can get a bit more extension by resversing the function carriers. I am not sure this will give you enough room to focus your 300mm nikon at infinity, however.
-Nick
I'm having a hard time believing that Arca Swiss would put a plate on a new camera of their own that is narrower that the standard plates that we all use and that they created to be the standard! I have A-S type plates on 7 or 8 cameras and lenses and the same with numerous tripods. Don't we all? Kirk, RSS, Acratech, and others run businesses and keep us all happy by conforming to the established standard. This report is unbelieveable.
The problem is that the original design and implementation of the AS style plate system assumed a clamp that, driven by a screw, could handle some variation in widths of the plates. The key was the thickness and angle of the sides of the plate were standardized.
With RRS developing a lever driven clamp, the tolerance is now smaller.
I don't know for a fact that AS plates and the rail clamp of AS monorail cameras ARE exactly the same width.
AS now has a new quick release lever clamp, but as with most AS equipment, getting any information about it is next to impossible. Why the hell this company (who's products I own and love) can't hire a high school kid to build even a rudimentary web site is absolutely beyond belief. At least with RRS you have a manufacturer concerned with marketing a product to US consumers, and a product that supports a wide range of camera manufacturers.
If AS bases aren't consistent in width, then I would be more willing to standardize on RRS plates for now.
If any of this bothers anybody, just get a standard screw driven clamp available from all of the manufacturers.
Congratulations Greg for your new F-line-field with the 140 mm rear standard. I assume that you have the same leather bellows as the misura's. 5.5 lbs makes 2.5 kg. To be compared to the F-classic in 171 mm : 3.4 kg. The classic field 110/171 is probably lighter. So the relative weight reduction is 26% w/respect to the 171 "square" product line.
My understanding about the Flip-Lock quick release clamp is that there is a setting screw that you can adjust to best fit the third-party plate you are using.
I myself use the classical 'slow' clamp which is immune against variations of actual plate width, within a large tolerance. But I'm also using an original Arca Swiss plate ; the well-known belt+suspenders approach ;-);-)
Before I lose my "funk" over Arca-Swiss, I will post another suggestion, one that I made to AS back in the summer of 2000.
With the new AS 4x5 field, they should ship a folding rail that folds UP like the Misura rail. Given the height of the rear standard, the rear half of the rail could be nearly 19cm in length and could rest in the folded position on the rear standard protecting the ground glass. This folded configuration would allow the rail clamp to be left on the rail for quicker work in the field (a la Misura). The total unfolded length would be nearly 39cm allowing use of most of the new bellows and, most importantly for most shooters, would allow 300mm non-telephotos to be used without either rail or bellows changes in the field.
Of course, they could also add a clip to the 6x9 binocular viewer so that the ground glass frame couldn't fall out when removed from the rear standard.
I sometimes think there is a genetic link between the folks that design Arca products and the ones that design menus for Canon's digital cameras. Very bright folks that don't use their own cameras.
And since there is no evidence AS read their emails, you can't even make such suggestions in any formal way. Maybe they will read this thread. If they do, it would also be nice to have mounting plates to put digital SLRs onto AS rear standards. Sinar and Cambo understand this need.
Emanuel:
As usual, thanks for the info. It appears that the only way to know what Arca-Swiss is producing is to live in Besancon. Although I would be happy with that solution, it's a bit impractical for all of us to move there.
Can you PLEASE try to convey to the Vogts that the rest of us live in virtual ignorance of what is going on. If I lived in Phoenix, I could get more information from Rod Klukas at Photomark. But I can't (and it would'nt be fair to him) to call him daily to see what is new. I am headed to Phoenix to find out more later this month.
A simple web site with crude pictures would be a godsend. Even an email newsletter would be great. Hell, I would love spam from Arca-Swiss.
Simply put, I have money to spend that I am reluctant to invest in AS equipment. I am sure that AS very poor dissemination of information in the states is losing them other sales as well. Even with current exchange rates, we, in debtor nations, would buy more if we knew what was going on.
Maybe the folks here could post a few pix of their new 140mm babies, as I am curious too.
Martin Vogt once wrote me that they weren't willing to do a website unless it was to their very high standards, although I fail to understand how one would measure what a high standard website really is until they get into the game with at least a mediocre one. Then again, they were more than happy to attempt to piggyback off their vendor's websites - and ones like this one - in order to pinch a few pennies. Considering the exchange rate - I have a daughter going to school in Europe ($10 coffees) - they should be able to get quite a deal.
"perfection is the enemy of good."
Congratulations Greg for your new F-line-field with the 140 mm rear standard. I assume that you have the same leather bellows as the misura's. 5.5 lbs makes 2.5 kg. To be compared to the F-classic in 171 mm : 3.4 kg. The classic field 110/171 is probably lighter. So the relative weight reduction is 26% w/respect to the 171 "square" product line.
Emanuel,
I just posted the weight of my F-Line Field (110/171) in the ACTUAL Camera Weights thread. Here's the details:
4x5 ARCA-SWISS F-Line Field = Folding Optical Bench 30cm, Format Frame F-Line 6x9 front - 110mm, Format Frame F-Line 4x5 rear - 171mm, Bellows 6x9-4x5 conical 24cm leather, Extension Bracket 8.5cm (old style - side clamping) - Advertised weight = 3200g (7 lb.) Actual weight = 2840g (6 lb. 4 oz)
So, the new model with the 140mm rear frame is about ¾ lb. lighter - plus you get a longer bellows, and I believe, a longer rail. Could someone in the know, please post the exact configuration of the new camera?
Thanks,
Kerry
Martin Vogt once wrote me that they weren't willing to do a website unless it was to their very high standards
Frank,
I was told the exact same thing by Diane Henry when I was working on an article on ARCA-SWISS Cameras Past and Present earlier this year. When doing my research for that article, Martin Vogt was generous beyond belief. He sent me scans of several old ARCA-SWISS catalogs and product brocures, and even some original engineering drawings from the 1940s. He supplied everything I asked, and much more. The article ended up being 6 pages long, but with the material supplied by Martin, I could have easily written 10 times as much. The archives at ARCA-SWISS must be a real treasure trove of information. Martin Vogt and the folks at ARCA-SWISS obviously are quite proud of the history of their company and have kept detailed records going all the way back to the founding of the company nearly 60 years ago. They have tons of information to construct an extremely informative web site - and since a lot of it was scanned to send to me, it's already in digitized form. They have also been able to provide hires digital images of their current products whenever I've asked. With all this info in digital form, they already have more than enough content for a great web site. They just need to get someone to whip it together in a functional web site. It would benefit both the company and their customers.
Kerry
I'll try to get a web page up with picutres in the next day or 2.
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