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Thread: Long arca plate for Chamonix 4x5?

  1. #1

    Long arca plate for Chamonix 4x5?

    Is anyone using one of those 6" or so long arca style plates on a Chamonix? Does anyone make these rails with both a 3/8 and a 1/4 screw? I can only find ones with two 1/4-20 screws but the Chamonix has two sockets for different style screws.

    Thanks,
    Anupam

  2. #2

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    Re: Long arca plate for Chamonix 4x5?

    You can buy a 3/8 to 1/4 reducing bushing from RRS or Wimberly. Here are some Wimberly plates and their bushing.

    http://www.tripodhead.com/products/lens-plates-main.cfm

  3. #3
    3d Visual Effects artist
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    Re: Long arca plate for Chamonix 4x5?

    I've used a Kirk plate meant for a 400mm lens tripod colar
    Daniel Buck - 3d VFX artist
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  4. #4

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    Re: Long arca plate for Chamonix 4x5?

    Both Novoflex and Giottos supply long Arca compatible plates with both screws.

  5. #5
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: Long arca plate for Chamonix 4x5?

    Another option is to use a plate with a lip on it, such as a number of the Really Right Stuff plates. The bottom of a Chamonix is such that in most cases the lip can be squared up to the base the female threads are in. Once the quick release is screwed in, there's no way for the camera to spin on the plate. This is more elegant, imo, than using two screws. Both will work fine, though.

  6. #6

    Re: Long arca plate for Chamonix 4x5?

    Peter, I have lipped plates, but I am interested in the longer rails for use as an improvised focusing rail for macro shots.

  7. #7
    wfwhitaker
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    Re: Long arca plate for Chamonix 4x5?

    I use a 6" "multi-purpose rail" from Really Right Stuff with my Chamonix 6 1/2 x 8 1/2. The camera has both 1/4" and 3/8" mounting holes as yours does, so I'm using two 1/4" screws with an adapter bushing on the one to fit the 3/8" hole. The rail allows me to balance the camera fore and aft much as the tripod mounting blocks do on the old cameras like Agfa's and 2D's. But it would be useful for macro, too, as you suggest. They also offer a shorter one at 113mm which may be more suitable for the 4x5.

  8. #8
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: Long arca plate for Chamonix 4x5?

    Ah, ok.

    Btw., it's not that hard to fabricate an Arca style plate. You can use a table saw to cut the 45* angles in either a hardwood or aluminum.

    I've machined Arca style grooves on one side of a 2x2" piece of white oak which I use with my D200 as slide to place the entrance pupil of the lens over the pivot point of the head to use for panoramic shots. The wood is plenty strong for what I do. For a bigger camera, I'd either make the clamped section out of regular aluminum bar, or to get fancy get some Fortal air craft aluminum on the auction site. It cheap, light and very strong. Any carbide tipped tool will work it. For $30 you can make as many plates as you'd like.

  9. #9

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    Re: Long arca plate for Chamonix 4x5?

    There are or at least used to be some no-name manufacturers of the plates on eBay, and the ghetto solution is to buy a 12- or 18-inch length and chop off whatever length you need, drill a hole, and stick in a Hex head bolt lathered in Locktite.

    How about we split the the $150 you just saved? ;-)

  10. #10

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    Re: Long arca plate for Chamonix 4x5?

    Kirk makes a 4" square Arca style plate that I used for many years. It doesn't have multiple screws, at least the one I owned didn't, but it does give you 4" of room to move the camera forward and backward. I thought it provided a more solid platform than the skinny ones sold by RRS but I don't know if it really did, it just looked like it would. It sold for about $100 when I bought mine.
    Brian Ellis
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    a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

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