A while back my patience was rewarded with the arrival of an 8x10 Intrepid camera. Although the ground glass was destroyed in shipment (hopefully Intrepid will add the proper padding to protect the GG in future shipments), I forged ahead with a GG replacement. My next "issue" was the fact that my 3/8" screw on the base plate of the camera was not threaded properly to accept the 3/8" Arca Swiss base plate more than two thread rotations. Not acceptable.
Further objective analysis of the situation concluded that the base plate for these 8x10 cameras was woefully too thin leaving my camera susceptible to camera rotation upon film holder insertion.
My solution was to replace the camera base plate with a nearly double thickness aluminum base plate and a machinist friend of mine took my Area Swiss base plate and added two 3/8" threaded screws to take the potential rotation of the camera upon film holder insertion completely out of the equation. Did not add much or any weight to the camera and it vastly improves the functionality of the camera. Base plate thickness is critical IMHO to accept the base plate screw and this provide an adequate platform from which to use the camera and the augmentation of the thicker base plate I feel will make a dramatic improvement in the use of this camera. The attached photos show the new base plate with the two new 3/8" threaded screws on an existing Arca Swiss base plate. I am sure that other companies that make base plates can easily also be modified to accomplish an identical objective. Onward!
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