Tripod Plate Worth Getting

[Taylor Brush]

I know there had been some discussion about the tripod plates on here, but I just wanted to say that I bought the Sony U14 and it perfectly balances my camera on the tripod. It makes all of my camera moves more fluid and stabilizes it wonderfully. It was painfully obvious to me when I mounted the camera directly on the tripod that it would not work well without it. I have the Miller 20 tripod and it wouldn't counterbalance right without it. Now, it works perfectly. I just wanted to throw this out there for the people who might be thinking about buying the JVC or Sony plates, but were on the rails whether it was worth it. It is.

[Robert Castiglione]

I have been wondering about this for some time.

Do you mean the VCT-U14 Quick-Release Tripod Adapter?

Does it attach securely to the camera body so that there is no movement and also do you need to buy any other bits and pieces?

Thanks for your post.

Rob

[Corey Williams]

You can read through this post and get a lot of information about this setup.

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.ph...0+tripod+plate

I followed the directions of this thread and bought a vct14 off ebay for $90.
I then bought betacam parts that contained the v-wedge off ebay for $12. Basically, I got a tripod plate for about $125. Also, I i rolled a piece of foam into a 2 inch diameter and wrapped tape around it. I placed this at the back of the plate in the space where the camera hangs over the plate. Without being able to latch onto the back of the plate is was only being supported by the front of the camera. I did this to give it more stability. I'll post pics is anyone is interested.

[Alex Humphrey]

I balanced mine out with an extra manfroto tripod mount/plate that I had laying around on my shelf. It works fine.

I would prefer the tripod plate though since it probably locks in better and won't slide forward out and fall on the ground.... I bet there is a good way to secure the tail end of the camera to the plate to help cut down on the wiggeles while around 80mm.

[Jim Andrada]

I have it and I like it. It latches very securely and it mounts to the camera firmly. With an AB battery on the back plus a firestore on top it doesn't rock around at all. No complaints.

[Taylor Brush]

Alex has the right idea, but it is still not completely balanced. From you pictures, you are putting the weight of this camera on this thin plate hanging well away from the center of the tripod, which could cause it to move quite a lot.

I have used cameras with tripod plates all my career, but never fully realized, I guess, what it was doing. When you shoulder mount the camera, you are balancing it in the middle, so that the weight of the lens and the weight of the AB battery are matched. Putting the camera on the front plate does not give it enough stability to balance this weight and it makes the weight uneven. When you use the plate, you are moving the weight from the uneven front plate to the middle. The shoulder pad of the camera, the actual balanced middle with a battery attached, is now directly above the head of the tripod, which is where there is the most stability.

Also when you shoulder it, you are giving it two points of stability: your shoulder and your hand on the lens. One does not do it for this camera because of the weight and the length, so the tripod plate adapter gives it that two point stability and spreads the weight out evenly.

As far as parts needed, my camera came with the plate triangle, so I didn't have to buy that. I just bought the "Sony VCT-U14 Quick-Release Tripod Adapter" off B&H for about $200. If you don't have that triangle, you can do as Corey did and try to find some spare parts like the triangle. I tried to order the plate off eBay, but I found that there are a lot of mislabeled plates selling as the JVC. I ended up getting a completely wrong plate. Although I got a refund, it was a hastle...

[Dennis Robinson]

Originally Posted by Robert Castiglione

I have been wondering about this for some time.

Do you mean the VCT-U14 Quick-Release Tripod Adapter?

Does it attach securely to the camera body so that there is no movement and also do you need to buy any other bits and pieces?

Thanks for your post.

Rob

Hi Rob,
The tripod quick release plate has got to be the best $360 i have spent. God knows what people would do without one. It is as rock solid as it gets.
Regards,
Dennis Robinson

[Robert Castiglione]

Thanks Dennis.

I just bought one.

Rob

[Dennis Robinson]

Originally Posted by Robert Castiglione

Thanks Dennis.

I just bought one.

Rob

Hi Rob,
I just shot you an email.

[Claude Mangold]

I have a Vocas rail support with integrated v-shoe (pix 0297) which screws on neatly in place of the standard jvc v-shoe which came with the camera (pix 0299). I just use an old sony U14 plate bolted on a heavy manfrotto tripod plate (pix 0300) which slides in the head until the correct balance is found (depends on what's on the cam: HD100, mini35, battery or no, etc.)

Vocas rail support is really useful and quick, so is Vocas mattebox. Vocas followfocus sucks.

[Marc Colemont]

I use a Leo BeBob plate.
This way I can connect external monitors, my zoom remote on the tripod without ever to need to disconnect anything when taking the camera from the tripod. Works very well for Live events when you need to run and shoot sholder mounted and on tripod without loosing time.
And with the counter part on the camera, when you place the camera on the floor, it gives a good angle shooting without the need to place something underneath your camera.

[Robert Castiglione]

Hi Claude,

Concerning the Vocas rail support, it is of interest to me because of the integrated V mount.

What model number is if for the JVC?

Many thanks

Rob

[Adam Letch]

though I ran into a operator in Perth City, shooting a 251 with a 2/3inch lens, and mattebox, he was using the rails off a Sony Betacam bought second hand and turned upside down. Only wish I could remember which model it was, because this was my baine with the Chrosziel 450 mattebox for the HD100, can't use the Vmounts, and I also ordered the JVC Vmount tripod plate which is basically useless unless I don't use my mattebox, which for outdoor events at least is just not going to happen.
What's with Chrosziel anyway, there website has basically not been up for a year now, for such an expensive product, I remember at one point seeing a new baseplate for the Chrosziels so you could use Vmounts, but that was a year ago as well.

[Claude Mangold]

Rob, Adam,
From the Vocas user manual, I gather it's basplate 7a, item nr. 0350-0001. But before ordering, double-check with them. They respond quite quickly to emails.

I got this in an exchange from my vendor , Visuals in Geneva, after finding out that the baseplate "required" by vocas for this cam series (I believe it was model 7f) is totally useless: not stable, screws impossible to reach, no v-shoe etc.

When I look at it carefully, it appears that the two rear screwholes were not factory drilled. So this may have been specifically adapted for the GY -HD series by Visuals. I have detected no parts number on the plate itself.

The plate is super-useful because the mattebox, followfocus and rails can just be snapped on in one unit. When I use this camera myself, it's mostly for experimental films and location scouting, so I'm happy to have something that's ready quickly, even if the followfocus sucks a bit. But my DPs also like the mattbox with those integrated eyebrows, and it fits no prob on cine primes with the mini 35.

Vocas represents the best and the worst.

[Robert Castiglione]

Life is so tiring sometimes. The amount of research required to get exactly the right bits and pieces for something as inherently unexciting as a matter box seems quite disproportionate.

Sadly, my slackness in this regards means that I have a number of useless bits of this and that product around my studio.

Rob