S5ii bad position for tripod socket

[Oíche]

I already thought this but I just received a new Benro VX25 ball head, the Arca plate comes with it is nicely made with quality imbedded rubber strips, but the socket is so off centred to the front of the camera that one of the strips makes no contact and it's metal against the front edge of the camera which is not good.

Out of all the good ergonomics they did this, I may try and glue a bit of something onto the plate like thin cork or similar.

I'm sure some of you seen this.

 

[Quentinquirelino]

I have had that issue with every Panasonic camera so far. For that reason, I use the bottom plate of a L-bracked, whish is ARCA compatible.

 

[CharlesH]

I already thought this but I just received a new Benro VX25 ball head, the Arca plate comes with it is nicely made with quality imbedded rubber strips, but the socket is so off centred to the front of the camera that one of the strips makes no contact and it's metal against the front edge of the camera which is not good.

A little off topic, but I still use Monfrotto quick release plates on all my cameras, and have never bought into the ACRA craze. These work fine with Panasonic. What is the advantage of ACRA?

 

[Nevyn72]

I use a cage, so I never had this problem. But I do use the S5iiX mostly for video

 

[Oíche]

A little off topic, but I still use Monfrotto quick release plates on all my cameras, and have never bought into the ACRA craze. These work fine with Panasonic. What is the advantage of ACRA?

'Arca' Swiss compatible... The joke is I bought this as my other 2 tripods have Arca clamps and this one is narrower and not compatible.

And this was after researching it, still got splatted

 

[Oíche]

The tripod head is excellent quality, the problem is the camera socket position, it looks like I'll have to cut a slot into the Arca platevto get a more central position and properly fix the plate to the camera.

How badly designed is this...

• Xiaomi - M2012K11AG
• 4.7 mm
• ƒ/1.79
• 1/17 sec
• Center-Weighted Average
• Auto exposure
• ISO 1681

 

[CharlesH]

This is not making sense to me. Any drawing or image of an ARCA quick release plate I can find looks like it should attach to the camera without a problem, centered over the lens. What am I missing?

 

[Oíche]

Like I said in my first entry... One of the rubber grip strips completely misses the camera and it'd metal against the body, it can't grip, not secure and will damage the camera...

• Xiaomi - M2012K11AG
• 4.7 mm
• ƒ/1.79
• 1/20 sec
• Center-Weighted Average
• Auto exposure
• ISO 1616

• Xiaomi - M2012K11AG
• 4.7 mm
• ƒ/1.79
• 1/10 sec
• Center-Weighted Average
• Auto exposure
• ISO 3208

• Xiaomi - M2012K11AG
• 4.7 mm
• ƒ/1.79
• 1/33 sec
• Center-Weighted Average
• Auto exposure
• ISO 1514

 

[CharlesH]

The quick release plate is normally aligned 90 degrees to what you are showing. In your first picture rotate it 90 degrees so the plate extends out over the lens, and reaches back to the monitor.

 

[Oíche]

The quick release plate is normally aligned 90 degrees to what you are showing. In your first picture rotate it 90 degrees so the plate extends out over the lens, and reaches back to the monitor.

I did that yes but it obscures the bubble level under the body, it's not the most solid either because of the rubber grips pitching it forward (because of the socket position) there is less contact area, it could wobble in wind ever so slightly taking off the sharpness. The ball head and tripod are rock solid and this is the weak bit of little contact.

This compared to my massive Arca Swiss monoball with no quick release where if you screw it directly on to the camera is is superior, but impractical without the quick release. Mounting the plate is the weak point mainly because of that extreme off-set to the front of the camera body, it needs a more rigid connection otherwise what's the point of the rest of it to obtain best sharpness possible.

I might try and get thin cork sheet which can deform and provide a more rigid connection.

You may think I'm obsessively OTT but I often do long focal length with long exposures so I'm wanting it correct. The smaller (than my monoball) Benro ball-head is good enough, it's just the mating of quick release Arca plate and camera body.

 

[pdk42]

I'd suggest you get an L-bracket with an Arca-Swiss-compatible design, or perhaps a tripod with a smaller tripod mounting bracket. For example, here is the Peak Design Capture plate on my S5ii:

• Apple - iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro back triple camera 4.25mm f/1.8
• 4.3 mm
• ƒ/1.8
• 1/60 sec
• Pattern
• Auto exposure
• ISO 160

And here is an L-plate on eBay:

Vertical Quick Release Plate L Bracket for Panasonic LUMIX S5 II Camera DJI RS3 | eBay

Upgraded vertical plate is also designed for DJI RS 2/RSC 2 /RS 3 /RS 3 pro /RS 3 Mini gimbal stabilizer. The vertical plate has 3pcs 1/4-20" threaded holes to attach other accessories, such as microphone, led light, monitor and etc.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[pdk42]

But I agree that the tripod mounting bush is too far forward. Here it is on the S1 - a much better position:

• Apple - iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro back triple camera 4.25mm f/1.8
• 4.3 mm
• ƒ/1.8
• 1/60 sec
• Pattern
• Auto exposure
• ISO 200

 

[CharlesH]

The tripod is centered over the sensor. My Sony cameras have this same configuration. When you pan the camera you are rotating around the sensor.

I never have a stiffness issue with Monfrotto quick release plates. I'm amazed there could be a problem with ARCA plates.

The L Bracket could be a good solution for photography. The SmallRig cage has a similar implementation for video but for landscape mode only.

 

[Oíche]

I'd suggest you get an L-bracket with an Arca-Swiss-compatible design, or perhaps a tripod with a smaller tripod mounting bracket.

Thanks Paul, I have other tripods with smaller square plates but they're largely similar regarding possible wobbliness.

I had a good look at that L-adapter which could possibly be better, I wouldn't use that particular one in portrait orientation though as there are 2x bolted/screwed joints which don't look good enough. This then sent me down the path of looking at the Smallrig cage which is better quality and fixed in 3 positions but that is OTT and I'm not going there as that is a thing you'd leave on permanently if you're more of a videographer with all the external gear on it.

I'll come up with a solution, maybe try and use cork on the Benro plate first, the rubber with the socket position creates the wobbliness. I don't want to mightily screw it on harder with the allen wrench in fear of pulling the socket out and it's something I need to attach and takd of regularly with the thumb screw. Although screwing cameras directly on to the big monoball would have been a decent amount of force and no damage ever occured before.

I was going to sell this big thing but for rigidity it was hard to beat, originally the idea was to damp out vibration from the mirror-up operation on film cameras without mirror-up. I do still think I could use it and I kind of love it being an anti-vibration obsessive

• Xiaomi - M2012K11AG
• 4.7 mm
• ƒ/1.79
• 1/20 sec
• Center-Weighted Average
• Auto exposure
• ISO 1846

The hard plastic washer has big contact and zero wobbliness unlike the raided dotted rubber pads.

 

[Oíche]

The tripod is centered over the sensor. My Sony cameras have this same configuration. When you pan the camera you are rotating around the sensor.

If they did it with the idea of having zero parallex error for the purpise of stitching panos that only works if it is perfectly level and vertical over the axis of the ball.

Considering most of the plates have adjustable slots to purposely move it off centre it isn't really practical and I don't like where it is, it pulls the camera forward as you fasten it creating less contact as I was saying before. Maybe the same plastic shim material as on the big monoball would work better and it would protect the camera body (lightbulb moment )

 

[Quentinquirelino]

I'd suggest you get an L-bracket with an Arca-Swiss-compatible design, or perhaps a tripod with a smaller tripod mounting bracket. For example, here is the Peak Design Capture plate on my S5ii:

View attachment 3164

And here is an L-plate on eBay:

View attachment 3165

Vertical Quick Release Plate L Bracket for Panasonic LUMIX S5 II Camera DJI RS3 | eBay

Upgraded vertical plate is also designed for DJI RS 2/RSC 2 /RS 3 /RS 3 pro /RS 3 Mini gimbal stabilizer. The vertical plate has 3pcs 1/4-20" threaded holes to attach other accessories, such as microphone, led light, monitor and etc.

www.ebay.co.uk

I use such a L-bracked and that's what it looks like from the bottom:

• Google - Pixel 7 Pro
• Pixel 7 Pro back camera 1.95mm f/2.2
• 2.0 mm
• ƒ/2.2
• 1/24 sec
• Center-Weighted Average
• Auto exposure
• ISO 539

As you can see, there is an additional screw hole, but the bottom plate ta ARCA compatible. So you don't need a additional plate, if you're TripIt head has ARCA.

 

[Oíche]

This thread has been useful, I didn't know cages were arca swiss compatible, now I know about 1/2 cages too, a bit like L-brackets. Then all this led me to ordering my first ever Smallrig, not a cage nor the purpose of this thread...

 

[CharlesH]

If they did it with the idea of having zero parallex error for the purpise of stitching panos that only works if it is perfectly level and vertical over the axis of the ball.

No, it is for video.