The new plate for the 7d has "bidirectional dovetail mount on bottom of plate. Now you can use both a handstrap and your neckstrap. Also, the bidirectional dovetail is very beneficial when shooting video."

I can see the benefit of the strap mod but have never had a need for a bidirectional dovetail on a camera plate. Looks like there is less contact area for the clamp. Am I missing something?

This seems to be what RRS offers when they can't be bothered to properly design a plate for a camera; they did the same thing with the L-bracket for the Olympus E-3.

The bi-directional dovetail offers no advantages that I can see, other than a little lighter weight, and a little less cost for the manufacturer.

molson wrote:
This seems to be what RRS offers when they can't be bothered to properly design a plate for a camera;



...or, in their defense, are not offered up a beta model by the manufacturer so that they can design one in time for the production release of the body. This was the case with the 5D2 - they were so back logged because Canon did not provide a body that they could use to create the mold.

In these economic times, many manufacturers are looking to cut costs where they can. But with RRS, I don't see them cutting back on the quality (and customer service) we have been accustomed to receiving.

Depends on how wide your clamp is as to the support question.

The need to rotate the bracket 90 degrees on the y axis is probably rare and may be beneficial to a video user but perhaps they should offer two versions and let users choose if they are going to push some innovation on us. Personally I would wait for some decent reviews to see if the benefit hype isn't just that. Your three options appear to be: try it, wait for Kirk, or email RRS and tell them how you feel and ask if they will also offer a traditional version.

I'm wondering how much difference there is between 30D-50D plates and the 7D. I'm not above taking a dremel to an older style to make it work. I sold my 30D and 5D long and ago along with the L plates, wish I kept the plates now.

My clamps vary from 1.5" on a monopod to 2.5" on a Bushawk and geared head.

Kirk doesn't show anything on their site, I emailed RRS but have not heard back.

Update from RRS
"All of our plates are the same size. They are an 1 ½ when closed. We went to this design because the 7D does HD video. We learned with the 5D Mark II that if we had a fore aft plate you could use this in a Video fluid head (fore aft orientation) I believe Joe is happy with the design, and will not be changing it. I hope this helps.

FYI, all of our plates in all of our clamps should have at least a 40lb no slip rating. I have found that to be plenty safe for my biggest lenses. "

i am currently using my 40d L plate on my 7d, with zero modifications, and it works fine, even with the remote plugged in. you cannot open and seal the different ports on the sides (like hdmi out, mic in, etc...) but if you are looking for a support until a proper 7d plate is released, the 40d model works just fine.

CarpeyBiggs wrote:
i am currently using my 40d L plate on my 7d, with zero modifications, and it works fine, even with the remote plugged in. you cannot open and seal the different ports on the sides (like hdmi out, mic in, etc...) but if you are looking for a support until a proper 7d plate is released, the 40d model works just fine.

Thanks, that will work for now.

CarlG wrote:

...or, in their defense, are not offered up a beta model by the manufacturer so that they can design one in time for the production release of the body. This was the case with the 5D2 - they were so back logged because Canon did not provide a body that they could use to create the mold.



Not having a camera body to design from has nothing to do with putting the chintzy little double-dovetail on the bottom of the plate.

I'm sure someone in Canada must make one for the 7d

Can anyone confirm if the 5DII L plate will fit the 7D?

I'm trying to think of any advantage to the bidirectional dovetail, if you're not using a video head. Maybe it would fit on a Wimberley when an opportunity to use a short lens comes up? My preorder still hasn't shipped, and I'm seriously considering cancelling it and waiting for the Kirk.

CarpeyBiggs wrote:
i am currently using my 40d L plate on my 7d, with zero modifications, and it works fine, even with the remote plugged in. you cannot open and seal the different ports on the sides (like hdmi out, mic in, etc...) but if you are looking for a support until a proper 7d plate is released, the 40d model works just fine.
+1
I am also using my 40D L plate,
Claude

WillWeb wrote:
I'm trying to think of any advantage to the bidirectional dovetail, if you're not using a video head. Maybe it would fit on a Wimberley when an opportunity to use a short lens comes up? My preorder still hasn't shipped, and I'm seriously considering cancelling it and waiting for the Kirk.

RRS indicated on one of my emails that they would pass my concerns to engineering. Maybe if they get enough complaints they will change their mind.

My biggest concern with the new dovetail is the camera will not be as stable if it is sat down, I can just see it taking a tumble.

I called RRS and expressed my concerns to Eric. He acted surprised that anyone wouldn't be delighted about the new design. He repeated the position noted above that the grip in the clamp is still plenty strong enough, which is probably true. He said that the new design is good for panoramas because you don't need a nodal slide. This may be true with a very short lens and/or a very long clamp; I don't know. I raised the stability issue; he pointed out that the common way for the body to tilt when set down is forward, and there's no change in that. Apparently they're looking at making this their new standard design. I've decided to let my order stand, but I'm not convinced this is an improvement.

The RRS B50D-L L bracket for the 50D fits the 7D just fine and allows access to the side ports without moving the plate.

I have a B40D-L from RRS I am looking to sell. Actually, a B40D conventional plate too. Both are in excellent condition. I can't speak to their appropriateness on a 7D though -- you'll need to do your due diligence there. I saw that someone said they worked on a 50D but leaping from there to the 7D... really no idea.

If you're interested, let me know via PM and I can take & uploads pictures.

EDIT: I see a few people are doing this in the thread (I replied too quickly), so maybe its not as crazy as I thought.

Lens Fu wrote:
I have a B40D-L from RRS I am looking to sell. Actually, a B40D conventional plate too. Both are in excellent condition. I can't speak to their appropriateness on a 7D though -- you'll need to do your due diligence there. I saw that someone said they worked on a 50D but leaping from there to the 7D... really no idea.

If you're interested, let me know via PM and I can take & uploads pictures.

EDIT: I see a few people are doing this in the thread (I replied too quickly), so maybe its not as crazy as I thought.


Maybe you should post this in the correct forum which would be the B&S forum not this forum

Ray Still

Jack M wrote:
I can see the benefit of the strap mod but have never had a need for a bidirectional dovetail on a camera plate. Looks like there is less contact area for the clamp. Am I missing something?


I've been wishing and asking for bidirectional mounts on L-plates for years. I even built my own out of bar stock and RSS dovetail plates, but abandoned it because it wasn't aligned accurately.

The fore-aft mount is EXACTLY what you want if you are a long lens user. When switching between collared lenses and non-collared lenses, you do NOT have to rotate the clamp on the tripod head. Simply move the clamp from lens collar mount to L-plate and change lenses, and vice-versa. It's almost as helpful as a third hand!

Note that the RSS plate has a bidirectional mount only in landscape mode. My next request is to put a bidirectional mount for portrait mode as well. This is a challenge due to the need for access to the ports on the side of the camera, but I hope that the folks at RSS can rise to the challenge.

WillWeb wrote:
I'm trying to think of any advantage to the bidirectional dovetail, if you're not using a video head. Maybe it would fit on a Wimberley when an opportunity to use a short lens comes up? My preorder still hasn't shipped, and I'm seriously considering cancelling it and waiting for the Kirk.

Will hit this nail on the head. Wimberley and other gimbal heads can be used for short non-collared lenses ONLY IF you have a fore-aft mount on the camera. I have a Manfrotto 3421 gimbal support modified with a Kirk QRC 4. If I have the L-plate on my camera, I need to carry the RSS MPR-CL in order to mount the camera in the gimbal mount. This helped me justify the purchase of a RSS Portrait Perfect Package since they include the MPR-CL.

Bidirectional mounts on the L-plate eliminate the need for the MPR-CL to mount your camera on a gimbal head -- it's simpler, less cumbersome, and less expensive.

Ray Still wrote:
Maybe you should post this in the correct forum which would be the B&S forum not this forum
Ray Still

Thanks for your help Ray. I was in the B&S forum and did a keyword search to find "WTB" and "RRS" and hit this post. I didn't realize that I ended up in a different area. Hope it didn't offend anyone!