Imagemaster wrote:
It is garbage compared to the collar on the EF 100-400.
That may be your subjective opinion, however, I disagree
I've owned the EF100-400 1 and II over the years and I much prefer the new one on the 100-500.
I don't find it less sturdy at all and when removed, there is no indentation on the lens, leaving a cleaner appearance. Given I use the lens hand-held most of the time, I like that. But when I do use a tripod, I've had zero issues with sturdiness on this, or my RF70-200 2.8 which has a similar, slimmer, collar.
I find that even with the knob loosened fully, there is still some effort required to pull the collar apart - mine doesn't just open, it needs two hands to unclip it. This, to me, helps a lot.
If I want to rotate the camera within the collar, I am holding the body with one hand whilst loosening the knurled knob and then tightening again when done. It tightens solid and, as I wrote above, it isn't like the knob when completely loosened just allows the collar to flip open, it needs to be pulled open.
So I fail to see how the way I use it would result in the accident the OP experienced given my collar appears to be working as designed. A fully working RF collar is robust enough.
Mike_5D wrote:
The only advantage of the 100-500 setup is that the collar can be removed completely while the lens is mounted. The 100-400 II leaves the collar on the lens. The EF 100-400 v1 and the EF 70-200 require dismounting the lens to remove the collar. So I can see what they were trying to achieve, but it's not that important compared to the security offered by the older designs.
Usually correct. In my case....
The issue that lead to this unusual looking 100-400 II made me no fan of the 100-400 II collar. IMG_5779 by Choderboy, on Flickr
I have had a bad run with Canon Collars.
I bought EF 200 2.8L II and 400 5.6L new and a used 70-200 f4 IS L II.
They share the same collar (although the 200 2.8 is black).
Only the 200 2.8 collar worked properly. The other two did not tighten. ie, the lens could still rotate with the collar knob tightened. I even bought a 2nd used ring (claimed to be unused and looked it) but it too allowed the lenses to rotate.
So 3 out of 4 did not work properly.
My 100-400 II had a relatively common problem affecting the early lenses, the 4 x 2mm screws in the foot were not tightened properly at the factory. It was too late to be able to prove once they came loose the first time, but I think the loosened screws damaged the threads in the foot so they would not hold when tightened. I think it was too late for loctite. It's now metal epoxied.
After studying the pics of the iShoot tripod ring on Amazon, I concluded the construction details were near identical to the Canon. The only differences were color and the iShoot coming with a demountable Arca-Swiss plate, making its height slightly less than the Canon if an Arca plate is installed.
The latching knob mechanism is the key to problems people are having and iShoot, from the photos, appears identical to the Canon design. So, my conclusion is the iShoot might not be much, if any, of an improvement over Canon in lessening the chance of an accidental parting of tripod ring from an expensive and hard to replace lens.
It does appear to be a valid option for replacing a lost or damaged Canon ring as cost is much lower than Canon.
One other point of interest about the iShoot is its Arca plate is quite short. Failed to make note of the actual length, but it is short enough finding a balance point with some bodies on a gimbal head might be difficult. I am using a 4 inch Wimberley plate on mine and use all of it. The 4 inch plate also makes a nice enough handle. The iShoot plate is demountable, which does make attaching something longer possible, perhaps with a bit of amateur machining.
The Ishoot is basically a copy of the Canon with a small A-S foot attached.
The A-S part is about 2 3/8" long on the bottom. It could use an extra inch. Usually I use the dedicated Kirk plate on the Canon collar.
juststeve wrote:
The latching knob mechanism is the key to problems people are having and iShoot, from the photos, appears identical to the Canon design.
mdees88 wrote:
Talked to the master technician at the store I bought the lens from today. It's the first time he's played with this tripod collar. He said he does not like the design compared to previous ones but he also said he thinks my collar is not working like it should. Going to ship it off to Canon tomorrow. Fingers crossed...
Can you give us an update on the response from Canon?
They said there was nothing wrong with the tripod collar design, though they never inspected my specific collar like I asked, but I'm sending it back to them because my lens still pops out of it just like in the video I posted. I think the threads are damaged. Extremely disappointed they did not look at the collar when they had it.
They fixed the lens for free since it was 5 days old and charged me to have the camera repaired...
There is a ridge on the lens that matches up to a groove in the collar. If your collar isn’t positioned properly with that ridge/groove you do have to loosen it quite a bit to the point that the spring loaded pin has insufficient threads engaged and it will easily pop out as you get it loose enough to rotate.
Was the ridge/groove aligned?
That would explain why the lens/collar wiggled like it did.
I agree it’s not the best design…but there several items in the new R family of lens/bodies…..this, alignment of caps is a PIA that wasn’t an issue with EF, hot shoe caps easily popping off on R5’s….i am sure there might be others….
Herb wrote:
There is a ridge on the lens that matches up to a groove in the collar. If your collar isn’t positioned properly with that ridge/groove you do have to loosen it quite a bit to the point that the spring loaded pin has insufficient threads engaged and it will easily pop out as you get it loose enough to rotate.
Was the ridge/groove aligned?
That would explain why the lens/collar wiggled like it did.
I agree it’s not the best design…but there several items in the new R family of lens/bodies…..this, alignment of caps is a PIA that wasn’t an issue with EF, hot shoe caps easily popping off on R5’s….i am sure there might be others…....Show more →
No that was not the problem, but I do know what you are saying, as i have had it not align in the groove before. My collar is completely unusable, it has to be defective. With the cap loosened up enough for rotation, the camera pops out.... every time, it's not a one off thing. If I completely loosen the cap, I can flick it with my finger and it will pop open.
