During a 1 week backpacking trip I discovered that my Nikon Z 100-400 wobbles horribly on the tripod foot. Turns out that the foot grips a metal insert on the collar that is held in place by 4 flimsy metal screws that had come loose. Those require a jewelry Phillips head to tighten. Needless to say I did not have that with me, so I had to deal with a wobbly tripod foot. Not sure what problem Nikon was solving with this design.
Nikon designs points of breakage into their products so that when there is impact, the damage happens at these points and is less likely to affect the critical and more expensive/difficult to fix areas such as the main barrel or optics.
The tripod foot is intended to be used to support the lens on a tripod or monopod, it is not a carrying handle or strap lug.
GroovyGeek wrote:
During a 1 week backpacking trip I discovered that my Nikon Z 100-400 wobbles horribly on the tripod foot. Turns out that the foot grips a metal insert on the collar that is held in place by 4 flimsy metal screws that had come loose. Those require a jewelry Phillips head to tighten. Needless to say I did not have that with me, so I had to deal with a wobbly tripod foot. Not sure what problem Nikon was solving with this design.
I think GroovyGeek an important lesson was learned. These screws do not get loose overnight and was there play on it for some time already. The longer you wait with tightening those screws the more permanent damage can happen. You can apply a little Loctite 222 on the screws as these will remain in place. Use a toothpick to apply the Loctite to the screws as you not want to spill too much of that stuff.
It looks like a manufacturing choice not a purposeful weak link. The way the plate is captured the screws are not going to break in a drop/fall situation.
It should not have come loose the way it did for the OP. It likely wasn’t tightened properly from the start or is missing the usual locking compounds Nikon uses.
I wonder if I should include a small JIS screwdriver in my travel kit as insurance.
