I also use lever clamps on my BH-55 and my monopod. I started out with the screw clamp on my monopod but because of a bad wrist, I found that at times I couldn't loosen the knob after I had tightened it down. I also decided I could not make a fast change with the screw knob. I have never had ANY troubles with the lever clamps and love how easy they are to use. I feel they are very secure.
i have an older lever clamp without the bubble level set aside for when i get a monopod. loosening a screw clamp to remove or adjust what's attached isn't always fast, as i find out everytime i use my Wimberley head. i have to do it every time i add or remove something, like an converter or a flash unit, to keep the system balanced.
If you have a rail with the safety catch on it, this isn't that big of a concern. Even if the clamp comes lose, you'd have to completely flip it 180 degrees for the lens to come all the way off. I doubt that is going to happen. The lever is also curved and tucked in nicely so that it doesn't catch on thins very easily. I just spent about 28 hours with a 400 2.8 II attached to a Gitzo pod with this RRS clamp and it was solid. The only problem I had, which scared me pretty good, was that somehow a 1DM2N came loose while I was shouldering the lens on its strap... It just fell off into my hand while I was talking to someone. I was standing on concrete at the time and if I hadn't caught it, I would have had one seriously whacked 1DM2N.
I use the lever clamp on my tripod (it is excellent) but I use the knob on my monopod.
I shoot sports (soccer) with my monopod so I'm moving around a lot. I'm nervous about snagging the lever and having it open and the camera fall out while I am moving. The knob, in this regard, is much more secure.
The other issue is that the lever release clamps mostly have the spirit level in them. If you drop the monopod on a hard surface (which I do with great regularity), then the spirit level can break per RRS. In point of fact, they are the ones that suggested the knob for the monopod and the lever for the tripod. Given that they are selling me a cheaper clamp as a result, I think they are giving me good advice - and have found it to be so in practice.
I guess I have to ask this — are you guys putting stuff on and off the monopod frequently enough that the convenience of the lever clamp outweighs even the slight theoretical risk that it could get knocked loose? If so, then fine. But if you're using your monopod the way I use mine, then I just don't see it.
The RRS B2-40 LR does not have a spirit level (it is the lever clamp on the BH-40 ballhead). This is the clamp I use on my monopod. Once you get the camera/lens in the clamp, you can see it is almost impossible for anything to hook the lever. I was worried about this at first but I have not had any troubles.
My monopod use is primarily for sports. Like Nill, I don't often switch out gear once mounted on the monopod. Typically, my 300 is mounted. I may switch to a 70-200. So, the convenience of the lever clamp is not a particular necessity.
I find using the screw clamp more convenient when I use a collared lens. The lever on the lever clamp hits the body of my 1D2 when its fully opened and the lens plate is positioned forward in the clamp. This is not a problem with the screw clamp.
Nill Toulme wrote:
I guess I have to ask this — are you guys putting stuff on and off the monopod frequently enough that the convenience of the lever clamp outweighs even the slight theoretical risk that it could get knocked loose? If so, then fine. But if you're using your monopod the way I use mine, then I just don't see it.
Nill
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www.toulme.net
I agree, for me its not worth the extra money that the lever clamps cost for a monopod that I don't change once I have a lens attached. For an L bracket on a camera and a tripod then its definitely worth the price of the lever clamp for the quick change between landscape and portrait.
Don't a lot of the RRS lens plates have another threaded socket on the bottom so that you can screw a monopod into the bottom without removing the plate? That's my plan of action anyways. I can see the need for the quick release plates on my tripod where I want to be able to lock everything down and have it stay in one place. But on my monopod, which is a continually moving platform I don't really mind the 30 seconds (max) of screwing it into the plate at the beginning and removing it at the end. I really only use my monopod to support the weight of large lenses and I don't think I've ever used not attached to a lens collar.
Well, I like to pop the camera/lens off the monopod and let it hang around my neck during the quarter/half breaks. Gives me a chance to sit down and not have to really hang on to the gear.
I just like 'em, I'm used to the lever clamp, every time I have to screw down the clamp on the full wimberley head, I'm glad all my other gear is lever clamped.
Heh... if I hung my camera/lens around my neck I'd need help getting back up out of my chair. If I need to lay it down, I lay it down.
As for screwing the pod directly into the plate... that I *would* find a nuisance and a potential for either dropping something or knocking somebody in the head. A good QR clamp of some kind is definitely worth the money, particularly if you've already coughed up for the lens plate. Besides which, repeatedly unscrewing and screwing it in hard enough to keep it from rotating loose in action just doesn't seem like a very good idea to me. I like to reduce the potential points of failure, and that seems likely to increase them.
i glue my clamps on with Loctite Thread Locker Blue. they aren't going anywhere unless i am willing to work at it. i thought about using Red, but decided that at least some of the time, i upgrade clamps and need to be able to remove them without damaging the clamp.
it is regretful but blue locktite can be removed without much effort. with a 300/2.8 and a 1D2 it can easily come loose with a bump due to the combined swing weight. blue comes undone with hand effort and not a great deal either.
Here's Something to think about, on the P.O.T.N. Birds: Great Blue Heron from today. Don't know how to link sorry he's just done what we have been talking about caught the lever and released the camera but luck caught the strap on the way down
Graham
all my clamps are AS style, which means flanges so that they can't twist. the Loctite is to hold the screw from coming loose because of vibration. i'll use Red or epoxy for my monopod.
yes. the underside of the clamp has flanges that stick out and mate to the matching set on the head. no twisting possible even with a somewhat loose screw. the entire head might move, but not the clamp alone. some of my heads are glued to their tripods and some aren't. the lightest tripods have permanently attached heads. the 1325 has a locking lever to hold the head down because i have a Gitzo 1321 leveling base attached. if i get a 1548 like i plan to, it will get one of those too. i glue my other clamps to their supports so that they don't come loose without work. my beanbag with threaded tripod screw has an older lever clamp glued in place. for a monopod where a 300/2.8 or 400/2.8 is going to be the main lens, i plan to epoxy the clamp. yes, i have a lot of clamps.
I'm still missing something. My tripod heads have integral A-S type clamps. I don't understand what a flange would mate to.
On my Gitzo 1588 monopod (with platform removed), the secondary set screw on my Wimberley clamp serves to prevent co-rotation — maybe better than Loctite, maybe not.
HerbChong wrote:
all my clamps are AS style, which means flanges so that they can't twist. the Loctite is to hold the screw from coming loose because of vibration. i'll use Red or epoxy for my monopod.
Herb...
i don't locktite the plates to the camera. the design as you remind us is flanged and will not twist off from the camera itself. i can show you plates original RRS plates from 15 years ago that have never needed LT and so an unnecessary step in applying to the camera/plate interface itself. but to each their own. it is not an advisable way to do it too as some base plates and or threaded areas on the camera bodies are plastic and do not react well with LT. as to the clamp red is the only way and what i was referring to.
we is referring to the plates not the clamp itself. a common mistake i have made many times in nomenclature.
as to the AS style and not twisting. original Arca Swiss plates were and are to this day as flat as pancakes. some have through stop pegs for larger format cameras. it was RRS that first put the anti twist flanges per camera body design over 15 years ago. that is when the they became relevent in the SLR world for their custom fit and the system evolved from there.
