20Feb Cheapest metal quick release plate on the market, but there’s a catch
I was catching up on the Frugal Film Maker blog and came across Scott’s post about the $12 Sima QR plate. I knew I’d picked up an all metal QR plate for less then that in the past so I started going through my old buy it now e-mails from ebay. Sure enough I found this , total price $8.49.
I bought 3 of these as a simple quick release for my field recorders, but when they showed up I found one glaring problem. If you look closely in the center of the base (right), you’ll notice that there aren’t any threads in the mounting hole.
The only way to mount this guy is to use a tapered head 1/4 20 screw, but there’s another problem. If you look on the far right you’ll notice that the screw that connects the release arm sticks out above the rest of the mounting area. You end up needing at least a 1/4 inch of clearance in order to mount this properly. In this case I printed out a spacer (on the left) to solve the problem.
You could probably use washers to get the clearance you need. Or you might not need them at all if the can be mounted on the edge of the rig. The adapter is very solid and the price is right, but make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into with this quick release plate. The other option might be to drill a hole and use a tap to add threads to the bottom of the QR plate, but you’ll still need a spacer.
The generic Manfrotto 323 quick release plate can be found on Ebay for between , and Amazon for $10.63 here. If you try it out and come up with a better way to mount this let me know.
February 20th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Love your idea for the spacer, I may have to give this a try. Currently I am using a very similar quick release made by Calumet. Its priced at $22 and comes with a little leveler. Mine popped out though and is no where to be found.
http://www.calumetphoto.com/eng/product/calumet_quick_release_assembly_with_plate/ck7010
It too does not sit flush but it does come with threaded so you can mount it on whatever you want. Right now my quick release is mounted on a glide came with 3-4 washers, giving it clearance.
February 20th, 2012 at 2:59 pm
My preference has always been for the Manfrotto RC2 or equivalent over the Sima because they are metal vs. plastic.
I’ve used aluminum bar stock to shim for clearance of the lever screw. It should be noted, though, that if plain round washers are used, there is precious little area to keep the quick release from spinning relative to what it is mounted on. It’s better to space with something that’s larger than the base (excluding the screw head) to provide maximum area of contact. Even better, a thin sheet of something rubbery but with a little give allows the bottom of the quick release to dig in which keeps it from spinning.
Alternatively, if one can measure carefully, a hole sized for the screw head can be drilled at the proper distance from the mounting screw. This is the better way, since there is no possibility of spinning relative to the spacer, so all that remains is locking down the spacer.
February 20th, 2012 at 3:40 pm
You’re absolutely right David. I was actually thinking about designing a spacer plate for this that has a form fitting pattern that would lock into the bottom of the mount and still give you the need space. This would address both issues I think.
February 21st, 2012 at 2:20 pm
The Sima Quickonnects will always drop to around $8. You just gotta be patient.
February 21st, 2012 at 3:52 pm
These 323 plates might be worth the hassle for an all metal qr plate, and they’re only 50 cents more then the original sima price.
March 7th, 2012 at 6:26 pm
I just bought one of these and found the exact same problem. Just today I fixed it by boring out the hole to 7/16″, tapping it, and installing a thread insert with a 1/4″x20 inner thread to fix the problem. Unfortunately that thread insert cost me $5 at the hardware store, increasing the price overall to beyond the Sima quick connect.
However, I did get my money back. I filed a strongly worded complaint with the “USA seller” located in China and they refunded the cost, so in the end I got a working quick connect for $5. They also misrepresented a similar auction for the mounting plate only, making it look like it was the full quick mount, so that caused me to unintentionally buy an extra mounting plate. Not that big a deal, though, since I can have one on my Handycam and one on my Canon. Still, if I buy another quick connect I’m going with the Sima.
March 7th, 2012 at 6:57 pm
They are cheap and made of metal, but it sounds like some of the sellers are shifty. Still $5 works out to a pretty good deal, even with the hassle.
March 12th, 2014 at 5:53 pm
I hope someone can answer my question here.
I’m looking to find a solution for having to change my quick release plate (the part that connects to the camera) since my slider, tripod, and steadicam have different sizes/types so I will only have one part that is hooked to the camera and I can just take it off of my tripod and mount it to my steadicam and so on without having to change (unscrew one and screw the other one the camera again) each time I want to use my equipment.
Any advice on what to do?
I’m up for buying anything that is less less than $50 or so. Any help is much appreciated.
March 13th, 2014 at 9:41 am
I use 501PL plates on everything, you can buy generic version of these like the MH621 for $25 to $30 a peace. The nice thing about these units is that you have a little room to side your camera forward and backward which sometimes makes steadicam balancing easier.