Camera plate needs to match camera or tripod?

janeenadamsmartin said:

janeenadamsmartin wrote:

I know I should be in Accessories, but I like this forum better.

My friend had lent me her nice Benro tripod with a B00 head on it -- but she lost the camera plate. Do I just buy a camera plate that matches the head, or does it somehow have to match my camera (FZ200) and the head?

I 've seen listings where for a particular tripod head, they need to know your camera model and I am not sure why that is?

jan

Click to expand...

Just the head

Sherm

Hi Ray! (and thanks Sherm)

This chart contributes to my confusion. There isn't just one camera plate that fits on the Benro B00 head -- there are many, and it seems they differ in length. What determines what length camera plate to buy -- is that dependent upon the brand of camera (in this case my FZ200)?

I visited my local camera store, which always just seems inches from bankruptcy based upon their stock -- and they told me that there is no such thing as an "ArcaSwiss" standard, (although I understood that the Benro camera plate was "arcaswiss standard" compatible,, so that is what I was looking for...). They said I would have to buy an ArcaSwiss camera plate, or bring in the camera and tripod and simply try theirs out. Arrgh... (Is there such a thing as an Arca Swiss plate? I thought they just made the ball head).

As you can tell, newbie to all this...

jan

Benro has a series of plates, but there's nothing about the plate which would seem relevant to an FZxxx camera. I suspect that they would like you to use a big plate for a big camera and a small plate for a small camera, but that seems like overkill to me.

If it were me, I'd get whatever's in stock which fits the ballhead.



Sherm

If smaller is what you want, the PU40 seems like it should do the job - 37 X 40mm and compatible with the B00.

Normally you match to both the tripod and camera. That is why most prefer to use an Arca compatible QR, so the only thing you then need worry about is the camera mount. Each camera I own uses a different camera plate but all fit on any of my tripods that use Arca QR heads.

I assume Benro is using a proprietary system, but you will still need to match the head to the camera you plan to use. A larger camera requires a larger plate generally.

kernow said:

kernow wrote:

I assume Benro is using a proprietary system, but you will still need to match the head to the camera you plan to use. A larger camera requires a larger plate generally.

Click to expand...

But to be clear, you don't strictly need to do that. There's absolutely no reason at all that you couldn't just use one plate for all your cameras. You have to remember that what professionals might "need" and what hobbyists can get by with (especially if all they have are compacts and superzooms) are often worlds apart.

cainn24 said:

cainn24 wrote:

cainn24 said:

kernow wrote:

I assume Benro is using a proprietary system, but you will still need to match the head to the camera you plan to use. A larger camera requires a larger plate generally.

Click to expand...

But to be clear, you don't strictly need to do that. There's absolutely no reason at all that you couldn't just use one plate for all your cameras. You have to remember that what professionals might "need" and what hobbyists can get by with (especially if all they have are compacts and superzooms) are often worlds apart.

Click to expand...

Well, if you want a plate that allows you to access the battery and card it helps to match it to the camera. I have a petite one for my ZS3 that wouldn't work well with my L1, and vice versa.. Generally you wouldn't use one plate for all your cameras because they are left on the camera even when not on a tripod. So the normal method is on QR on your tripod, or one on each tripod and one on each camera that you use on a tripod.

kernow said:

kernow wrote:

kernow said:

cainn24 wrote:

kernow said:

kernow wrote:

I assume Benro is using a proprietary system, but you will still need to match the head to the camera you plan to use. A larger camera requires a larger plate generally.

Click to expand...

But to be clear, you don't strictly need to do that. There's absolutely no reason at all that you couldn't just use one plate for all your cameras. You have to remember that what professionals might "need" and what hobbyists can get by with (especially if all they have are compacts and superzooms) are often worlds apart.

Click to expand...

Well, if you want a plate that allows you to access the battery and card it helps to match it to the camera. I have a petite one for my ZS3 that wouldn't work well with my L1, and vice versa.. Generally you wouldn't use one plate for all your cameras because they are left on the camera even when not on a tripod. So the normal method is on QR on your tripod, or one on each tripod and one on each camera that you use on a tripod.

Click to expand...

Sure. If you have those needs you have those needs. Many of us don't use tripods very often though so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to be treating the tripod/mount situation as if we do. I certainly wouldn't want to bulk any of my compacts up, even if it's just a little bit, by leaving a mount on that I was only going to use about 10% of the time, nor would I want to fork out extra money for extra mounts in the first place. Just one, occasionally and temporarily attached, suits my needs just fine.

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that this is ultimately more a matter of convenience than necessity, and is a somewhat situational affair.