Ebay style flat lock

[hjumper33 0]

Anyone know something to search for to find a relatively cheap top mount aka flat lock style 2 piece? I know I have seen many generic style mounts that are much cheaper than a cookie or goldmemeber.

[mrwrong 0]

I learned my lesson when I bought a cheap ass camera box instead of going for the more expensive quality version from Cookie.

Buy quality, cry once.

“The sum of intelligence on the planet is a constant; the population is growing.” - George Bernard Shaw
He who dies with the most toys, wins.....
dudeist skydiver # 19515
Buy quality and cry once!

[DSE 5]

I haven't ever seen one cheaper than a Goldmember, Schumaker, or a Cookie flat lock.
But I won't trust my gear to those, either.
Manfrotto makes a double lock system that I use.

[skysurfcam 0]

I'm yet to see or hear of any of the three letting go and causing someone to lose their gear.

I've tried a number of others, and would by a Cookie today if I needed another.

My Manfrottos may double lock, but the bases don't sit flush. Cookie's do.

YMMV.

C.

Brother Wayward's rule of the day...
"Never ever ever go skydiving without going parachuting immediately afterwards."
100% PURE ADRENALENS

[Laszloimage 0]

I use Arca Swiss and Really Right Stuff style. They're not cheap but good...
-Laszlo-

[DSE 5]

Yes, the Cookie, Bonehead, and Shumacher sit flat. They also only have one point of latch, and all of them have play in them, and the play only gets worse. If they had a compression latch, I'd accept one. Doesn't matter to me if the Bogen sits up a .37" vs the .25, because my camera is still higher than the plate, no matter what is used. The only way that you can truly avoid any space between cam and helmet plate is to hard-mount the cam to the helmet plate with no QR. Until someone makes a recessed QR in the helmet itself, IMO it doesn't matter a whole lot. I'd rather have the double lock and zero movement in the camera than a slightly thinner drop-in/slide in with only one point of connection.
Another deciding factor in my case is that I have several Bogen plates in various sizes, and can go from an HC3 to a Z1 in seconds (Have actually only needed to do this twice, but it's fun to justify).

[skysurfcam 0]

I'm yet to see a cookie quick connect with play. That's why I like them over the others. I have a Bonehead helmet worked over by Schumacher, but I don't use either of their quick connect systems.

You're a special case as to your access to camera's, most camera jumpers have a choice of "take the XXXX or not" as opposed to "what should I bolt on there"

Do you have a cookie with play in it, or are you assuming? Do you know anyone with one where the plate has play in the base?

Bogen etc may work for you, but my stroboframes are getting swapped out, due to excess play.

Any actual data to stop me from giving Cookie my hard earned?

C.

Brother Wayward's rule of the day...
"Never ever ever go skydiving without going parachuting immediately afterwards."
100% PURE ADRENALENS

[DSE 5]

I don't have a Cookie, but two of the other vidiots on our DZ do. It's the best of the low-profile mounts, that much I'll give you. One of them is quite tight, the other has small amount of play. Without compression, I don't see how anything can be made completely solid, and eventually, compression loosens too.
The stroboframes become loose after a while no matter what, I think. I've seen one where the owner painted a rubber solution on the bevel to keep it from moving.

[skysurfcam 0]

"One of them is quite tight, the other has small amount of play."

Which way is the play? Up and down , side to side, or vertical?

The curved metal inside flush curved metal design of the cookie has always struck me as pretty damn clever, as has the moving of the compression agent (the o-ring spring) to being not "is the catch in", but "how far is the catch in?"

I'm genuinely curious not combative, I'm happy to learn. I think Cookie would be interested too.

C.

Brother Wayward's rule of the day...
"Never ever ever go skydiving without going parachuting immediately afterwards."
100% PURE ADRENALENS

[The111 1]

Craig, you'll be happy with your carbon fiber keyhole mounts on your CCM when it's finished.

Not QUITE as fast as the quick releases on the market, but more low profile and lighter, and cooler IMO.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[skysurfcam 0]

They're a little way off (hmm, 12 months should do it?)... but I gotta say, the CD didn't include instructions for those, just prices for top plates when I get that far
The only disappointing thing about the whole investment!

Fortunately I now know ya phone number

Thanx for your help so far,

C

Brother Wayward's rule of the day...
"Never ever ever go skydiving without going parachuting immediately afterwards."
100% PURE ADRENALENS

[The111 1]

Yeh, that disappointed me too, fortunately I had one of his old plates from a friend to look at, so I reverse engineered it. I can help when you need it.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[Dokeman 0]

I have used a couple of these and they work great.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-STROBOFRAME-AUTO-QUICK-RELEASE-BASE-PLATE-300-QRC_W0QQitemZ300159487767QQihZ020QQcategoryZ64354QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[diablopilot 2]

I think it's time for me to start marketing my "No play, vibration free, flush and sexy mounting system."


It's truely revelutionary.


Wonder where I should set the price point.......

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[DSE 5]

Quote

I have used a couple of these and they work great.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-STROBOFRAME-AUTO-QUICK-RELEASE-BASE-PLATE-300-QRC_W0QQitemZ300159487767QQihZ020QQcategoryZ64354QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The Stroboframes work great, for a while. The lil' red plastic pieces wear, and eventually break, or start to allow for slop.
That said, I wish I could find a couple plates-only for these. They're hard to find without the QR. They're good for a lot of other things, too.

[quade 4]

Quote

The Stroboframes work great, for a while. The lil' red plastic pieces wear, and eventually break, or start to allow for slop.

Of course, your milage may vary . . .

I've exclusively used Stroboframes and have never had one break nor had any issue at all with them. I've only owned 3; 2 on the camera helmet and another on a tripod and never had to replace any parts. In my personal experience, they're solid as a rock. Of course, even rocks can get broken by a sledge hammer.

Quote

That said, I wish I could find a couple plates-only for these.

Calumet sells them, looks like they're in stock too! It's where I've always bought mine as there is an actual brick and mortar Calumet about 3 miles from my home.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[DSE 5]

It may be we've overloaded the Stroboframes; The Z1 with a wide lens is a heavy setup.
Either way, thanks for the Calument pointer! Only 20.00 from them. I wish we had a camera supplier/store out in this area that was worth a damn.

[hjumper33 0]

Stroboframe was exactly what I was looking for. Someone had told me the name before, and it had totally slipped my mind. Nice link for the plate only too, im going to be switching out a couple of cameras and was looking for another plate.

[PharmerPhil 0]

I've used Stroboframes for several years now, and never had a problem. (I even bought a couple of used ones from B&H). I know I got additional plates from B&H as well. I'll bet they still carry them. Instead of noticing play in them I have noticed they seem to stick after a while, making them hard too release. But they are still managable.

My home DZ uses film for tandems, so I am constantly swapping out my film and digital SLRs. I like the Strobos because they are relatively low profile, and have a very small footprint.

Just my too sense...

[stratostar 5]

I have to second what Quade and Phil have said, I own 3 and have used only them for 5 years now the same ones and I do notice that they stick, I say it has a lot to do with the mounting screws and how tight they are, if I really tighten them down it is not only hard to open, but hard to close, sorta, as well. If I back off the tightness some they get easier.

I have never had any shake or sloppy movement on my cameras with a strobo, however I have had a latch get hit and open enough to allow a 10d to go into freefall. That had more to do with poor layout design then bad QR.

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

[DSE 5]

We've got a few Stroboframes (two whose mounts have walked off somewhere), and have only one that went sloppy, it's the most heavily used, but after it slopped for a while, one of the red holding tabs broke off. Granted, I'm putting a reasonably heavy cam on it, but it's supposed to be rated for 12lbs. A Sony Z1 with a wide is heavy, but less than 12 lbs.
Based on your experiences, seems maybe I let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch.

[stratostar 5]

Quote

Based on your experiences, seems maybe I let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch.

Well that could be, or I just got lucky and got 3 good one's. I removed my video and still an equal amount. I have heard others talk about the same problems as you have.

When I talked about the mounting screws I use, I use the big one and both of the small ones, or at least one of them to keep the plate from moving (anti twist) And this use of the small mounting holes can pull the plate "flat" if you will, the tighter I make those the harder it is to open or close. A good tight close, makes a good tight hold on the cam plate.

With that said, your experiance may vary. I do like Terry's and cookie style plates, but till the strobos fail or get broken I can't see spending more cash to fix something that's not broken.

The manfroto I have on my tripod for a rotator is also nice and locks very good, as you know from using them in your line of work, I assume.

For me the lighter the better for the whole set up # 1, ease of use #2, function and style #3.

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo