Tripod Socket Help

[snapper]

Hi All,
I have just received an unexpected early birthday gift from the wife for my D90, a 50-500 Sigma Lens, unfortunatly the lens tripod socket will not fit my tripod.
My tripod has a removable clamp affair, but the shoe type fitting that remains will not accept the lens bracket foot.
Any suggestions.
Mike R.

[ricktas]

Umm. what brand of tripod? - model and head details. Without that we have no idea what you are talking about. However, generally what you need to do is unscrew the tripod plate from the bottom of your camera, screw that into the hole in the plate on the lens, then attach that to your tripod.

[snapper]

Thanks for responding, the tripod is a Slik $100.00 job.
I have done that, what i was getting at was that i thought there may have been a better tripod plate available that would suit the "L" bracket attached to the lens.
When the lens is attached to the tripod plate the "L" bracket foot hangs over each end of the of the flat surface of the tripod face.
I need a tripod plate that is as long as the "L" bracket foot thereby giving a longer better flat surface for the "L" bracket foot to sit on thereby making it more stable.
I realise i need to get a better tripod due to the light weight design of the one i have in comparison to the overall weight of the camera and lens.
Mike R.

[pgbphotographytas]

Thanks for responding, the tripod is a Slik $100.00 job.
I have done that, what i was getting at was that i thought there may have been a better tripod plate available that would suit the "L" bracket attached to the lens.
When the lens is attached to the tripod plate the "L" bracket foot hangs over each end of the of the flat surface of the tripod face.
I need a tripod plate that is as long as the "L" bracket foot thereby giving a longer better flat surface for the "L" bracket foot to sit on thereby making it more stable.
I realise i need to get a better tripod due to the light weight design of the one i have in comparison to the overall weight of the camera and lens.
Mike R.

I think I understand what you are saying, when I had my Sigma 120-400mm I had the same problem but it never really worried or concerned me too much.

[MarkChap]

So what's the problem ??

I am sure you camera overhangs the edges of the mounting plate as well ??

[snapper]

I have figured out i need a Wimberley lens plate and clamp, the lens plate will give me full contact between the foot on the lens bracket and the lens plate.
The foot on the lens bracket is 4" long and therefore over hangs the tripod head that i have at the moment by an 1" at either end.
Mike R

[MarkChap]

Mike, you don't NEED the Wimberly product, just attach the plate for the tripod to the foot of the lens and then connect to your tripod as normal.

The Wimberly clamp and plate are probably going to cost a lot more than your tripod did in the first place and will not give you any increase in performance.

[kiwi]

can you take a picture of the tripod head and plate and the lens foot please ?

The other consideration is that the tripod may not be rated for the weight of the lens too, worth checking

[peterb666]

I have a Slik tripod (Sprint Pro GM II) and the quick release pad is very small on the standard head (mine is a ball head and the Sprint Pro 3-Way use the same quick release plates too). I am guessing you probably have one of these two models as they sell for around the price you mentioned.

The only thing that matters is whether the lens/camera combo is stable enough when mounted.

Personally, I would think that the D90 and 50-500 Sigma Lens is too much of a load for the standard heads on those tripods. The lower section of the legs are not very rigid so don't extend them if loading up to that sort of weight. Also, those heads are only rated for 2kg and I think that is too generous. My Olympus Pen E-P1, OM mount adapter and OM 200mm lens would wobble like a jelly on springs until I got a bigger head for that outfit (total weight well under 1.5kg).

I don't consider the little Slik tripods robust enough for most work. I have been using Slik tripods for 30 years and still use my original Slik Goodmans S-205 as a backup tripod but it is has twist locks and is slow a pain to adjust (literally in cold weather).

After a frustrating Sunday with my faithful Slik of 30 years (and far more robust tripod), I bought a Manfrotto 190XDB and 391RC2 head today for just $169.00. Even after just a couple of hours play, that's one of the better investments I have made.

Anyway, if you want to stick with the Slick, go for a better head. I found the SH-707E to be a good compromise between size and weight and also good value at around $60. It would have no trouble with your current payload.

[pgbphotographytas]

I have figured out i need a Wimberley lens plate and clamp, the lens plate will give me full contact between the foot on the lens bracket and the lens plate.
The foot on the lens bracket is 4" long and therefore over hangs the tripod head that i have at the moment by an 1" at either end.
Mike R

I don't think you do. What weight is your tripod rated to?

[peterb666]

If it is the Slik Pro series, they are only rated for a balanced load of 2kg. The 3-way head version may cope with that but the SBH-100DQ ball head version has no hope of carrying that load even though it too is rated at 2kg as the ball dia is too small.

Note, I find the cork surface on the Slik quick release plates don't grip anywhere near as well as the rubber surface on the quick release plate of my Manfrotto head.