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Swarovski old style foot conversion to Arca Suisse (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter markstenton
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- swarovski
What head are you using? A suitable Arca-Swiss compatible QR plate will cost a small fraction of that and might even allow better static balance if the scope foot is not directly under the centre of gravity. Correctly fitted with a 3/8"x16 screw you should have no worries of anything working loose.
John
John
markstenton
Well-known member
Still shopping John!
There seem to be mixed views on here about QR plates so keeping an open mind
Anyone who has problems with them is doing something wrong
.markstenton
Well-known member
Fair enough! 😊Anyone who has problems with them is doing something wrong
Some scope feet used to fit directly into Manfrotto heads without the intermediate use of a QR plate. The tendency is now to make scope feet Arca-Swiss compatible.
This however does not always obviate the need for a QR plate. See Swaarovski ATX 85, 95 & 115 with feet all in the same position. At least two of these are going to be poorly balanced and need excessive tilt friction to hold them in the horizontal. A counterbalance is of course also a desirable feature and will prevent the scope tipping into the tripod.
John
Greetings. My information, straight from Swarovski USA as of February 2022, that this is a service that is not offered at that time. Of course, this information is a year old and a lot could have happened — but at an assumed cost of $230 I would not seriously consider it for a superb 2016 ATS80 scope. Regards.
John is misleading you. A 3x8" screw on it's own will not suffice without some other means of preventing rotation. A single screw could conceivably work if the threading and materials involved were different. There's a reason you see all the posts here complaining about plates.
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Hermann
Well-known member
Correct. You've also got to make sure you don't have any softish and/or slippery rubber coating on the plates. And you have to tighten it properly.
I think many people are complaining because they don't think things through before they attach some kind of plate to their scope's foot. User error, in other words.
Hermann
AFAIK the only current scopes where you can't use an anti-rotation pin are the new Swarovski ATC/STCs. I didn't suggest doing without.
You're flogging a dead horse here, Bill. See post #5.
John
Post 5 is more misinformation. There's no special knowledge needed to attach a plate to a scope and you should not be implying that there is to those seeking advice.
For those wondering what John means buy “doing something wrong” in Post 5, here’s his instructions how to do it “right”, from a recent thread that I regretfully let die:
“The answer is to junk the adapter (the ¼ to 3/8 bushing - BA) and use a QR plate with a 3/8" screw. Even the suboptimal Manfrotto RC plates with their rubber mating surfaces were available with 3/8" screws and this applies to most Arca-Swiss compatible plates.
Moderate torque (for the thread size) with a coin slot, or even better with a 4mm Allen key can generate a high compressive load between the metal surfaces of plate and scope foot that nothing will come undone. There is then no shear load on screw or anti-rotation pin. The friction between the two surfaces is akin to that between a car wheel and hub, which carries the load and transmits braking torque. Loctite is completely unnecessary.
In almost 20 years of scope use with Diascope 65, ATM65 and Kowa 883 with Manfrotto RC and later Arca-Swiss compatible plates from Novoflex and Berlebach I have always used 3/8" connections and never had a plate work loose.”
That’s it. That’s John’s solution. Use a 3/8” screw and tighten it. Really tight. Amazing. Why didn’t anyone think of this before?
Unfortunately I’ve seen many done quite a few times over the years with little success and worse, damaged scopes. Even with the availability of plates fitted with a 3/8” screws and anti-rotation pins, there has been sufficient feedback on poor plate mounting issues that Swarovski, Vortex, Meopta, and now Kowa, have designs that, at least in part, address the issue. They didn’t look down their nose at customers and insult them by saying “you’re doing it wrong”.
One reason I’ve stated repeatedly that plates suck is due to undersized pins and or poorly located ones that don’t match the scope foot. I have yet to see an anti-rotation pin that fully prevents any rotation and I've seen or purchased way more plates than I care to. John fails to address this issue even though he knows it is one as evidenced by the custom one Berlabach install in a plate they customized at his request. Yet somehow his suggestion for others is merely "Use a 3/8" screw and tighten it really tight." I must admit that if I had a plate customized by the manufacturer to my specifications, I would imagine the odds are good that that plate doesn’t suck.
Now, to cut down on responses from any ankle biters that feel a need to cite exceptions - do all plates suck? No, just most of them. The Swarovski plate for their PTH head works well for ATX/STX scopes, although it will allow a minor amount of rotation. Also, scope/plate fitting generally works better for shorter 50-65mm scopes since the scope length results in less incidental contact and reduces the torque applied to the mounting screw. I use a plate to mount a 60mm Opticron MM4 to a 128RC and it works ok. I’d rather not use the plate, but it’s required. Finally, although a no plate solution is still preferable in my book, the new Kowa 88/99 series has 2 threaded holes for plate mounting. Any plates that fit your head and will take 2 screws than can be used to secure it to the scope should be good. I was able to do this while trying out a couple of 99As and it worked great. This Kowa design is probably the best overall solution for scope mounting.
There John, there’s your dead horse.
Now beat it.
Precisely, but there are so many misunderstandings on this and other threads that it's worth clarifying.
1) Use a QR plate that is sufficiently long to place the centre of gravity of the scope above the tilt axis.
2) The plate should have an anti-rotation pin, preferably of the correct diameter to match the scope foot. These are usually 4,5 mm but also come as 4 mm and 5 mm.
3) Avoid plates with compliant (rubber or cork) surfaces.
4) Use a screw corresponding to the thread in the scope foot, i.e. no 1/4"x20 to 3/8"x16 thread adapters!
5) Apply sufficient torque.
Btw, the custom Berlebach plate was made up to compensate for three shortcomings of my Swarovski ATM65. The scope foot is too far forward resulting in pronounced tail-heaviness. The foot is drilled for a 5 mm AR pin. The blind 3/8" thread in the scope is so shallow that a screw goes on block before any clamping force is applied. That is rather poor engineering pratice on Swarovski's part.
Scope manufacturers have up to now paid little attention to the mounting requirements of their customers and most of us are condemned to use sub-optimal camera solutions.
Your mantra that plates "suck" is like a dog barking at the moon.
John
My little Nikon ED50 does not have any provision for an anti rotation screw, a bother as that model scope has had issues when trying to really tighten a QR plate to it. A plate with an anti rotation lip solved the problem. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BLX82NR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1)
I like that simple solution. Thanks for posting.
Hi all.
Found this on Berlebachs website, looks interesting
www.berlebach.de
Found this on Berlebachs website, looks interesting
Flexpin D5,0 from Berlebach ® Tripods
Berlebach Flexpin D5,0: Der Flexpin D5,0 x 5 ermöglicht Ihnen eine flexible verdrehsichere Positionierung der Wechselplatte an Ihrem Equipm [...]
