Arca Swiss style plates and clamp cross reference (last updated 2010-03-04)

All claim to be Arca Swiss compatible, but looking at them in detail, one can see that this is not always true.

The dovetail plates have slight width, height and slant variations that can lead to incompatible combinations.

In addition, some vendors have lever clamps that work only over a smaller width/height range then their knob based clamps. This table covers only knob based clamps unless otherwise noted.

General dovetail shapes are used by other vendors as well, but with measures pronouncedly more different so that I do not want to put them in the table as they are not even meant to be Arca compatible.

If you have any first hand experience as to which clamps work with which plates, please e-mail me at afx@afximages.com so that I can update the table.




Clamps:

Acratech

Arca Swiss

Benro

Burzynski/
Graf

Feisol

FLM

Foba

Giottos

Graf

Hama
(Pro Plate)

Kirk

Markins

Novoflex

RRS

Wimberley

Plates:

Safety catch

Pin


Lever pin

Lever

Lever pin

Lever


Pin




Pin

Pin



Acratech

Pin groove

works

works




too small

works




works



works

works

Arca Swiss


works

works





works


works

works






Benro

Pin groove



works






works



Works (pin does not catch)

QR-1 works in Q-Mount

works


Burzynski



works


works





works

works

works

works mostly (one reports of a plate which is too small)

works

works

works

Feisol

Ping groove





works








works in Castel-Q



FLM

locking groove for FLM/Graf




FLM plates work in Graf clamp. Safety catch works, but plate is off center.


works


plate too narrow



plate too narrow

plate too narrow

works in Q-Mount, not Q-base

plate too narrow


Foba








works





works




Giottos









Works sliding in




works

Not in Castel-Q


works

Graf

locking groove for FLM/Graf


Too narrow


works


plate too narrow



works







Kirk

Stopper screws

works

works

works after removal of safety pin


works

plate too high


works sliding in, but not in all Giotto clamps (sample variance)


works

works

works

L-Bracket not always in Castel-Q

Q-Mount, Q-Base work

works

works

Markins

Pin groove



works after removal of safety pin


works

too small

works

works



works

works

works also in Q-Base and Castel-Q

works

Some plates slip through
(too narrow / thin)

Novoflex



works

works after removal of safety pin

works


works


works sliding in

works

works

works

works

works

works

works

RRS

Stopper screw

works

works




plate too high

works

works after removal of safety pin


works

works

works

Works, Not always in Castel-Q

works

works

Wimberley

Stopper screws

works

works






works sliding in


works


works

works

works

works



The measures below can be used as an indication whether a plate might fit into a clamp.
What is not shown there is the height of the lower edge and the angle (usually 45°).

The measures have been taken by helpful readers. Although provided at one decimal place after the point,
they might not be as accurate as this indicates, not everybody is a guru with a sliding ruler
(the measures I received on one and the same clamp vary by 0.5mm) and the clamps are not easy to measure accurately when open.
Still it should give you good indication.



Vendor

Web site

Plate
Styles

Plate Width
lower / upper edge
height
(mm)

Clamp opening
top
bottom
height (mm)

Comments

Acratech

http://acratech.net/

CC, P, PR, GAT



The stopper pin of the plates might be annoying in non Acratech plates that have a hollow bottom.

Arca Swiss

No Website

P


33.4 – 37.6 / 34.1 – 38.6
39.2 – 43.4 / 39.5 – 44.0
4.5

The classic, check vendors for contact. Clamp measures are from the 60mm and 84mm versions.

Benro

http://www.photopal.co.uk/

P

38.0 / 32.8

5.0

33.9 – 35.8
39.1 – 41.8
4.5

Stopper pin in clamp might need to be removed for other plates to work.

Burzynski

No Internet contact, address:

Rainer Burzynski
Naturfotografie Spezial-Zubehör
Am Hufeisenstich 1
D-16792 Zehdenick
Telefon: +49-330 80/4 05 70
Telefax: +49-330 80/4 07 70

L, P, LRF, LCR
39.5 / 32.6


30.4 – 34.5
37.4 – 41.5
-

Custom mounting systems (he will custom produce lens support systems etc...). Request the catalog by phone or fax. Some products are also available via Isarphoto: http://www.isarfoto.com/

Feisol

http://www.feisol.com/

PR

38.1 / -

5.0

- – 34.4
- – 41.0
4


FLM

http://www.flm-gmbh.de/

P

38.8 / 28.0

4.9

31.5 – 34.0
37.0 – 41.0
4.3

The plates are about 1mm too narrow/thin for most other clamps apart from Graf/Novoflex. If you must absolutely put an FLM plate in one of the other clamps. putting an old credit card underneath it helps. (Ok, I would not trust it with a 600/4, but for small stuff...) Thanks Olli for that tip, I tried it, works nicely.

Foba

http://www.sinarbron.com/

P

38.7 / 32.3

5

MF:

38.75 / 32.3

5.15

– 33.2

38

3.85


Giottos

http://www.giottos.com/

PR, GAT


– 36.6 / 36.8 (sample variance)

Saftey pin on clamp needs to be removed for many plates from other vendors

Gitzo

http://www.gitzo.com/

P



Gitzo also offers a clamp which is Arca compatible, the G1387 series 2. Their type C plates might be Arca compatible, but the catalog really does not say.

Graf

No Website



30.7 – 35.0
-
4.5

Modified Graf clamps are available via Burzynski/Isarphoto

Hama

http://www.hama.co.uk/




As far as I know only a clamp is available

Kirk

http://www.kirkphoto.com/

CL, CC, C, GAT, LRF, LCR

38.1 / 32.8
5.2

33.7 – 39.6
39.0 – 45.2
4.3

The stopper screws at the end of the plates might need to be removed to fit into some clamps, especially when sliding in sideways

Markins

http://www.markins.com/

C, CC, CAT, GAT

38.1 / 33.5

36.9 / 32.2

33.5 – 39.2
-
3.9

The stopper pin of the plates might be annoying in non Markins plates that have a hollow bottom. Markins seems to have two different widths...

Novoflex

http://www.novoflex.com/

P, L, GAT


Q-M:31,72 – 37,72

I had conflicting reports on the Castel-Q macro system. For some it takes RRS plates, for some it does not, especially the L brackets seem to be problematic. Q-Mount and Q-base seem to be more compatible.

RRS

http://reallyrightstuff.com/

CL, CC, C, GAT, LRF, LCR

38.0 / 32.8
5.0

33.53 – 38-94

The stopper screw at the end of the plates might need to be removed to fit into some clamps, especially when sliding in sideways

Wimberley

http://www.tripodhead.com/

GAT, CAT, LRF


33.2 – 39.2

-

4.5

The stopper screws at the end of the plates might need to be removed to fit into some clamps, especially when sliding in sideways



Plate Style Reference

Key

Explanation

P

Plain plate, metal top. Will twist when used sideways. But can be custom machined to fit for the mechanically gifted. FLM, Burzynski, Novoflex, ...

PR

Plain plates with rubber or cork top. Wobbly connections, prone to twist.

L

Generic L bracket for cameras. Makes it easy to mount the camera in portrait mode (Burzynski, Novoflex) They tend to block access to the connectors on the left side of DSLRs.

CL

Camera specific custom L plates (only Kirk and RRS) that allow access to connectors even when L plate is attached.

CC

Custom camera plates that fit specific bodies and do not twist.

C

Custom lens plates that fit specific lenses and do not twist

GAT

Generic anti twist plates that fit various lenses and do not twist.

CAT

Generic anti twist plates that fit various cameras and do not twist.

LRF

Lens replacement foot. Replaces standard collar feet on some lenses for lower center of gravity and better stability

LCR

Lens collar replacement. Replacement collars for lenses (or collars for lenses shipped without any)



A few more tidbits:

In Germany there is a standard. DIN 4503, for camera plates.
It is not Arca compatible and I have yet to see it implemented in any serious connection system.
All the plates that are said to be DIN 4503 compliant I have seen so far where plastic. They seem to be square with 43mm long edges at the bottom.

Cullman seems to manufacture plates that can be squeezed in some of the wider clamps.

Although Manfrotto (sold by Bogen in the US) offers at least three incompatible plate systems, none of them is Arca compatible.

Photos of many plates and clamps can be seen at http://stativfreak.de.
The site is in German, use http://www.stativfreak.de/Wechselsystem.htm
to get to the links of the plates/clamps.



Thanks for providing all the measures and feedback!