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Which came first: RRS or Kirk?

Frankly

New member
I first heard about Gitzo from working as a photography assistant in 1984. Then I went to a NYC Photo Expo and heard a talk by Gary Regester about packing light for location photography and he swore by the Arca Swiss Monoball (this was before his Tiltall obsession). So I eventually did a lot of professional photography using No.3 and No.5 series metal Gitzos and the Arca Swiss Monoball system throughout the 80s and 90s.

Once the internet hit I think I started hearing about Arca-Swiss compatible plates and then heads from both Really Right Stuff and Kirk Enterprises. And both were quirky companies, the original owner of RRS was grumpy and would be rude over the phone, whilst Kirk was a little bit cheaper but maybe not quite as polished. Later I did work for Precision Camera Works and ended up researching and writing a history of Arca Swiss. And now, in the modern era I'm a big RRS fan boy because their quality is excellent and I like that they're made in USA and support my constitutional rights.

While I don't want to dredge up any hard feelings, now that 35 years or so have passed, I'm wondering about who copied who? Obviously the first Arca Swiss Monoball was a great design, I remember seeing the giant ball on Gitzo 5s in photos from studios back in the 1960s... once they slimmed the design down in the 80s it became practical for location work. But the plates were simple dovetails... it took Kirk and RRS to come up with better plate designs that had anti-rotation keys.

So who did the first anti-rotation Arca compatible plates? This is Shutterbug, pre-internet era stuff so it's hard to find nowadays.

It's also ironic and telling that the two companies who started making the after-market plates for the Arca system did the most to improve it and popularize it so that now it's almost a standard even outside the photo industry. Arca seemed to have ignored the head and plate market for 15-20 years although now they're very innovative.

It's also fascinating how quickly the latest gear gets copied and how computerized milling machines have made the quality of the knock offs pretty darn good yet there still are subtle enhancements that make a difference.

Again not to pit one against the other, I'm just interested in how we got to where we are?
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
My journey was Kirk, then curmudgeon RRS, then nice friendly RRS but now I've gone almost entirely real Arca-Swiss for camera plates and tripod heads/clamps due to the really irritating differences in plate tolerances and clamps (that cost me damage and field problems more than once).

I use RRS clamps / plates for attaching heads to tripods / monopods but trust only Arca and wimberley for true compatibility and accurate fit. Things like my Cambo technical camera rails are 100% arca fit but not 100% RRS so I ended up going back to the originals where all of my QR clamps are adjusted the same. (Granted less of an issue if you use screw clamps)
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
I'm slowly going away from the QR lever and returning to the knob on everything but the QR tripod/head base. Still getting used to the knob on the mini-cube.
 
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