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A7/A7r tripod socket

V

vjbelle

Well-known member
Some may be aware of this issue but I thought it would be worth mentioning. The tripod socket for the new Sony camera is very shallow.... in fact so shallow that most of my plates or L Brackets bottom out. Most of my RRS plates bottom out and my Arca Swiss L Plate bottoms out along with my Sirui plate. Adding spacers between the plate and camera is one solution but I have found it very problematic. A washer on the bolt at the 'head' doesn't work as the spacing between the threads and head is too shallow and the bolt doesn't thread all the way through the plate.

Best method for me was to file a small amount of metal away from the threaded end. Very easy to do with a hand file. Its best to do this with the bolt threaded through the plate or with a small 'nut' screwed on - then the bolt can be backed out to straighten any threads if needed.

Victor
 
J

jagsiva

Active member
Used my Arca plate with their screw (small allen key head) and worked fine. Did not try anything else.
 
P

philip_pj

New member
vibelle, your body may have a residual piece of thread metal preventing the standard screw reaching the full extent of the socket, as 9mm is indeed the depth intended. You want to use all the threaded anchor leaving just the usual tolerance at the bottom, if possible.

And I wonder what is the 'maximum payload' Sony has set for the a7 and a7r bodies for lens and accessory weight (filters etc) hanging off the tripod mount? The heaviest lens announced so far is the 24-70/4 zoom due late next month at, if memory serves, 430 grams. All the FE lenses will not have an adapter of course to mount a tripod head on to.

The two bodies may be different in this respect as they have different internal components at the front of the body - a stronger metal frame in the a7r and composite in the a7.

It might also have an impact on the 'shutter shock' issue..might disappear it :)
I guess it will come out in the wash.
 
V

vjbelle

Well-known member
GrahamB said:
How odd.

I measured my a7r's tripod socket at 9mm. The socket screw from my RRS L plate, used on my Sony a850(a900) measures 5mm. The socket screw from the generic L plate (Amazon.com: Desmond L Plate DAL-1 Quick Release Arca Swiss Compatible for Camera / Tripod Head: Camera & Photo) I use on my a7r's body and Sony "a" mount lens adapter measures 5mm.

Needless to say, no problems with bottoming out.

Graham
Click to expand...
I haven't measured the actual depth of the socket on my camera. I'm sure there are no residual pieces of metal that would prevent me from screwing in any of the plate bolts that I have. I can say that all of the examples I have mentioned really bottomed. Easy way to tell is to try to move the plate/L Plate with your hands while holding the camera. None if this is done with any excessive torque but I was able to move all of my plates with, what I considered, a reasonable amount of torque. I was not able to apply any more torque to the bolt.... we are dealing here with inch pounds or at the most very low foot pounds of torque. After shaving the bolt a little (maybe 1/16) there was much more effective bonding between the plate and the camera. I found it odd that Sony went out of their way to state that the tripod mounting socket had a 'specific' depth and that going beyond that would/could damage the camera. I'm only stating my experiences and if yours are different/better then great......

Victor
 
G

GrahamB

New member
Victor, I didn't intend to imply you were making this problem up. I am curios why your tripod socket is apparently non-standard (or the length of your plate screw is longer than normal). If you have the time, measure the depth of your body socket, and the length of the plate screw, and post the results back to this thread.

I think your plate screw is non-standard. I have about 3.5 threads on the 5mm proud the camera plate. If you shortened your screw, and it was the standard 5mm, you now have very few threads securing the plate to your camera.

Graham
 
V

vjbelle

Well-known member
Graham, I can screw in one of my plate screws about 4.7mm until it comes to a stop. I don't have a depth gauge but do have a small machinists ruler calibrated in 1/64, 1/32, 1/10 and 1/100. I measured from the base of the head of the bolt to the bottom of the camera (with the bolt screwed in all the way) and then the total length (from base of the head to tip of the bolt). My bolt measures 12/32 or 9.5256mm +- 0.3mm. If your A7r has a tripod socket that is 9mm deep then we have very different cameras.

Victor
 
dchew

dchew

Well-known member
I just measured the same way; total bolt shaft length minus exposed shaft when fully embedded. Depth of mine is 6.35mm.

Of course we are not really measuring depth just where the threads bottom out, which probably has more to do with the specific bolt being inserted than the socket.

Dave
 
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V

Vulture

New member
Has anyone tried the possible tripod adapter plates that are currently available, RRS that covers the whole base of the A7(r) and the Markins two piece plate. Would be interested in your experience with either before pulling the trigger.
 
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