If you thought camera plates did nothing but fix a camera to a tripod head, then think again. If you use any of the best video heads or the best gimbals you’ll probably have a slightly longer camera plate to help with balancing the camera, but that’s usually as far as the innovation goes.
While the best tripods are often packed with innovative features, camera plate design seldom changes very much.
But the 3 Legged Thing Ultra plates take the idea of a long camera plate and stretches it out into something much more versatile and useful for stills photographers, content creators and filmmakers. They are also Arca Swiss compatible, so although the materials and colors match 3 Legged Thing’s own tripods, like the Leo 2 or 3 Legged Thing Nicky, you can use them with a whole range of other brands too.
There are some key features specifically for content creators. These include a double row of standard size 1⁄4”-20 mounting points for accessory arms, lights, microphones, external recorders or anything else you want to bolt on. There’s a pair of larger 3/8”-16 mounting points at the end, too. If your mic or video light has a coldshoe base instead, you can slot that into a coldshoe mount at the end of the plate.
When you start adding accessories, you start cables, and 3 Legged Thing has thought of this too, with a ‘cable hook’ at one end of the plate. It’s not complicated, just a machined ‘G’ shaped slot at the end that lets you gather and push cables out of the way.
There are graduated scales on both edges for precise fore-and-aft positioning on a gimbal, for example, or for detailed macro work – the longer plates could even act like a kind of mini-boom for getting the camera closer without having to move the tripod.
On the underside there’s a square cutout in the Arca Swiss rails to allow for quick 90-degree rotations on heads that support it, and you can also mount accessories on the underside, not just the top of these plates.
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The 3 Legged Thing Ultra Plates are available in two finishes – ‘Copper’ and ‘Darkness’ – and come in four sizes: 150mm, 200mm, 250mm and 300mm. The camera mounting screws can slide most of the length of the plates and you can add screws for mounting more than one camera if required.
You can find out more about the pricing and availability on the 3 Legged Thing Ultra Kickstarter page. The company is offering extra discounts for Early Bird pledges in the first 48 hours, and big discounts on the final retail price throughout the campaign.
