Group Buy - Ellis Red DSMC L Plate

[Josh K]

The new Ellis Photographic DSMC Arca Swiss Plates are a great product for those of us who like to shoot stills, no-crew, and/or ultra-light. They offer landscape dovetails, a standard-height 15LW rod bridge, and either a portrait dovetails or a compact cheese plate. The dovetails, both aligned with the camera's optical center, are Arca Swiss standard. This standard is used for most stills tripod heads (and the Really Right Stuff FH-350 compact fluid head) and is much more compact than the Arri dovetail standard. The Mini Accessory Plate, created at our suggestion, will feature 1 male 1/4-20, 14 female 1/4-20, and 9 3/8-16 in Red (9mm) spacing. The Portrait Dovetails, Mini Accessory Plate, and 15LW rod bridge are all removable to minimize weight. The products can be seen here.

To avoid things getting too complicated only these two product packages will be included in the group buy:
DSMC L-Plate Package (Landscape Dovetails w/ 15LW Rod Bridge + Portrait Dovetails)...........$340
DSMC Mini Accessory Plate Package (Landscape Dovetails w/ 15LW Rod Bridge + MAP)...........$295

There will be one list of participants and you may order whichever package(s) you wish (in other words, the order quantity goals are overall rather per-package). Please post in this thread to sign up, and indicate if you'd like more than one piece (again, indicating which package you want is optional). I have no idea what the interest level will be, so exact closing date is TBD. Ideally it would be about a month from now.

Notes:
1) This is not a "Kickstarter" group buy - they have this product in stock and ready to ship (which also means you can order now for full price if your need is urgent).
2) I am not receiving any kickback or extra special deal for starting this thread. I will simply get to purchase an L Plate at whatever price level the rest of you reach. I'm mainly doing this because the Ellis Photographic guys are my friends.
3) The Ellis Photographic team is in the process of becoming a board sponsor, so for the moment they aren't allowed to post in this thread. I'll be running the group buy, but for product questions you should contact them at sales@elliscamera.com. You can also find them on their website, Facebook, or Twitter.

PRICE BREAKS:
QTY............DSMC-L.............DSMC-MAP
5.................$335................$290
25...............$325................$280
50...............$315................$270
75...............$305................$260
100.............$290................$245
150.............$275................$230

THE LIST:1.) Josh K

 

[Med D]

Are there any photos of this installed on an Epic? I really need a lightweight solution like this but it looks like the rod mount may interfere with the v2.0 fans. I'd like to verify that it fits and the 15mmLW ends up in the right position. If so I am in.

 

[Josh K]

I'm told pictures of it installed are coming soon; I didn't get an exact date but I'll update the thread whenever they appear.

I can tell you that the rod bridge has been checked and is at industry-standard height and far enough forward to clear the v2 fan.

 

[Med D]

It would be great to see a mini-cheeseplate that could swap out for that portrait adapter.

 

[Michael Winokur]

+1 and I like the idea of a cheese plate option on the side.

 

[Josh K]

Michael, I'm assuming +1 means you want to join the list?

The cheese plate an excellent idea, guys, I'll definitely make sure it's passed along. Were you picturing something tall enough to have some of mounting points aligned with the optical axis (to attach a tripod plate, say)? I'm not sure how useful the option to add other tripod plates for portrait dovetails would be since the landscape dovetails are Arca-Swiss-only; to me a smaller accessories-only cheeseplate would make more sense.

 

[Med D]

Yes I am thinking a mini-cheeseplate for very basic/light accessories. Like a wireless xmitter for example.

 

[Daniel Kelly Brown]

I would buy this plate if they sold a version without the side plate, just the bottom plate and rail adapter. Would be a nice compact light weight solution for gimbals.

 

[Josh K]

Great news! Ellis has decided to make a cheese plate option, which they're calling the Mini Accessory Plate. They say it will be 35% shorter, 29% thinner, and 43% lighter than the Portrait Dovetails, and I've gotten a reference drawing to show you (attached). Best of all, this option will be added to the group buy!! I'll update the OP with the specifics sometime tomorrow (Thursday).

 

[Med D]

This looks like a great minimalist option to me. I'm in for the plate with cheese option.

 

[Josh K]

Ellis Photographic has published some pictures of these products in action, since there were some questions about that I thought I'd see if I could reignite this thing.

 

[scott devitte]

Ellis Photographic has published some pictures of these products in action, since there were some questions about that I thought I'd see if I could reignite this thing.

Have one of these on each of my Dragons. Beautiful piece of kit. I have RRS quick release plates on all my fluid heads, monopods, Helix and sliders etc.

 

[Lee Saxon]

Just an FYI for everyone that these will be fully compatible with "DSMC2" (Weapon and Raven). The ones we currently make are designed to allow for the v2 front fans, so on the newer bodies the rod bridge is a not-quite-an-inch farther forward than necessary, but this is probably not an issue for the vast majority of lenses.