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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

New dovetail needs to be bought?

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We hear your concerns and we are discussing it. If I had more information now, I would offer it up. But until we finish our internal discussions, any comments beyond that would be premature.

BC
 
Good to know Brent. Maybe an option could be to swap the dovetail for the cheeseplate? Just one idea.
 
I'm a a little confused. Isn't the cheese plate mounted to the top of the camera, and the dovetail and baseplate at the bottom? I don't understand what the cheese plate would do at the bottom of the camera as far as mounting it to the head. Are you supposed to remove the baseplate and dovetail, then attach the cheeseplate and then somehow attatch a hand held rig to go handheld? No Mako No Sense.
 
At a shoot, I heard someone talking about how they yanked out the soft little rubber piece from around the pin and replaced it with one made of harder rubber. Supposedly it solved the problem completely?
 
I could never get the dove tail to lock. the locking mech. just springs back at me it never has worked, I threw it in a box, and bought the chesse plate, fortunately I hate to do shoulder mount stuff. I still wonder whats up with the shoulder dovetail? am I doing something wrong? I Still love the camera though!
 
I THINK the cheesplate slides in where the dovetail does now and bolts to the bottom frame solidly. Then I think my particular tripod wedge plate would bolt to the bottom of the cheeseplate. No wobble then.
 
wshultz said:
I don't see anything with this part number on E.T. product list.
Click to expand...

You can use the (RED/Element) Arri base 15 or 19mm with any head as long as you also have an Arri dovetail (E.T. ADT-1220 for $375). It has threaded holes along the center for mounting a quick release plate for you particular head. This same dovetail will also replace the Euro Plate on the OConnor 2060/2575 but can use the quick release plate from any other head.
 
Brent@RED said:
We hear your concerns and we are discussing it. If I had more information now, I would offer it up. But until we finish our internal discussions, any comments beyond that would be premature.

BC
Click to expand...

Thanks for your attention to this important thread.

We feel confident that RED will figure out a fair solution.
 
grandpa it burns said:
At a shoot, I heard someone talking about how they yanked out the soft little rubber piece from around the pin and replaced it with one made of harder rubber. Supposedly it solved the problem completely?
Click to expand...

We tried that. But then the whole thing got stuck, the pin didn't want to go down again and we had to remove the bottom plate and hammer the pin down. Not something you want to do in the middle of a production.

It is really a shame. I opened it up and it is a beautifully machined piece with all kind of springs and metal parts inside. Yet for tripod work it is no good and for shoulder held it is heavy and uncomfortable.

The problem with the cheese plate is that you can't balance the camera without removing the camera from the tripod, turning it upside down and unscrewing and re-attaching the plate.

And yes, I love my camera and support the RED company. But I don't think that means I should just forgive them for shipping accessories that don't work.
 
Casey Green said:
Thanks for your attention to this important thread.

We feel confident that RED will figure out a fair solution.
Click to expand...

Sorry if I'm repeating myself from one thread to the other, but there are a number of threads going on about the issues with the Red bottom plate - shoulder dovetail combo. They (the threads) have been going on for quite some tiime now, and still no solution from Red.

Red, I love you guys, and gals ! I love my camera, but this is one problem I think you should address ! Yes there are third party solutions, but you can do better.

My suggestion, ditch (as in stop producing them) the Red baseplate and shoulder dovetail. Start selling the Arri (ET) bridge plate instead. Make the production pack a little more expensive, and let people choose wether they want 15mm or 19mm !!! AND lower the price of the Arri 19mm bridge plate alone to match the price of the 15mm. AND make a new shoulder dovetail to go with the Arri bridge plates.

Cheers,
Damien

PS Let's be efficient. I'm going to retire my baseplate, my shoulder dovetail, my cheeseplate and my 19mm steel rods (anyone interested ?). Why make all these products that most people will end up replacing ?!
 
It's probably not going to satisfy us Red dovetail purchasers to only hear now that it was never meant to offer a stable tripod mounting option.

Like many, we're loving the Red camera itself. It's really quite amazing. But there's a minor design flaw in this one accessory that is causing us grief. Even if there were some kind of fix, I'd be satisfied. But I sort of feel like I have an accessory that is not usable for the purposes which, I believe, it was originally designed.
 
For those of you that would like a fix... Take a good quality business card (not a paper one, a business CARD) and cut it the size of that hole on the plate. Take off the rubber thingy, punch a little hole in the card when the stud will come up. Push the card down into the hole and let the stud force it's way through (Do not cut a hole to size, let the stud come through and make it's own hole). Flatten the card into the hole, put the rubber piece back on top, and if the business card was the right thickness, the wobble will go away. Fair warning, the lever will be hard to lock into place, but it will lock, and the wobble will be gone.

Good luck to you all
 
Perhaps RED should make it clear on the RED store by putting detailed descriptions of the product and uses. This would help down the road to those who buy.
 
I've used the cheeseplate and it is solid as a rock, you just do not get balancing on it. However most heads that can handle a Red have a sliding top section that will probably do OK.

However the 9" Element 1030 dovetail and Arri base plate are a true joy to work with. They put a smile on my face every time I mount the camera. And with the slide room on the head I can even balance my 25-250mm Cooke MII!
199+cooke25-250.jpg
 
I use the Element base plate and dovetail. It works perfectly. Just like an Arri one. It works with all the industry standard equipment. No wobbles, infinite adjustability, large range of counterbalance. Low center of gravity. Totally happy with it.

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com
 
Don't know if anyone covered this but I had a similar problem with it not quite fitting.

To solve the issue, I borrowed two of the Red wingnut washers and put them on the rubber shoe of the dovetail. This gives a solid secure fit.. Simple solution..
 
Sure, I believe the ET accessories are great, I just don't find it an excuse for the RED dovetail not working. The one I have is absolutely useless. When mounted on a tripod, the camera is moveable in every direction - left to right and front to back.

The RED website states: 'can also be used to mount on tripods', only when you need 'extremely sturdy mounting' you are advised to buy the cheese plate.

I am still waiting for an answer what to do with my dovetail. It is clearly not working for what it is intended so why would I then have to BUY a new one?
 
I follow this discussion with great interest. I think Randy gets slowly stressed with my changes in my order, but it´s becoming difficult which accesories are finally necessary to make it properly working. This discussion is, as far I can see, always about the Dovetail. I don´t have it now, so please apologize if my path is completely wrong: Would it not be a lot easier to modify the Base plate instead of the dovetail? Add some locking mechanism?
If you find this would be a solution, I would recommend to Red to contact and discuss this with RRS (Really Right Stuff). They have a lot of experience in this and are also located in California.
Please don´t take this as an insult, I´m shure Red is more then able to solve this problem finally by itself, but maybe there is somewhere else already a simple solution?!
Cheers
Marc
 
sander, there is a simple reason that you have not gotten an answer - we are still discussing the situation internally. As soon as we have information, we'll let people know. We have heard people's concerns, rest assured.

BC
 
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