Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Medium Format / Film / Digital Backs – and Large Sensor Photography => Topic started by: BJNY on September 20, 2010, 07:23:36 am
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ARCA-SWISS d4
With the invention of the d4 pan tilt head ARCA-SWISS has put an end to setting levers of 3d heads that extend in all directions and always get in the way. No more uneven swivelling out of the camera. No more oversized dimensions, heavy loads and other all too well-known drawbacks to get in your way. We get straight to the point. The innovative design of the ARCA-SWISS d4 gearhead unites the pivot points of the
X and Y movements at the same point. The result of this new concept: identical and the smallest possible rotational radii. That ensures small camera movements and, as a consequence, almost no deviations in scale, which, until now, led to reduced depth of field in digital photography and all too often made tedious corrections necessary.
The self-locking, micrometric movements in X and Y result from separate gear mechanisms, manufactured with a high- strength special alloy. Every tilt movement has its own fine tuning knob and a lockable free wheel button. That means the tilts can optionally be carried out in freewheeling modus. The possibility of free movement
in both axes using the freewheeling modus ensures free movements similar to those of a spherical head. The ARCA-SWISS d4 has, like the cube C1 from ARCA-SWISS,
a turning device on its base to align the camera as well as a panning device under the camera mount for panorama pans which maintains the swivel axis. Underneath the panorama feature are 2 bubble levels at a 90° angle to align the camera. In additionto the tilts in X and Y and the panorama rotation, the ARCA-SWISS camera mount enables the camera back and forth movement in the exposure axis, the 4th dimension, so to speak, as the model number d4 symbolizes. The outstanding specifications of the d4 include the record- breaking weight of just 790gr. There is no smaller gearhead on the market.
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Any pics and specs?
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How to attach in this new Simple Machines forum engine?
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Photos of the ARCA-SWISS d4
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(http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0055/2622/files/news-2010-WEB_1.jpg?1284584899) (http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=35566&d=1284976857)
(click to download the latest news brief from ARCA-SWISS. This includes details on the new Rm3di, Rm2d, d4, d4m, and monoball®Fix QR system)
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Looks like lots o cool stuff this year. Blog post on Newness (http://christopherbarrett.net/blog/?p=1515) There are also new developments in their tech camera lineup!
CB
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Any word on when the D4 will be available to purchase?
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Or any word on how much weight it can hold? Nothing is more fun that catching a camera when an under-specced gear strips loose.
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I went to Photokina, saw the d4 and ordered one. it is fantastic. the new clamp looks nice, but won't work with any RRS stuff.
the head will cost €690+VAT, but there was a photokina discount available. they promised shipping in 4-6 weeks.
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I went to Photokina, saw the d4 and ordered one. it is fantastic. the new clamp looks nice, but won't work with any RRS stuff.
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incompatible with the Arca Swiss Standard then? WTF?
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They've got two sizes of the dovetail clamp. The clamp on my Cube has ways for both but looks like the D4 just has the smaller size, must be a really compact head.
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I'm not sure about the price. For me, I might as well buy the cube.
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I've probably overlooked this spec, but will this new head point straight down? Always an extra step to do with the cube heads so it would be great not to have to mess with the extra knob...
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incompatible with the Arca Swiss Standard then? WTF?
That is indeed a total show stopper, if true this would make the head not even worth considering for me.
Cheers,
Bernard
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i believe that you can buy this head with different clamps !
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I wondered about the "new" mount as well and talked asked the Arca guys about it.
You can order the new heads with the "old" top plate (as on the Cube, i.e. with the small rail below and the larger rail above).
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Hi,
It seems that the QR can be replaced on the Cube C1 and probably also on the D4. I would like to have mine without QR as I prefer the really right stuff from Really Right Stuff ;-)
BR
Erik
That is indeed a total show stopper, if true this would make the head not even worth considering for me.
Cheers,
Bernard
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it doesn't work with RRS plates ? ... they can keep it
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as mentioned above.
you can buy the new "FIX" clamp and plates or you can buy the dual slot clamps that will take either the new system or the old plates made by Arca/acratech/RRS/Kirk.... and other
This is the clamps style I got on my AS P0
works just fine.
am
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Hi,
If you need a geared head the Arca is interesting. If you don't need gears there are a lot of options.
Best regards
Erik
it doesn't work with RRS plates ? ... they can keep it
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only the new clamp doesn't work with RRS plates. I ordered my d4 with the classic screw clamp.
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Can you fit a RRS clamp on the d4?
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only the new clamp doesn't work with RRS plates. I ordered my d4 with the classic screw clamp.
where did you ordered it ?
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I ordered it at photokina directly from them.
one thing to note: it is not a replacement for the cube. the great thing about the cube is that the centres of rotation stay pretty much straight on top of the tripod. the amount of rotation dosn't affect stability a lot, the centre of gravity hardly moves.
the distance from object to sensor doesn't change much when rotating in any direction, which is really great for close to medium distances. especially in connection with a tilting lens something like a back-tilt can be achieved.
the d4 is a bit different, as its movements are closer to traditional ballheads, but while having the gears unengaged one can grab the camera and bend it to where you want it, then re-engage the gears and fine tune it. sweet! probably much faster tha the cube and more intuitive. half the weight and a half of the price. still you want both to be a really happy tripodist.
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thanks
I am very interested , but I want to keep my RRS plates and L :)
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When will this be ready for delivery? I'm very interested!
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they said 4-6 weeks...
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can these heads support a 4x5 field camera?
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can these heads support a 4x5 field camera?
they support 15Kg.
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Can you fit a RRS clamp on the d4?
Yes you can. I have a Really Right Stuff PCL-1 clamp on my Arca-Swiss p0 head and it attaches the same way.
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Has anyone taken delivery of this head yet, or even seen one?
Back on September 28th the comments here were....When will this be ready for delivery? I'm very interested!.......they said 4-6 weeks...
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I went to Photokina, saw the d4 and ordered one. it is fantastic. the new clamp looks nice, but won't work with any RRS stuff.
the head will cost €690+VAT, but there was a photokina discount available. they promised shipping in 4-6 weeks.
Was this delivered? I can't find any subsequent mentions of the D4 geared ball head. --Thanks.
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Yes, this went quiet as did the PC TS lenses from Schneider
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Thanks for the update, asf -- appreciate the quick reply. Cheers.
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Actually I am done with Arca. I tried to contact them numerous times, twice i reached somenone to be told of imminent delivery, but nothing happened. They ignore Emails. There is still no website. I refuse to do business with a company that behaves like that.
I always felt a bit bad about buying a photoclam multiflex, but dealing with them was so easy, when I had to return my head to them because I had smashed it onto something, they repaired it in a few hours, updated the knobs to the most recent ones and sent it back in no time, we are talking Korea here, not France. The only charged me for postage, although it was out of warranty by a long time. they even have a website. I wholheartedly can recommend Photoclam.
In the last 10 years I really tried hard to buy Arca stuff, cameras, heads, whatever they offer, as I think it is usually a great design, but every time it just wasn't possible due to their failure to get back to me. My business alone would have paid for their website.
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Has anyone received one? I ordered one last October. Still not shipped as of today.
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Has anyone received one? I ordered one last October. Still not shipped as of today.
I have just bought an Arca M2 and didn't have any problem contacting them via my dealer. So much so that I had a Phase adapter plate that wouldn't fit and my dealer rang and spoke to Martin while I was on the phone and organised a next day replacement. Yes, the cameras original 2 week delivery turned into 2 months but I believe that was a supplier (going bust) issue.
During a conversation with my dealer last week we were speaking about geared heads and he mentioned the D4 which he told me was very late. That week he had spoken with Martin and been told they were now finalising and making final tweaks. That would suggest to me that it still hasn't gone into production so wouldn't expect them for a few more weeks yet.
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I too have been eagerly watching and waiting for months now. I feel your pain.
Today I found this on youtube:
french guy handling D4
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktzLHLzOKxA)
A little video presentation of the new version with redesigned locking knobs. Too bad I don't speak French as there may be some useful info in there about half way thru.
At any rate, just seeing the actual item in action somehow makes me feel better. Maybe it will help others.
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<<Today I found this on youtube:
french guy handling D4
A little video presentation of the new version with redesigned locking knobs. Too bad I don't speak French as there may be some useful info in there about half way thru.>>
The presentation is made by Mr Philippe Vogt, the genial conceptor of the Arca system, and his son Martin (left). I particularly appreciate those people.
PdF
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Today I found this on youtube:
french guy handling D4
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktzLHLzOKxA)
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Thanks for sharing this video. Seeing the way the D4 works is really interesting!
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I particularly appreciate those people.
PdF
Hopefully I'll appreciate them as well when the D4 finally makes it to market! :-)
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Here is a link to Robert White video of the D4 manual
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZdNm_ZxWXQ
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Hope to get mine next week!
Well I got the D4 Classic Head and it's worth the wait. Beautiful! Got it yesterday!
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So...any news on this yet? Has anyone who ordered one actually received their head? Is there any update as to when these will actually be available on the market? WTF is going on? ???
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Hi,
I got my from Robert White in the UK, shipped within two days of ordering. Some info, including a short video:
http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/index.php/photoarticles/53-arca-swiss-d4
Best regards
Erik
So...any news on this yet? Has anyone who ordered one actually received their head? Is there any update as to when these will actually be available on the market? WTF is going on? ???
http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/index.php/photoarticles/53-arca-swiss-d4
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:)Hi all, Got mine from Arca Swiss att, Rod Klukas. He is USA agent and a fine man. It is better than I thought. Smooooth!