RRS TH-DVTL

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old the presses.  The folks over at Really Right Stuff have another piece of gear, a simple round dovetail plate, @$55 that you HAVE to consider if you have multiple tripods/Monopods and Ballheads.  This little device is the best thing since sliced bread.

You simply screw the round Dovetail Plate into the base of your Ball-head (with the standard supplied 3/8″-16 x 3/4″ flat head screw), then you purchase (or use an existing) Really Right Stuff  B2-Pro clamp (Screw release) for $80 or the $120 B2 LRII clamp (lever release) and attach the clamp to the base of your tripod(s).

What you now have is a quick release systems for your Heads so you can move them quickly over to your different tripods.

It is not that complicated. Say on the one hand you have a Gitzo 3540 and a RRS Ground tripod and a Gitzo Mono pod. You would then purchase three clamps, in my case qty two of the B2-pro, one for my ground pod and the other on the monopod, the third clamp, the B2 LRII, was installed on my Gitzo 3541 XLS.

On the other side, I purchase qty 3 of the TH-DVTL, and installed one on my BH-55, one on the base (pn PG-02 HB Pano-Gimbal Horizontal Base) of the RRS PG-02 Gimbal Head, and the third on the base of my Arc-swiss cube.

Now I can swap any head to any tripod. Why would I want to do that ?  Well, sometimes I like to use the monopod with the camera clamped directly in, but I find that often I’d like to use my BH-55.  Now I can just use the clamps to move the camera off of the base of the monopod, clamp the base of  the BH-55 to the monopod, then clamp the camera back into the BH-55.

But a real neat thing, is the use on the ground pod. If you want those wonderful blurry background images, I’m sure you know you have to get into the dirt, eye level with your critter. The BH-55 might be good, but a gimbal could allow more flexibility. Here you could unclamp one head and re clamp the gimbal in.

Finally, if you’re using the Gitzo 3451 XLS and have the Arc-swiss or BH-55, and you want to do a quick swap to the gimbal, it just a few clamps clicks away.

You can now even use the PG-02 HB Pano-Gimbal Horizontal base as your PANO nodal point plate and quick clamp the ball-head off and the plate in.  You’ll need a $140 RRS FAS Clamp to hold your camera, but now you’ll have one hell of a nodal plate system for your (Moose Peterson) ‘ULTRA’ pano’s.

I am very satisfied with this setup and flexibly. Everything remains solid, No more trying to twist those forever sticky or stuck ball heads off and on, with dirt and grit getting in-between the plates, and my ground pod now fit back into its pouch, because I can keep the ball head off the pod until I need to use it.

I am a big fan of RRS. They have robust, well made and field rugged gear.  They have earned their reputation and it is well regarded by all the pros. For me, last year, their service team went out of their way when I was traveling and shooting.  I call it the 14,600 miles of Ballhead travel. Which began, because of stuck BH-55, (operator-error) when trying to improperly use the panning plater and then trying to remove the BH-55 from my Gitzo in -15 below temps and snow. Really Right Stuff=A+

The price tags…..

A) for three ground devices:

1. 2 B2-Pro @ $80ea = $160
2. 1 B2 LRII @ $120

B) for 3 ballheads

1. 3 TH-DVTL @55ea = $165

total = $495

C) Then if you want to get the ultimate nodal plate

1. PG-02 HB $260
2. RRS FAS Clamp  $140

total = $ 400

D) Or if you want the ultimate Full Gimbal which includes the nodal plate above

1. PG-02 Full Gimbal $800
2. RRS FAS Clamp  $140

total $940

My game plan for gear purchases is to figure out what you want and need based on where you are with your photo journey.  Two years ago, I was just purchasing my first Gitzo, the next year a BH-55  and a ground plate for critters, then a mono pod for sports, then the arc-swiss for precession landscape and framing..and now I want flexibility for ultra panos and the gimbal for the big glass.

Hope this helps….There are quite a few options and took me awhile to grasp just was offered and the list above will get you definitely started, without compromising.