SONY now shipping upgrade parts for EX3 plate

[Clint Fleckenstein]

Is there a bulletin on this? I’m not sure if ours is new enough or not. I hadn’t noticed any problems with the mounting. Is it tapered on the front of the camera?

Cf

[Dano Motley]

if the camera is facing away from you, it would stop the right front of the mounting surface from curving and give you a rectangular base plate to mount the camera with.

Dano

[Michael Palmer]

Dano,

I have 3-EX3 that were from the first shipments back last summer and we haven’t had any issues with the base plate receivers.

I would suspect those that have had issues have been when they have picked up the camera by the camera handle while the tripod was still attached and these receivers just can’t handle that load.

I’m very interested to this new improvement you have been on top of. It would be helpful to see some pictures posted here.

Thanks in advance
Michael Palmer

[Don Greening]

[Michael Palmer] “t would be helpful to see some pictures posted here. “

Like these pictures?

I just found this stuff packaged with the rear lens cap for the stock Fuji lens. That little plastic piece at the top of the pictures looks like a cable stay of some sort but I haven’t tried to figure out where it goes yet. The tripod piece is made of plastic and I guess it just fits on the bottom front as shown to make the front of the base flatter.

– Don

[Clint Fleckenstein]

Aha. That makes sense. I can see how the weight of a matte box and/or teleprompter could start to put some tweakage on the mount with the curve at the front of the camera. I went out to look at our EX-3 this morning and thought perhaps that would be the weak spot.

“I would suspect those that have had issues have been when they have picked up the camera by the camera handle while the tripod was still attached and these receivers just can’t handle that load.”

I caught one of our shooters doing that a couple of weeks ago, well AFTER I had spent the time a) explaining that EX-3 users were having issues, and b) fabricating an emergency repair plate for the bottom of our XL-2 after the threads were mysteriously stripped out of the camera! Oddly enough, nobody knew how or when that happened. Good thing my last name is so close to Frankenstein. The repair plate I made was so strong, I never sent the camera in for repair. Plus, I got to spend a couple hours of my workday at home, playing with tools and metal in my workshop!

Cf

[Michael Palmer]

So the fix is a plastic shim?

[Clint Fleckenstein]

Perhaps it’s “High-strength thermoplastic made from space-age polymers and resins™” or something.

and two screws.

Cf

[Don Greening]

[Clint Fleckenstein] “and two screws.”

Three screws. In case you lose one down the drain or something. And the replacement screws are longer for the obvious reasons. But your ‘plastic’ description is bang on.

As Michael eluded to, it’s basically a plastic shim that makes the front of the base the same height as the rest of it. Also don’t forget that the upgrade kit you can order from Sony will also (supposedly) include the new receiver plate that has two threaded holes instead of just one. This would also add stability. I’m in the market for another tripod anyway, so I’ll be looking for one that has a two screw tripod plate.

– Don

[Paul Zwicker]

I have not had any luck with Sony regarding this being FREE.
No one in Jersey knows about it.
Do you have a direct phone number?

Thanks,

Paul Zwicker
ZwickFlicks LLC

[Dano Motley]

dont have the number with me but try information for sony electronics in park ridge, new jersey.

good luck,

dano