B5D3A: Plate for 5D Mk III, Rev A

So I bought this plate in hopes of replacing my BG-E11 since I took it off after 4-5 months of owning it. I love the battery grip don't get me wrong, but it's so heavy and with heavy glass (I consider my 70-200 II and 85L II heavy along with it all attached to the camera and grip). I barely use the portrait orientation of my grip so I'm not real sad about it. I shoot mostly cars / people / environment when I get a chance anyways but it didn't click til just now. This won't fit my Manfrotto 498rc2 ball head....

Do I have to buy one of their ball heads or is there a cheaper alternative? I do a lot of traveling so I usually leave the tripod at the house. My friend mentioned I should get a BH55 from RRS. I'm just lost cause I never thought I would be having to swap my ballhead / grip setup. I e-mailed the guys at RRS but I'm still confused on their site where to purchase such a clamp and swap it out on my current ball head.

You can just swap out the clamp if you're happy with the Manfrotto's performance. You can buy an Arca compatible clamp from RRS, Kirk, Acratech, Wimberley, Markins, etc. Most will probably suggest you get a better ball head while you're at it.

Do you mean this part I circled in red?

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Here is a link to RRS page that tells you what clamp of theirs fits your ballhead.
http://reallyrightstuf​f.com/WebsiteInfo.aspx​?fc=100

I am not sure how you figured the RRS L bracket replaced a battery grip. They are two separate items with two completely different jobs. Then you say you hardly shoot in portrait orientation anyway. This is the only reason for an L bracket. So you can quickly switch from landscape to portrait orientation when shooting from a tripod. I suggest a little more research before bringing out the credit cards or you are going to have a box full of useless items.

Yes. See that silver colored screw in the middle of the clamp? You just have to remove that and you can swap the Manfrotto clamp for an Arca style clamp. Hejnar makes this conversion set, if you want to take advantage of the anti-twist groove in the stem of the ball head.

BTW, if I wasn't clear, a good clamp can cost more than a new ball head. There are Asian made ball heads that come with an Arca style clamp. Adorama sells their Flashpoint F-3. You could also look at Benro, Sirui, HorusBennu, etc.

dedsen wrote in post #15191672
Here is a link to RRS page that tells you what clamp of theirs fits your ballhead.
http://reallyrightstuf​f.com/WebsiteInfo.aspx​?fc=100

I am not sure how you figured the RRS L bracket replaced a battery grip. They are two separate items with two completely different jobs. Then you say you hardly shoot in portrait orientation anyway. This is the only reason for an L bracket. So you can quickly switch from landscape to portrait orientation when shooting from a tripod. I suggest a little more research before bringing out the credit cards or you are going to have a box full of useless items.

Yes their sales rep linked me there too and advised me to use a B2-AS-II. I probably have phrased my original statement incorrectly but I didn't buy the L bracket, just the normal under plate to go under the camera. The reason I decided on this over the battery grip was it was lighter, not too big and still accommodates the hand strap (herringbone which I love to death). I really don't like the original HB plate it comes with but I also didn't even think about my manfrotto ball head so this is where I'm at right now. I'm pretty impatient, so I did buy the plate and now trying to figure out how to get it on my tripod is the other dilemma. I've looked into this in the past but never would think I'd get a RRS plate in the first place but now that the grip is gone I feel too paranoid on how to mount a hand strap and have it fit the tripod.

EDIT: Thanks klr.b I'm looking at most of them trying to figure out which one to get...didn't know there were so many. I was only aware of Markins and RRS and Markins is more geared towards Gitzo which I don't own.

I was confused at first, like Dale. I figured you probably left out that part about a hand strap. I had a battery grip for my previous camera. When I bought my 7D, the first thing I did was buy a new plate that would accept my hand strap.

Markins makes a lot of products that work well with Gitzo. You can buy pretty much any head for any tripod. Markins just has a nice balance of cost, performance, and weight. If you look at the RRS BH-55, it costs a lot, but is also one of the heaviest heads.

yeah sorry about that! my brain doesn't function the way it used too! I leave out a ton of words and my speech is impaired after my accident but I wanna keep away from anything too heavy hence I wanna go CF in the end. After looking at the conversion kit and just swapping a plate out ..it's almost the same cost as a ball head which also may be simpler to swap. This makes me kinda sad that I'll have to sell my battery grip just to buy another ball head. I should probably do away with my tripod as well so I can start over cause I think I put myself in a mess with supports all over again.

I'm not really a fan of the Manfrotto RC2, so I think you'll like the change to the Arca system. I dislike their ball heads even more.

Carbon fiber is great if you can afford it. I bought two CF Benro tripods for the cost of a Gitzo. There are lots of cheaper alternatives now.

Great, it sounds like a good plan ..first is to get rid of what I have cause I really wanted the CF after I used some of my friend's tripod. I really dislike how heavy my setup is; I couldn't find the prices on your tripod klr.b ...the manfrotto I have I bought for like $150?

My first Benro (C-257m8) was bought a few years ago on Amazon for around $385. It's been renamed as a C2570T now and can be found much cheaper on Ebay. If you buy it as a kit with a B2 ball head, add that to the end, and they'll call it a C2570TB2. Lots of people like the Benro Travel Angels. There are a few reviews on this forum. The C2680T is just a tripod, whereas the C2682T can be transformed from a tripod to a monopod. A 4-section Travel Angel would be C2682T whereas the 5-section would be C2692T. HolgaCamera.net has some really good prices if you don't want to buy from Ebay. I bought a Travel Flat C2182TB1 kit on Ebay and received it in about a week. You can get them faster from other Chinese sellers but I was trying one from Korea. Fully extended it puts the camera at my eye level without using any center column. One of these days I'll write a review on it.

ok I give in, I was reading this for the past 2-3 hours and just decided I'll get a new ball head..does it matter if my legs are still the manfrotto 055? any good ballhead recommendations that will fit my current tripod ?

Most ballheads will fit the Manfrotto 055s. Price no object, I'd say a Really Right Stuff BH-55 with the lever clamp. But you can add a RRS clamp (lever or screw) to your current Manfrotto 498RC2 head. I converted my 488RC2 to a RRS lever clamp and it's much nicer (though my primary head, on a Gitzo 3-series, is the RRS BH55).

well I'm deciding now between the RRS BH-55 and the BH-40 w/ LR. I guess would be a better time than ever to get this straightened out. Although, I don't own a large telephoto like their FAQ says so I should probably stick with the BH-40 w/ LR. I'll be keeping my current manfrotto legs til I can later down the line upgrade to CF finally. The only real difference between the 55 and 40 is just how big it is right and the weight it can handle?