Tripod ring C for the 70/300 L, Canon or 3rd party?

I recently posted a couple of reviews of the Canon 70/300 L IS lens on my blog. I'm very pleased with the amount of interest you all have shown in them.

I just posted a follow-up regarding the use of 3rd party tripod rings with the lens. You may or may not be aware that the Canon OEM ring is about $170 - and often hard to find. 3rd party options exist starting as low as $25.00. As tempting as that may be, I think one must be really careful - the last thing one wants is the ring to experience a malfunction and have a $1400 lens go crashing to the ground.

I ordered a more expensive 3rd party ring, one made by Fotodiox. I use Arca-Swiss compatible heads on my tripod and to use the tripod ring in that fashion I use the Kirk plates. The problem is the Fotodiox ring is not compatible to the Kirk plate. So, if you need to use a lens plate, don't buy the Fotodiox ring. I do not know about any of the other 3rd party brands, but it is something you may want to know about before buying anything.

Photo: Left to right, Fotodiox Premium plate, Canon Tripod Ring C (wII)

You can read the complete story at www.foto-gizmo.blogspot.com

Regards to all,

Aboud Dweck

aboudd wrote in post #15827093
I recently posted a couple of reviews of the Canon 70/300 L IS lens on my blog. I'm very pleased with the amount of interest you all have shown in them.

I just posted a follow-up regarding the use of 3rd party tripod rings with the lens. You may or may not be aware that the Canon OEM ring is about $170 - and often hard to find. 3rd party options exist starting as low as $25.00. As tempting as that may be, I think one must be really careful - the last thing one wants is the ring to experience a malfunction and have a $1400 lens go crashing to the ground.

I ordered a more expensive 3rd party ring, one made by Fotodiox. I use Arca-Swiss compatible heads on my tripod and to use the tripod ring in that fashion I use the Kirk plates. The problem is the Fotodiox ring is not compatible to the Kirk plate. So, if you need to use a lens plate, don't buy the Fotodiox ring. I do not know about any of the other 3rd party brands, but it is something you may want to know about before buying anything.

Photo: Left to right, Fotodiox Premium plate, Canon Tripod Ring C (wII)

You can read the complete story at www.foto-gizmo.blogspot.com

Regards to all,

Aboud Dweck

aboud. thank you. I just ordered a fotodiox tripod ring for my 70-300L today. i'll use a generic plate on it, though. how was the build quality?

I figure it is made in china too but just marketed a lot better than the other knock-offs. if it doesn't work for me back it goes to amazon and then I guess I will fork out for the canon even though I don't plan on using the ring that often.