Are Quick Release Plates Worth It?

L- Plates are great. Mine never comes off.
They are from RRS.
You can get them used on ebay but they hold there value fairly well.

I get that it looks like everyone really likes the convenience of the QR, but does the QR improve holding the camera better then a ball head that just has a camera screw mount? In other words will the camera tend to rotate without the QR?
Thanks!

Really should be the same either way as long as you mount it tightly.

ToyTrains wrote in post #7648465
I get that it looks like everyone really likes the convenience of the QR, but does the QR improve holding the camera better then a ball head that just has a camera screw mount? In other words will the camera tend to rotate without the QR?
Thanks!

A custom plate in a decent clap will generally hold the camera more securely than just attaching the camera to the ballhead directly. You get better contact between the camera and the plates and with the plates and the clamps - more surface area and a better fit.

Of course, YMWV.

I suggest you go to QR. It always secures the camera better on the head since you can carefully tighten the plates to the head and camera body respectively once and for all, and then you just mount or detach the camera easily any time you like without the annoying screwing in and out every time. Yes you will get sick and tired of it after a couple of times' screwing. It also helps to save the threads on all components since tightening and untightening repeately actually destroys threads over time, no matter how carefully you do it. Ask any decent mechanical engineer/technician/fi​tter to confirm this.

Another bonus I see keeping the plates mounted permantly on the camera bodies is that when I lay down the camera on any surface, the body actually rests on the QR plate which acts as a foot/shoe whatever you fancy calling it at the body end, and on the hood at the lens end. Yes, hoods help too here, another reason you should use hoods too! Thus it helps prevent the bottom side of the body getting scratched. Imagine you are out and have to lay it on a rock to use both hands fumbling for something in the bag or whatever you may need to do.

Save yourself a lot of trouble and get the QR plates, save your nerves, the threads, the cosmetics of the body and the value of your camera body. The little extra investment will start paying itself back immediately. You will not regret it I am sure.