I made a quick video giving some basics on our RRS 1.5" Dovetail Standard and a quick explanation of the term Arca-Swiss. Since I didn't want to read from a script I did leave a lot out and wanted to talk about it with you guys since it is important.
Arca-Swiss was a super popular photography company that came out with this type of plate. Prior to RRS the rails were by and large extruded from dies, then cut to various lengths, then either slotted or threaded. The process was inherently imprecise compared to cnc machine operations. What’s worse is that more companies started making plates using the same process getting their dovetail specs “close enough” to work with any screw knob style clamp already on the market. This is probably why screw knob clamps seemed to be the only option for years and why most companies still push them on you.
RRS plates are CNC’d and have been from the very beginning. Brian Geyer, the founder of Really Right Stuff, made a good faith effort to accurately replicate the most popular dovetail specs from Arca-Swiss. Arca-Swiss at the time was the most popular photography plate and ballhead manufacturer, so the term “Arca” became synonymous with the style of plate that had a dovetail running along each side. Over time, our customers were getting more and more frustrated that our unique and very popular LR Clamps did not work well on non-rrs plates.
We had amassed a collection of plates from various manufacturers to analyze, and their dimensions were all over the place. There seemed to be little to no industry standard for a dovetail rail. We reached out to those companies and began to work with whomever was willing to cooperate on bringing their specs in-line with ours. In conjunction, we began standardizing our dovetail drawings so that any manufacturer could understand them.
Currently we publish the RRS dovetail standard for anyone to see under our about page and labeled patents.
The heading “RRS Dovetail Standard” is the key to understanding if your gear will work with others. It is a long standing standard that we want people to use while helping other manufacturers to make gear that will have a few return volume.
The most basic way to describe “Arca” would be that “Arca” can mean any dovetail rail that appears similar, but can be critically imprecise.
Should a manufacturer follow RRS specs, they are making a dovetail rail that will reliably work with the greatest variety of other Arca equipment, while emulating one of the most respected support equipment manufacturers in the world.
Recently we had a precision gauge made for our RRS standard, that is available for companies who want to use our standard and to machine their own rails confidently. We have it available to them at “costs”, simply because we want all the rails that you customers are using, to work with the clamps on our ballheads, bipod mounts, spotter setups, etc.
The worst calls I receive are from customers who were so excited to use our gear with their precision equipment. But when it arrived there was an issue right off the bat with fitment. If the dovetail is finished over spec and is used with our SOAR clamps, most of the times it will not shut. And if you use excess force it could break! If using the original LR clamps we make the springs can become deformed, resulting in the clamp sliding over time. Obviously if the plate is drastically under spec it will slide freely.
Look our clamps are a friction locking system meant to help you get in-and-out of position fast, while changing positions fast, so there could be some movement dependent on a variety of external reasons. Knowing that, we incorporate little threaded ports where you can install safety stops on all our plates, and we suggest others to do that as well. These stops limit any forward movement of the clamp past a certain point that you decide. I put them on the very end of my rails, so when I am completing long strings of fire, I never have anything to worry about.
Sorry for the long winded explanation, but i thought it was important. If you want to, please push this to your preferred companies. We want this issue to dissolve quickly since it has become such a major part of the community.
