All About The ARCA Swiss Clamp
All About The ARCA Swiss Clamp
The Arca Swiss Clamp and Plate are still one of the most sought after camera systems in the world.arca swiss clamp and plate The origins of this system date back to 1908 when it was first patented by Josef Landmann. It was not long before this revolutionary idea came into the hands of others, namely Countless Urtyp GmbH. After World War I, the GmbH was absorbed by the ARTA company and the manufacturing companies Suhr and Steiner started working together. All these companies worked hard to keep the idea as high quality and simple as possible. The end result of these years of work was the Arca Swiss Clamp and Plate system.
The original concept of the Arca Swiss Clamp and Plate system was just to make an easy clamp for the photographer to hold the view camera (Beautifully designed they are) around the lens and enable for constant adjustability on the camera's rails. They also developed some very nice plates for medium format cameras too but hidden in the corners were always the 35mm users who saw this had huge potential. They went on to produce a series of different type of Clamps and Plates with different settings and functions. A lot of thought was put into the making of these wonderful camera systems and their workings. Some of these settings are still in use today and are in fact used in some of the more advanced SLR camera systems.
Many of the old clamps from the late 19th century have worn out quite badly. But the ARCA Company has put lots of time and money into the research and development of these clamps and new ones. All these wonderful clamps are now considered as collectibles and are very popular amongst collectors. They are great to use when you have a personal collection of pictures. The size, shape, weight and rigidity of these amazing plate systems will ensure that your pictures are securely in place.
The first of these wonderful clamps was the ARCA Deluxe Universal Clamp with the dual plate and keeper system. This clamp was the first to introduce a mechanical camera clamping system and made it possible for the photographer to adjust the position of the two plates independently. It has a little bit of an issue getting the camera up onto the front plate for a perfect angle and when you do this part the whole system comes apart and you need to put it back together again. This model is no longer available and the replacement model is the Deluxe Clamp Pro which is almost similar but has a little more adjustability and the mechanical camera positioning is just like the Deluxe system. The clamps on both sides are a bit sticky, not so much to stop the pictures but they do stick to keep the images in place as they should be.
The ARCA Deluxe Universal 2-St clamp has a slightly bigger area to work with and it is a little bit more adjustable but still offers a good range of movement for most sizes of camera. Another great thing about this camp is that it uses a very strong, durable and very robust material on the front plate. The plate can also be moved up and down without removing the whole system which means that photographers no longer need to worry about damaging their cameras. Another thing that many photographers complain about is that the plates are a little too loose and move about a lot while using them. Most of these clamps use a self-cleaning plate which means that the plates don't stick to the walls anymore but they are definitely a little bit more secure than before.
There are hundreds of reasons why people choose the ARCA Swiss Clamp over others but the one reason that is the most important is simply because it looks the best. The way that these clamps look is quite amazing and make taking pictures with your camera look even more professional and artistic. This is probably the biggest reason why a lot of photographers prefer these clamps over other brands or models and it's something that you should look into as well if you have an idea on how you want your future clamp to look like. Whatever type of clamp you decide on, just remember that it is always better to have something that looks good instead of something that does not.