Mk-V Alexa Plate

[DavidMcGill]

Does anybody have experience with this plate? It looks pretty good to me.

 

Mk-V Alexa plate

[Mark Schlicher]

My experience is this: I like the plate, I tried to order one.

 

I emailed Howard on August 13, he immediately replied and said he'd be happy to sell me a plate, just send my money and as soon as they were back in stock he would ship it. He stated that they were in-process of being made.

 

I replied that I would prefer to wait until he had them in stock to order, and please let me know as soon as that happened. No acknowledgement of my email.

 

I did not hear back from him. I sent a followup email on September 7.

 

No reply to that email either.

 

MK-V makes some useful bits, but there is much useful information on the forum regarding people's often-difficult experiences with MK-V. I recommend doing a forum search.

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

As usual, Howard has just copied others. Look at the Baer-Bel Plate. It's wonderful.

 

 

http://www.baer-bel.de/Product%20Highlights.html

[Mark Schlicher]

In fairness, the designs are distinctly different.

 

Baer-bel plate is quick-release, and designed to replace the dovetail on a big rig.

 

The MK-V plate is not quick-release, and it bolts to your existing dovetail. As such, it is a useful bit of kit for Archer/Zephyr owners with our narrower dovetail, to shave off ounces of weight, add rigidity, and provide an iris rod mount point.

 

Regardless of peoples' experiences with the company, this bracket does appear to be an original design.

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

In fairness, the designs are distinctly different.

 

Baer-bel plate is quick-release, and designed to replace the dovetail on a big rig.

 

The MK-V plate is not quick-release, and it bolts to your existing dovetail. As such, it is a useful bit of kit for Archer/Zephyr owners with our narrower dovetail, to shave off ounces of weight, add rigidity, and provide an iris rod mount point.

 

Regardless of peoples' experiences with the company, this bracket does appear to be an original design.

 

 

Actually from a structures point of view is a poor design

[flemming laybourn]

Im the happy owner of one, and really happy...!

 

Before I used the Arri/Sony plate all the time, but the Alexa plate is thin, very low and quite rigid.

 

Only problem is that if you are a B-camera operator ( like me ) and move from Tripod to Steadi a lot, its not

 

So flexible..

 

BR

 

Flemming Laybourn

[Mark Schlicher]

Actually from a structures point of view is a poor design

 

This might well be the case, I have no engineering background. I'm curious, what do you see as the weak points, how would you improve?

 

Personally I'd love to have a plate that does exactly what this one does. (minimizes weight, iris rods mount, compatible with narrow Tiffen dovetail.) Quick release not relevant for my purposes. The company's problems are well-known, and I would be happy to consider an alternative. Baer-bel plate isn't compatible, Crosziel plate is as heavy as the Sony plate.

[Jon Beattie]

I know 2 operators that are very happy with the mk-v alexa plate.

 

I've been thinking about adding the actionproducts Universal Arri Adapter Plate http://www.innocinema.com/product_info.php?products_id=111

 

&

 

the Action Products BridgePlate http://www.innocinema.com/product_info.php?products_id=109

 

It looks like a good combo for the Alexa and a dlsr or any number of other cameras. Looks like a quick way to go from sticks to steadi to handheld without adding a lot of weight.

[Steve Keller]

Actually from a structures point of view is a poor design

 

This might well be the case, I have no engineering background. I'm curious, what do you see as the weak points, how would you improve?

 

Personally I'd love to have a plate that does exactly what this one does. (minimizes weight, iris rods mount, compatible with narrow Tiffen dovetail.) Quick release not relevant for my purposes. The company's problems are well-known, and I would be happy to consider an alternative. Baer-bel plate isn't compatible, Crosziel plate is as heavy as the Sony plate.

 

Notice he has no response to your question... just a bashing of Howard's work. From what I read on here he generally has nothing but condescending remarks for other's questions. Doesn't seem like it fits in a culture of people who I see as very willing to help each other out...

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Actually from a structures point of view is a poor design

 

This might well be the case, I have no engineering background. I'm curious, what do you see as the weak points, how would you improve?

 

Personally I'd love to have a plate that does exactly what this one does. (minimizes weight, iris rods mount, compatible with narrow Tiffen dovetail.) Quick release not relevant for my purposes. The company's problems are well-known, and I would be happy to consider an alternative. Baer-bel plate isn't compatible, Crosziel plate is as heavy as the Sony plate.

 

Notice he has no response to your question... just a bashing of Howard's work. From what I read on here he generally has nothing but condescending remarks for other's questions. Doesn't seem like it fits in a culture of people who I see as very willing to help each other out...

 

Lol. I help out quite a bit. And rather than bashing my post why don't you research Howard and his issues. You realize that several people have tried to get Howard to seek them items but Howard won't deal with them since they bought there rig second hand

[Mark Schlicher]

I never heard back from Howard after stating to him that I prefer not to send money in advance for an item that is not in stock, but to please let me know when they were in stock. Followed up a couple months later and still no reply.

 

I appreciate the field reports from satisfied users, and am still interested in buying a plate secondhand.

 

If there are specific design issues I should be concerned about (rigidity, points of failure), I would certainly like that information also, from whoever would like to share it.

 

As I stated before, I'm also interested in alternatives (I think I've seen pretty much all of them). Weight is a primary consideration, as is ability to mount on the Zephyr dovetail. Quick release is not a priority.

 

PM if you'd prefer. Thanks.

[Steve Keller]

Actually from a structures point of view is a poor design

 

This might well be the case, I have no engineering background. I'm curious, what do you see as the weak points, how would you improve?

 

Personally I'd love to have a plate that does exactly what this one does. (minimizes weight, iris rods mount, compatible with narrow Tiffen dovetail.) Quick release not relevant for my purposes. The company's problems are well-known, and I would be happy to consider an alternative. Baer-bel plate isn't compatible, Crosziel plate is as heavy as the Sony plate.

 

Notice he has no response to your question... just a bashing of Howard's work. From what I read on here he generally has nothing but condescending remarks for other's questions. Doesn't seem like it fits in a culture of people who I see as very willing to help each other out...

 

Lol. I help out quite a bit. And rather than bashing my post why don't you research Howard and his issues. You realize that several people have tried to get Howard to seek them items but Howard won't deal with them since they bought there rig second hand

 

I have read what others have to say about howard. I deal with howard often and he has always been a professional when taking care of products I have bought from him. I can only speak from my personal experience. My point was that Mark asked a specific question about why you thought that his product was designed poorly and you had no response. All you said was he won't get back to you and his product was poorly designed. Makes it sound like you were only posting to bash on him instead of explaining what you thought was wrong with the product. I agree that you help out as I have read posts from you that were very informational. Just too bad it comes across so condescending. I just don't see the reason for it.

[Erik Brul]

I have read what others have to say about howard. I deal with howard often and he has always been a professional when taking care of products I have bought from him. I can only speak from my personal experience. My point was that Mark asked a specific question about why you thought that his product was designed poorly and you had no response. All you said was he won't get back to you and his product was poorly designed. Makes it sound like you were only posting to bash on him instead of explaining what you thought was wrong with the product. I agree that you help out as I have read posts from you that were very informational. Just too bad it comes across so condescending. I just don't see the reason for it.

 

Well, there are a lot of people who i know with personal experiences with Howard. In my opion he is just sad. A sad person with a sad way of communication and doing business. I have said it often and will say it again: Why has every serious Stabilizer brand all or all most all equipment with prices on their websites and / or brochures? To let you know what kind of price to expect, if it fits business wise and / or your budget is capable to buy the equipment. If it is not, well.. you know what you need to save up for the coming time :)

 

Howard is 180 degrees different. He wants to know first: if you have money, how much money and he then makes the decision if he will sell you the equipment yes or no ..