The Shy Photographer: The Joby Ultraplate

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

The Joby Ultraplate

I don't like neck straps. Yeah, yeah I've already said that here and here. But I cannot stress enough the fact that I don't want to use one.

An alternative to neck straps is the messenger-type strap that can be mounted to the tripod screw mount at the bottom of cameras, like the Joby UltraFit Sling Strap which I reviewed here. This is a great strap since you wear it diagonally across the chest and your neck won't be the one carrying your heavy load.

However, the one problem with this configuration becomes apparent when you want to mount your camera on a tripod. Say you want to photograph fireworks near a body of water with the wind blowing really hard. You wouldn't want to have your camera strapless right, lest your camera takes a dive in the lake? This kind of situation usually happens with me when I photograph fireworks here in Chicago...

So, in the past, when I am gonna mount my camera to a tripod, I would remove the sling strap and attach the original neck strap so that I will still have something to hold on to whenever I take long-exposure shots. You see, you can only attach one thing to the camera screw mount: either the tripod or the alternative strap. That's it. (Note, though, that I only loosely hold the straps so that I won't cause any unnecessary movement to the set up.)

This dilemma is solved by the Joby Ultraplate.

You attach the Ultraplate to the tripod screw mount. Simple, right? However, the Ultraplate itself has two quarter-inch tripod screw mount! Two! What this means is, you can attach an alternative strap and still be able to mount your camera to a tripod. Genius! I've always wondered why no camera accessory makers had produced a solution for this dilemma and it took the folks at Joby to come up with the answer.

Oh, it's also compatible with the Joby GorillaPod Focus, which I reviewed here.

And the best thing about this plate? (As if being able to use an alternative strap and still be able to mount your camera to a tripod is not enough...) The plate is Arca-Swiss compatible. This means that if your tripod already has that kind of mounting plate, then you're good to go. And if your tripod does not use an Arca-Swiss plate, then you can just screw your tripod straight to the plate.