CAMVATE QR Top Cheese Handle with NATO Rail and Cold Shoe

2020-05-07T07:16:53

Well made and heavy duty. Could have been designed a little smarter, at least for my particular use. It's always a gamble when you try t mix rig parts between manufacturers. In my case, I was planning to use this as the top handle on a Smallrig frame for a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 6K. I figured NATO rail is pretty standard didn't expect any compatibility issues. But I was wrong! The way the Smallrig frame is made and where the top integral NATO rail is located, the frame really needs the clamp of the accessory to tighten from the front. That is, the thumb screw for the NATO clamp should be towards the lens mount and not toward the screen. When ordering this Camvate handle, I never noticed this and never thought about which side of the handle the the screw clamp was located. Because of this design (both the frame and the handle) these two items just don't work well together. Not particularly either vendors fault. However, it would be great if CAMVATE had designed the handle to be reversible and the NATO clamp turned the other direction. This would not be a difficult design change, but apparently they haven't thought of this issue either. Since the handle also includes a short rail, I can still use the handle, but the add on rail adds extra height, weight and chunkiness to the setup.

Adam G.