rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

Has anyone tried one of the "Z" shaped tripod heads?
If so, what do you think?

Fotomacher Loc: Toronto

I just ordered 2 of them after the price was REDUCED so low that I had to given them a try. Right now both of my tripods have Manfrotto ball heads with Arca-Swiss clamps PM me in a few weeks and I’ll let you know what I think.

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

The low price is what got me interested.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

I would be hesitant to hang a D850 with a 70-200 lens off of that.

User ID

Mfr rates it for 3kg. Doesn't your outfit
weigh more than that ? So do hesitate !

Not that it looks unsafe, but it does look
to be prone to vibration. Also has no way
to level the horizon ... and no retailers to
buy it from, just ebay. Bad sign. And bad
design. OTOH, in conjunction with a real
pan-tilt head it may facilitate certain very
special video applications. If it solves one
problem just once for $20 it's worth that.

Comes with an allen wrench. Hasn't Ikea
schooled everyone never to buy anything
that comes with an allen wrench ?

.

User ID

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FWIW the makers or the promoters of
the Z are clueless as to its safest use.
Check out their promo pic, below ....

Note the image of the cob-job portrait
orientation set up. DANGEROUS. And
not by design but by user error.

Note the vertical base plate is on your
left, as you are the photographer, not
the subject. The lens should then be
aimed AWAY from you when the base
plate is to your left.

As shown, the weight of the lens is
trying to unscrew the camera from
the base plate. Point the lens away
from you and then the weight of the
lens does the opposite, it's trying to
keep the 1/4-20 screw plenty tight.
Just gravity and right hand threads,
not new kewlar fizzix.

The 90degr flip-over to the portrait
position on every pan tilt head goes
in this same unsafe direction. So to
demo the Z, they blithely follow suit.
But the Z is symmetrical and could
just as well be demo'ed in the safe
position. So, if you do buy one of
these chatzkes, keep that in mind.

If you have a use for it, for $20 it's
a bargain. But it's no bargain if your
gear goes crash-bang-crack :-(

.

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Julian Loc: Sarasota, FL

I was interested in the "Z" mount platform when I saw the beautifully made edelkrone unit but I did not want to spend $150.00 just to experiment so I ordered one of the inexpensive units for less thanh $20.00. What a waste of money! It barely holds my small point-and-shoot light weight camera, no matter how the allen set screws are tighten. What do you expect for $20.00? Oh, well...

CO

Maybe the Custom Brackets PRO-SV bracket would be a good alternative. I haven't used one but it seems to have two posts to prevent camera rotation. You would mount the camera and then turn the screw in the base to pull the camera up to the two posts.

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CO

That can definitely be a problem. A lady in my camera club had the same problem. She would tighten the heck out of the screw to try to keep the camera from rotating. She brought her camera to a meeting once. She had almost completely stripped the threads out of the tripod socket.

Drifter

Bought one a few months, used it once, didn’t like it, not very sturdy. Shelved it. Fortunately it was cheap and I do mean cheap.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Is this the one you got? $19.43 delivered. I just ordered one.

https://smile.amazon.com/Universal-Zflex_TH-Release-Camera-Bracket/dp/B071YNBWCG/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1550322771&sr=8-6&keywords=z+mount+for+camera

Drifter

Yep

Julian Loc: Sarasota, FL

That doesn’t look like a “Z” mount but very interesting.

sbohne

Very similar...in fact it looks like a blatant knock off of the JustRite platform produced in Michigan. They were not cheap but fairly priced for the product. It appears the CustomBracket is as well. As in all things in life...you get what you pay for. The idea of the "Z" bracket is good, but as mentioned elsewhere it is useless with a heavy lens.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

That one looks interesting, and safe.