Lens plate - possibly silly question

[Westside guy]

I've never bought a lens plate before, but I just bought a Kirk lens plate for the Micro-Nikkor 70-180. The plate comes with the one big screw that's obviously for attaching the plate to the tripod mount - but it also comes with these two tiny little screws. I have no idea what they're for!

There are small holes at the front and back of the plate, and the screws would fit in there - but I'm not sure what the utility of these holes + screws are.

Can anyone offer any guidance on this? I can certainly write to Kirk and ask; but I'm a bit embarrassed that it might be a really obvious answer that I'm somehow missing. I guess I'm more willing to embarrass myself here, where I'm quasi-anonymous.

Thanks!

 

[Scarlet Fever]

i think we might need to see some pictures to understand the situation...

 

[ChrisA]

I've never bought a lens plate before, but I just bought a Kirk lens plate for the Micro-Nikkor 70-180. The plate comes with the one big screw that's obviously for attaching the plate to the tripod mount - but it also comes with these two tiny little screws. I have no idea what they're for!

Here is a guess. I don't use the Kirk system. My stuff is all Bogen/Manfrotto but
I think those are an "anti-rotation" device. The ends of the screws press onto the bottom of the tripod mounting foot. They keep quick release plate from unscrewing from the tripod mounting foot.

 

[compuwar]

I've never bought a lens plate before, but I just bought a Kirk lens plate for the Micro-Nikkor 70-180. The plate comes with the one big screw that's obviously for attaching the plate to the tripod mount - but it also comes with these two tiny little screws. I have no idea what they're for!

There are small holes at the front and back of the plate, and the screws would fit in there - but I'm not sure what the utility of these holes + screws are.

Can anyone offer any guidance on this? I can certainly write to Kirk and ask; but I'm a bit embarrassed that it might be a really obvious answer that I'm somehow missing. I guess I'm more willing to embarrass myself here, where I'm quasi-anonymous.

Thanks!

Normally, the smaller screws are to stop the plate from sliding out of the base when you tilt up and down- just in case you don't clamp things down when you start, or if something comes loose. Not all plates or feet have them.

 

[dchen720]

Normally, the smaller screws are to stop the plate from sliding out of the base when you tilt up and down- just in case you don't clamp things down when you start, or if something comes loose.

nice....

 

[Westside guy]

Normally, the smaller screws are to stop the plate from sliding out of the base when you tilt up and down- just in case you don't clamp things down when you start, or if something comes loose. Not all plates or feet have them.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

My Acratech head's quick release plate has a "detent pin" built in which catches in the bottom side of both my camera L-bracket and the lens plate for this 70-180. The detent pin prevents the plates from sliding off if I don't clamp them down sufficiently - so in that case it sounds like I don't need the little screws (except maybe for redundancy, which isn't a bad thing).