The Rollbar 4500 Adapter Block

If you have used the 4500 on a tripod, perhaps you have learned that 4500's lens unit may be blocked by the tripod plate. The images below show the problem. The cause of this problem is the size of a tripod plate is likely larger than the distance between the lens unit and 4500's tripod hole. As a result, if you do not rotate the lens unit passing certain position before mounting the camera on a tripod, the lens unit will be blocked by the tripod plate. Similarly, you may also have problem to rotate the lens back to its normal position if the camera is on a tripod or has a quick release plate attached. This is a minor but very annoying problem.

One way to overcome this problem is the use of Rollbar 4500 adapter block. This 4500 adapter block is a small plate of approximately 35×28×4mm as shown below. The threaded hole is for tripod use and the screw is for mounting the plate onto the 4500.

As shown in the left image below, after installing the plate, the tripod hole is shifted to the right to provide more space for a tripod plate. The right image below shows the configuration of mounting a small quick release on the plate. As you can see, the lens unit is no more blocked. Note that there are some very large quick release plates that may still block the lens unit; however, I believe 4500 users do not use these large or extra large quick release plates or tripod plates.