Sometimes, you have to give it to the new guy on the block. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I love standards. It just makes everything easier for us creatives so that we don’t need to recite the “Let them work together” prayer every time we get new gear.
And I have to hand it to SmallRig for taking a stab at standardizing the jungle that is camera accessories. Now, this is a real issue, and standardization is definitely in order here. If you ever had Magic Arm puncture a cage or had a rosette connection that did not fit all the way through, you know what I am talking about.
I have had more than one discussion with accessory brands (not gonna name names here) about their own gear not being fully compatible with their other gear.
The accessory jungle problem
There are quite a few standards out there, with the most famous being the 1/4-20 tripod thread. But even that, as trivial as it sounds, is not fully standardized. While the width of the thread is obvious, there is no standard on how long it should be, so some mounts don’t connect well with some accessories and are left to spin freely.
A similar issue is with the Arri locking pins, where some brands have them slightly off, and some locking magic arms will not fit some tripod sockets. Really, it’s a mess.
If only there was a standard that all companies could adhere to to ensure that everyone plays nicely together.
Smallrig’s Standard Configurations Catalog
SmallRig just released their version of an open-source project that brings order to this jungle. It specifies the sizes, dimensions, and locations of many standard connecting members in the photo-video industry. And there is a downloadable dictionary with specs for your typical accessories.
Here are some examples for the 1/4-20 and 3/8 holes, the Arri Rosette, and a Cold shoe mount.
SmallRig’s motivation
According to SmallRig, here is what led them down this path.
For a considerable duration, the photo and video industry has been characterized by diversity but lacks standardization, resulting in poor user experiences. According to surveys, over 70% of users encounter compatibility issues when utilizing diverse shooting equipment.
Moreover, more than 30% of users have expressed a demand for a professional and standardized information source within the market, as the absence of such a resource has substantially inflated the cost of equipment compatibility.
In response, we are introducing industry-wide standardized design specifications for photo equipment. Our objective is to advocate for industry standardization to streamline user decision-making processes and reduce associated costs
The next steps
I think this is a great step in the right direction, and will definitely help SmallRig with their DreamRig and Co-design projects. What I’d like to see next is getting this project into the wild and putting it as an open standard where other companies can join and contribute. It would have been awesome if this was a multi-company effort from the get-go, but even as a single company, it is a step in the right direction.
