combination 1/4 and 3/8 screw from Leitz large ball and socket head 14121
Toronto. Standards mean repairs can be made outside the factory. They also mean third parties can make accessories that will fit products from many makers. This applies to photography too. You can usually mount a camera to any tripod. Accessories including electronic flash can be mounted on any camera with an accessory shoe. You can even buy lenses made by others that fit your camera. This is all thanks to standards.
Having said that, you may have seen a camera or accessory at one of our events (next fall fair is Saturday, October 1st) with what looks like an oversize threaded tripod socket. That is because tripod screws and sockets have two standards. A 1/4-20 screw and socket is pretty much universal for smaller cameras. A larger 3/8-16 was intended for large (i.e. professional) cameras. These standards were set a few decades after the dawn of the art by the Royal Photographic Society. (Initially there was a third standard – a 3/16-24 thread which is smaller than the 1/4-20 that became universal for small cameras.)
An adaptor with a 3/8-16 outer thread and a 1/4-20 inner thread converts a camera with the larger socket to the smaller tripod screw. Some firms like Leitz used a clever design to provide both standards on one device (like my 14121 Large Ball and Socket head). Alternatively a separate code was used for an accessory provided in either thread size (eg older ball and socket heads).
