Hello from France
I was at the Photokina in Cologne last week-end and I spent quite a long time at the Arca Swiss booth discussing with the Vogt family.
It is too bad that the official press release for the d4 and d4m heads does not specify any figure in terms of acceptable load for those heads.
However, an interesting point in their design is that there is no overhanging part that could yield some unwanted flexibility. The supports of the rotating axes are U-shaped. Not like many classical 3-way heads.
Taking into account that the Z1 ballhead is rated for something like 60 kg, and that a classical GIZTO "rationnelle" 1570m 3-way head is rated for 10 kg, I would place the load capacity of the d4 and d4m between 10 and 60 kg
Well, not kidding, I have just manipulated the two d4/d4m heads with no load, so I think we need so time and get some real feedback about how those new heads behave under, say, a 8x10 camera.
An interesting detail of the design is that the two axes cross at a single point. Well, from a geometrical point of view, this is equivalent to a ball head, but with of course a different feeling.
Since the Korean copy of the Arca Swiss cube is mentioned, it should be mentioned that this device not only is a couterfeited design, and hence cannot enter the European Union, like anything counterfeited which is not protected by a technical patent, but duly registered as an original design & model ; but the Korean device copied a patented technical feature. Too bad... therefore the device will have really hard times to enter the US territory as well.
Our friends across the Atlantic have different regulations regarding counterfeited designs. To put it shortly, if a counterfeited design does not infringe any technical patent valid in the US, the product can enter the US with a minimum of legal paperwork.
The typical example is a copy of some famous Swiss watch, engraved at the back "made in China, Japanese movement". Such a watch is banned for import in the EU and Switzerland as a counterfeited design, but can legally enter the US : "eh guys, everybody can see immediately that this is not a Swiss watch, and no patent is infringed", this is the US spirit of the law.
But if a device infringes a technical patent valid in the US, then of course import will be blocked.
So, in order to save time in legal contorversies with future copy-ists, Arca Swiss has added a sticker saying "patented" to their new d4 and d4m products.
It means that it will be hard for future copies of those heads to enter either the EU or the US....
