Calumet MF6820 Studio Clamp (Cheap Super Clamp)

I purchased a couple of these a few weeks ago, and just got to checking them out today. They are a cheap version of the Manfrotto 035 Super Clamp. I thought I'd do a quick review / info piece on them as there doesn't seem to be much info out there.

In terms of quality, they are what you'd expect - not as good as the real Manfrotto super clamps. I don't have any cheap Chinese ones to compare, but based on my experience with smaller cheap Chinese clamps, I expect the Calumet ones would be significantly better.

The knobs / handle in particular feel a bit more flimsy / cheap compared to the Manfrotto super clamp. On one of my clamps the rubber at the end of the moving part of the jaw is a bit out of position and raised up (I have tried to push it into place, but with no luck - I think it has been glued like this.

The rubber pad on this grip is raised up at this corner

Now, the main point of this post is to cover the use of the 2 screws that they come with, and the threaded holes in the base of the clamp. As there are no instructions or documentation included with the clamp, and no mention of what these are for on the websites of retailers selling the clamp. The point of these is to allow mounting one clamp at a right-angle, attached to the other clamp. So you could have one clamped to the vertical pole of a stand, then the other holding a pole horizontally like a boom arm. Or use double this setup with two stands and the clamps holding a horizontal pole between them to act like a background stand.

The screws push down in the holes within the V of the jaw. They do need a bit of force to push down - use the hex key also included with the clamp (the screws have hex heads). You'll also need to fully open the clamp to more easily get the hex key above them to push them down and tighten them. These then screw into the two threaded holes at either side on the base of the other clamp. Then you do the same with the other clamp so they are both screwed into each other for maximum stability and strength.

The two holes in the V grip part of the clamp the screws need to be pushed down through

Two clamps, one with the two screws pushed through, ready to screw into the threaded holes in the base of the other clamp.

The two clamps mounted together at right-angles using the screws

This combination gives you the equivalent of the Manfrotto 038 Double Super Clamp. But two of the Calumet MF6820 studio clamps are £28 total, while the Manfrotto 038 Double Super Clamp is £54. So quite a saving with the Calumet clamps. However, do note that getting the screws out again from the Calumet clamp is quite a pain.

While the Calumet clamps aren't as good quality as the Manfrotto ones, there are actually some advantages of the Calumet ones:

• They also have a 1/4" female thread in the centre of the base, so you can screw them straight on top of anything with a 1/4" thread. Or you could screw in something like a 1/4" male to 3/8" male adapter then mount something onto the base of the clamp that way (though I would assume you'd generally be better off using a stud with the thread you want).
• You can pull the clamp handle out and then reposition it without tightening / loosening the clamp at all. Useful for repositioning the handle after tightening it down, or if you have the clamp in a position where you can't fully rotate the handle to tighten / loosen the clamp. I believe Manfrotto now makes a super clamp with a ratcheting handle as well, but my old Super clamp doesn't feature this.
• They come with a flat wedge that fits into the V of the clamp for use when you are clamping two flat surfaces together. This neatly stores under the screw used for tightening the stud / spigot in place. However, it does restrict how much you can tighten down this handle when it is stored there. But it's nice that you get the flat wedge included even if the storage solution for it when not in use isn't perfect.

To sum up, initial impressions are that these do appear to be decent, value for money clamps. I would prefer they had better quality to match the Manfrotto super clamps, if that was possible without pushing the price up more than a couple of quid.