Is this bad practice (RODS) ?

[zak forrest]

Is it bad practice to have rods on the bottom of the camera with a handle mount and two handles only going through the first two holes and not being in the two holes for the rods in the rear? It seems solid to me and I like it for its compactness, but I am just wondering if this is bad practice, doesn't seem as secure. But at the same time, they don't seem like they are going anywhere...

[J.D. Frey]

I've seen it done- and I've heard both arguments, but using the smaller rails only on the front seems to be pretty standard. The base plate is very strong. I guess it's possible that there could be more play using only the front of the base plate, but I haven't noticed a difference.

However I've noticed the difference between the weight of the 24 inch rods and the 18 inch rods seems to be negligible, but if you use some really short rods it may make a difference.

[Mike Prevette]

The Arri base only has one clamp point per rod, so if the red base offers similar clamping force I can't see it as a issue.