Manfrotto 275 Mini Spring Clamp

The Manfrotto 275 Mini Spring Clamp is a potentially useful addition to your studio kit, allowing accessories with standard 5/8 or 3/8 inch mounts to be attached to tubular fittings (including tripods or lighting stands), table tops or even door handles of up to 32mm diameter (a more realistic figure than the 35mm quoted).

The clamp is made to Manfrotto’s usual high quality and feels good value for money. It makes a worthwhile supplement to the larger Manfrotto 175 spring clamp; especially if you want to carry it in the bottom of a camera bag for emergencies, like flagging or fill lighting.

However, the benefit of its small size creates other problems:
1. the short distance between centres of the spigot and jaws (38mm) is sometimes insufficient to allow larger accessories (eg a flash gun) to be mounted
2. the pressure required to open the clamp, as the handles are only 60mm from the hinge, is significant and would be challenging for users with limited hand strength or mobility

In summary, the Manfrotto 275 Mini Spring Clamp is a useful addition to, but not a substitute for, the larger and more versatile Manfrotto 175 clamp.