[BrianShaw]

But would not, when mounted on a sturdy tripod as a coloumn studio tripod, due to leverage when gripping the camera, when cocking, the stresds on the bottom plate be greater, than with the camera just hanging on its tripod socket?

No, I don't think so. The Rolleifix really bionds the bottom of the camera -- face (main frame) and tripod mount -- into a single block to share the stress. It is a fairly robust way to mount the camera on a tri- or monopod. The stress may be the same between pod and hanging, but carrying a camera on Rolleifix upside down introduces the very real risk of the quck release mechanism, ummm... quickly releasing.