Topic: Universal L Bracket?

[ELinder]

I know a number of you use L brackets, but I was wondering if anyone uses a universal type. I may have the chance to do some photos for real estate agents, and I'm thinking about getting an L bracket. However, getting something that will only fit on one camera type seems counterintuitive. Buy a new camera, and you need a new plate.

Manfrotto is releasing a new type, and I've already sent B&H an email asking if they are going to carry it. How's that one look to those of you that have used brackets? They have a video showing how to set it up.

Erich

http://www.manfrotto.com/l-bracket-q2

[Tim]

Erich, what about the Manfrotto Junior L?

[ELinder]

Unless I'm missing something obvious, that Junior L bracket isn't adjustable to keep the lens centered over the vertical center axis of the head. So when turning the whole head to do panoramas, it moves in a circle instead of around a point. It's definitely better than flopping the whole camera to the side with the head portrait cutout, but I assumed completely avoiding that was the point of using the bracket. Well, that and ease of switching portrait/landscape modes.

Erich

[Roger]

Erich, if you are looking to do a panoramic L bracket, Really Right Stuff is where I would start looking....but understand that the brackets designed to center the lens over the center point are more expensive than even camera model-centric L brackets.  The camera model ones are designed to fit the width perfectly and still allow access to to the side panels...

[ELinder]

Hm, in that case perhaps I'm not understanding what I need. I thought these adjustments would let me do everything I need to do.

http://vimeo.com/32141196

Erich

[Roger]

The new Manfrotto one may work - but the older L brackets were never set up to keep the center of the sensor at the same point.  Usually.

[ELinder]

Thanks. It may be a moot point, as they don't seem to be available anywhere despite being announced.

[gary]

i use camera specific L brackets, only because they seem to be the best for allowing access to various battery, memory and cable inputs, having said that if you can find a universal bracket why not, i almost had to go that route, but just a couple of weeks ago i checked really right stuff and they now have a bracket for the panasonic. this after i called kirk and was told they would probably not make a gh-2 specific, as they had one for the g-1 and never sold enough to recover design and setup cost. which meant they sold only 1 or 2 as todays cnc machining with laser scan input usually means very little design/engineer time put into the initial setup. i guess sometimes i'm just basically lazy and do not want to reconfigure every time i upgrade bodies.

[ELinder]

I got a follow up email from B&H saying they contacted their supplier and have requested to carry the whole line of 3 new Manfrotto L Brackets. They'll have different versions for the different popular head plates, their own, and an Arca/Swiss version. They aren't in stock yet, but expect them in 1-2 weeks.

Erich

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&A=ShowProduct&Q=&sku=859639&is=REG



Erich

[ELinder]

There's a B&H box on a brown truck headed my way. :-) First new pieces of kit in quite a while. I ordered the bracket and the Manfrotto Magic Arm. I'll post once I try them out.



Erich

[Coo1eo]

Good info Erich. I was thinking abou this same thing since I just purchased the "TMIP Standard" tripod / pistol grip head setup & will need a way for changing from Landscape to portrait with this setup. This may be the ticket  & should work well with the Manfrotto head. I'll be looking forward to your review of this bracket.

[ELinder]

Got the stuff, but it's still in the box. Life got seriously busy, so it'll be a while until I can try them out. First impressions on the L-bracket: it's bigger than I thought and a lot lighter. Magnesium is wonderful stuff. The Magic Arm is a lot more beefy than I thought and weighs a lot more. Should be super stable!



Erich

[ELinder]

Well, my first impression is mixed. I finally have the time and a shiny new D7000 body to try this out on. The bracket is very light, but on the bulky side. It's available with the 2 different Manfrotto mounting plate styles and an Arca Swiss style, so the plates mount onto the bracket instead of being part of it. The vertical bar is solid, so it does cover the access doors on that side. I have an IR remote, so that's not really an issue. Also, the Allen key used to remove the bracket goes into a nice holding slot built into the bracket, so it's always there if you need it.

Now comes the big caveat. I bought it to completely center the camera lens in the bracket. But apparently the beta testers all used bodies that had built in grips or add on grips. If a bare camera is used, there just isn't enough room to adjust the body to center it both horizontally and vertically. If you only use the setup to switch from landscape to portrait that's fine, but if you're going to be doing rotating panoramas on a tripod, it's not ideal. Which was my main purpose in buying it. It also means a slight shift in what's centered in the frame when switching orientations, so a slight recompose would be necessary. I'll have to do some testing to see how much of an issue that is on static subjects, but it seems to me it will be different for every camera that can't quite get centered, and you won't know how much of an issue it will be with your body until you buy it and try it.

I sent off an email to them saying they either have to explain this in the product description and instructions, or supply some sort of a riser plate for the bottom of the body. We'll see if I actually hear back from them, so stay tuned. But don't hold your breath.



Erich

[ELinder]

Well, surprise, I heard back from them not once, but twice via email. Unfortunately they were no help at all. The first response was, your camera apparently isn't fully compatible. Well duh, that's what I told them in my email. Wrote back, politely, and said either they need better instructions, a list of non fully compatible camera bodies, or a riser plate of some kind. The second response was, we'll forward your request to marketing, but we don't have any sort of riser, and maybe I could use a grip as a riser? Another duh, that's what I told them in my first email.

So, if you have a big body or grip, or multiple bodies, go for it. It'll still be useful to me, but not the ideal solution I was looking for.



Erich