Buying Guide: Is the L bracket worth it?

In photography there is no shortage of gadgets and gizmos to spend your hard earned money on that are supposed to help you with something but sometimes you don't really need it and you end up just carrying around useless gear. I wanted to create a post with gear I love and why I love them and hope that I can help you if you are making a decision of what to purchase.

Our first piece of gear... the L Bracket

I was a fairly late adopter to the L bracket and really didn't see the point to it. My original thought was " I am fast at changing my composition from vert to horizontal so it is not going to save me speed and I really don't like taking the camera on and off the tripod so often as it leaves room for error if your plate didn't line up properly and doesn't mount correctly and falls off."

Still to this day I find these points very valid against the L bracket. However one thing changed that vetoed one of those points.

See originally my tripod ballhead mount was a knob that I had to twist to lock and unlock the Arca-Swiss plate. Having to untwist and retwist took time. My new ballhead is a RRS BH-30 with a level lock. The Level lock was the real game changer to the L bracket for me. It actually was faster now to switch my comps and made me actually want to use the L bracket.

Which then opened up the real benefits of the L bracket.

• You don't have to re-level your ballhead if you switch comps because it stays the same.

• It allows your camera to stay level on your tripod and you don't have to worry about the tripod becoming unbalanced and falling over like you would if you had to dump your camera sideways for a vertical shot.

That all being said, the RRS ballheads are a great investment if you can afford it but not everyone can so here are a few other brands that are great quality that have similar options.

This is the Leofoto LH-30LR Low-Profile Ball Head with Lever Release Clamp. The price for this is $169 USD from B&H Photo.

This is the Really Right Stuff BH-30 Ball Head with Full-Size Lever-Release Clamp that I have. I bought mine used for $90. It is available for purchase new for $375 USD!

Do you like your ballhead but want to update your mounting plate thingy. You can get just that.

This is available for $59 USD from B&H and finally a Canadian seller, it is also available from The Camera Store for $74.87 HERE

For the L bracket itself, make sure you buy one that is designed for your camera so that you have access to all your plug is flap areas, what are they called... ports, maybe. You know what I'm talking about. I bought a generic one from Amazon several years ago for my Canon 5DM3 and it did not have the bump out for my corded remote so that L bracket was unusable.

There are lots of brands out there and good cheaper Amazon options so there is no need to drop lots of money on one if you don't want to. However when I did find a used Really Right Stuff L bracket for my Canon 5DM4 from the RRS hoarder that i bought my ballhead from, I jumped at it and I was surprised and delighted to see that they had an Allan Wrench built into the L bracket and secured with a magnet so they I always have one handy. I thought that was genius.

I have recently seen the same feature on some cheaper brands which is great to see.

I really hope this post was helpful for anyone on the fence about an L bracket.

Coming up next is Camera Backpacks, Tripod Legs, Filters and much more!