L-plate with ball head question

Richard

Dumb question #5372: Is there any reason to use an L-plate with a ball head? I am thinking of getting a RRS BH-40LR and will want to shoot both portrait and landscape orientation. Won't the head alone suffice? What is an L-plate for, anyway?

Thanks,

ChrisJ

rsinmadrid wrote:

Dumb question #5372: Is there any reason to use an L-plate with a ball head? I am thinking of getting a RRS BH-40LR and will want to shoot both portrait and landscape orientation. Won't the head alone suffice? What is an L-plate for, anyway?

Thanks,

It can be done without, but it's *much* easier to change from landscape to portrait orientation (and vice versa) with an L-plate. Without the plate, you also throw off the center of gravity of the setup, the camera is off to one side of the head, so it's more unstable.

USAIR

ChrisJ wrote:

It can be done without, but it's *much* easier to change from landscape to portrait orientation (and vice versa) with an L-plate. Without the plate, you also throw off the center of gravity of the setup, the camera is off to one side of the head, so it's more unstable.

What Chris said

I have the same set up as you mentioned very nice set up and very stable.
Little pricy but you only live once

Fred

ian408

I use L plates on both cameras. With the RRS head (or any for that
matter) and QR plate, going vertical is a piece of cake. Of course
the RRS ball head as two slots to drop the camera down to vertical
but that's not the ideal way to do this.

BTW, if you have an RRS QR, you probably want o be careful which
plate you use. For example, I know (now) that a Nova plate will not work
with an RRS QR. Neither will an Arca Swiss.

Ian

Richard

Thanks guys. Why did I just know that doing it the right way was going to come more expensive? RRS L plate for 20D, $140. :bash

ian408

rsinmadrid wrote:

Thanks guys. Why did I just know that doing it the right way was going to come more expensive? RRS L plate for 20D, $140. :bash

Yeah. It seems that with many things, trying to get by only means buying
something else later.

Richard

USAIR wrote:

What Chris said

I have the same set up as you mentioned very nice set up and very stable.
Little pricy but you only live once

Fred

Right. What tripod are you using? I'm leaning toward a Manfrotto 055MF3, but it's still up in the air.

Richard

ian408 wrote:

Yeah. It seems that with many things, trying to get by only means buying
something else later.

Yep. The L-plate is going to cost twice what I paid for the Giottos tripod I have now. I really don't want to make that mistake again. But I probably will .

Nikolai

Richard,

rsinmadrid wrote:

Dumb question #5372: Is there any reason to use an L-plate with a ball head? I am thinking of getting a RRS BH-40LR and will want to shoot both portrait and landscape orientation. Won't the head alone suffice? What is an L-plate for, anyway?

Thanks,

I was recently shopping for one, and described my struggles and stipulations here.
Note, that if I had an RSS ball-head, my decision could have been different:-)

As to the usability: absolutely.

As the other fellow dgriners pointed out, going from landscape to portrait with an L-bracket is a no brainer. Otherwise you may need to turn the head into a specific position, which is a hassle. You will also lose several inches of height, and trust me - if you were already low, those few inches can make a *huge* difference, unless you get an AngleFinder-C or something similar.
Plus it dis-balances the whole rig.

HTH

Manfr3d

The key advantage of an L-Plate is that you can
change horizontal and vertical orientation without
recomposing when changeing back.

David_S85

I'm a very happy RRS customer. Using their BH-40 ballhead, PCL clamp, 20D L-plate, and a slide bar for quick and easy panorama set ups.

Top notch quality and a very helpful staff. I had to exchange one nodal slide for another longer unit, and they were extremely accomodating.

ian408

David_S85 wrote:

Top notch quality and a very helpful staff. I had to exchange one nodal slide for another longer unit, and they were extremely accomodating.

Me too. Talked to them about a problem with the head and they were able
to diagnose and suggest a fix. If I wanted them to, I could have them fix
it no charge and shipping covere both ways. Top notch I say

USAIR

rsinmadrid wrote:

Right. What tripod are you using? I'm leaning toward a Manfrotto 055MF3, but it's still up in the air.

Richard I am using the Gitzo Explorer 2228 here's a review
And very happy with it.
Here's a review on the L bracket and one on the BH-55

Fred

Richard

USAIR wrote:

Richard I am using the Gitzo Explorer 2228 here's a review
And very happy with it.
Here's a review on the L bracket and one on the BH-55

Fred

Thanks, Fred. It looks like the 2228 has been discontinued and the successor is too expensive for me.

spider-t

rsinmadrid wrote:

Thanks, Fred. It looks like the 2228 has been discontinued and the successor is too expensive for me.

I love love LOVE my setup:

Manfrotto 055MF3
Acratech Ultimate Ballhead
RRS L bracket

My only peeve is that if I had gotten the 055MF4, I might be able to fit that thing in my luggage.

cheers,
Trish

ChrisJ

spider-t wrote:

My only peeve is that if I had gotten the 055MF4, I might be able to fit that thing in my luggage.

Heh, I just responded to Richard's other thread with that as the exact reason I bought the MF4!

Nikolai

Same here

ChrisJ wrote:

Heh, I just responded to Richard's other thread with that as the exact reason I bought the MF4!

• Acratech UB v2
• Manfrotto MF4 (NG edition)
• Kirk L-bracket (for 30D + grip)

Richard

Thanks, everyone. I hadn't really thought about the folded length. I read somewhere that the fewer leg sections, the less prone to vibration, or something. I don't know how much that matters to me, but on principle, my rule is the fewer moving parts the better. So I'll have to think about whether the size savings are worth the added risk of a lock breaking and the added hassle when setting up and taking down. Pretty minor stuff, I suppose. It sounds like either choice is a good one.

Cheers,