Arca-swiss | Press Release | L-bracket

[maud ARCA-SWISS]

The ARCA-SWISS L-BRACKET, a universal solution


This must-have tool is designed to make life easy for photographers! The L-Bracket makes switching from landscape to portrait format child’s play. There’s no need to recompose the image as the framing remains the same.

The ingenious ARCA-SWISS L-Bracket system (pat. pending) is:

UNIVERSAL. It can be used with all the best cameras.

ADJUSTABLE! The ARCA-SWISS L-Bracket allows you to adjust your camera horizontally and vertically, independently from one another. ARCA-SWISS is the only manufacturer to offer this ingenious system! And, if you need to work with your camera tethered to your computer, you can store the cables between the two metal brackets or in between the body of the camera and the L-BRACKET arms.

MULTI-FUNCTION. It’s very quick and easy to remove the vertical arm of the L-Bracket to reveal the camera plate that connects the L-Bracket to the bottom of your camera. One vertical arm can be used with different cameras. If you’re using a tripod and the L-Bracket and want to work hand-held, the camera can be released in seconds, making it quick and easy to flip from one to the other.


Cost: - 249.-$


ARCA-SWISS continues to innovate to make life easier for photographers!




For further information, contact ARCA-SWISS on 33-381 85 40 60 or by e-mail on: arca-swiss@wanadoo.fr




Press contact: Maud Huot-Marchand - Tel : 33-381 85 40 66 - Mail: comm.arca-swiss@orange.fr

[dsim]

Seems very functional. Leave it to Arca for clever design.

[cjbroadbent]

So on my Cube, I would have to turn the camera plate 90 degrees (sideways) to get the camera pointing forwards. I would be then unable to slide the camera fore & aft to get the lens nodal point above the rotation axis. ??

[Sal Santamaura]

...The ingenious ARCA-SWISS L-Bracket system (pat. pending)...ARCA-SWISS continues to innovate to make life easier for photographers!...Nice enough, but inovative and deserving of a patent at this point?

http://reallyrightstuff.com/rrs/Itemdesc.asp?ic=MC%2DL&eq=MCL%2D001&Tp=

That's just one example; similar L-brackets have been around for at least a decade.

[resummerfield]

I wonder if the “universal” and “adjustable” functions are desirable? Dedicated L-plates are molded to conform exactly to the dedicated camera body, thus locking that camera to the plate. There is absolutely no “give” or movement between my RRS L-plate and my Nikon D-700’s rubber coated body. I can’t imagine a universal flat-plate mount holding as securely.

[cjbroadbent]

I wonder if the “universal” and “adjustable” functions are desirable?.....
I would say they are desirable. The problem is getting 3 adjustments - camera hole, lens axis and nodal point - into a pocketable accessory.
Arca, Novoflex and RightStuff are nearly there but they forget the fore&aft nodal point slider - which is where a lot of us are at; namely stitching a few verticals for interiors and landsape (QTVR contraptions are way overkill).
I would snap up an adjustable bracket that adds just one extra dimension. I had to Do It Myself for Leica (http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OR3U2BmIDuk/S-qe9C4EMbI/AAAAAAAAE0g/SYETYW_s2e4/s800/bracketx3.jpg) - a lot of hack-sawing - and I would hate to do it for Hasselblad.

[resummerfield]

I would say they are desirable. The problem is getting 3 adjustments - camera hole, lens axis and nodal point - into a pocketable accessory.
Arca, Novoflex and RightStuff are nearly there but they forget the fore&aft nodal point slider - which is where a lot of us are at; namely stitching a few verticals for interiors and landsape ......
Nice job on your Leica bracket, Christopher.

I doubt that a single adjustable bracket that could incorporate 3-adjustments would be light-weight or pocketable. But RRS does make accessories to their L-bracket that will locate the nodal point. I have one of their simplest, the MPR-CL (pictured below).

I prefer the smallest, lightest-weight L-bracket possible, so I can leave it on the camera indefinitely, always ready. If I need a nodal slide, I can easily attach the MPR-CL bracket and shoot.

[cjbroadbent]

That MPR-CL is neat and tidy! Anyway, the OP deserves thanks and praise for tackling the problem. Arca-Swiss do fantastic products. My Cube reigns.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

One thing that few or none of the DSLR manufacturers seem to design for these days is build bodies so the lens axis can readily be maintained when the camera is rotated. I can see that this new AS bracket might be useful here.

(Pentax nearly got it exact on the 645N, however, with two tripod sockets, one on the side).

Really Right Stuff has a huge heavy and expensive contraption that does it, but lenses such as telephotos with rotating collars do the job perfectly. L brackets carved to fit specific camera bodies look exquisite in catalogs but in practice take a lot away ergonomically (nasty on hands in freezing cold, for instance), and often exhibit this major failing in this lens axis regard. Most are so heavy and bulky that I find it's ultimately less hassle to use a lightweight bottom plate to flop the tripod head and recompose with short focal length w/o collars.

LF photographers have available a simpler and more elegant solution-- just rotate the back!