Photography

The case for an L-bracket

As part of my equipment, I have a Manfrotto 055CLB tripod with a Manfrotto MH804-3W head. This head, requires a Manfrotto 200PL quick release plate.

The head is extremely useful for tilting and panning with easy-to-use horizontal, vertical and rotational controls. This particular head has worked better for me than a number of ball heads that I have tried, as tilting and panning are achieved by moving the levers on the head rather than pushing the camera itself.

One major limitation of the head is that its tilting capability is effectively lost when the camera orientation is changed to portrait.

As you can see, the camera blocks movement of the vertical control arm. The horizontal control arm cannot move more than about 45° past the horizontal in the opposite direction.

Another disadvantage of setting the camera into portrait mode is that the centre of gravity is no longer over the centre line of the tripod. This can lead to instability, especially with a heavy camera.

These limitations are not obvious at first, but they become increasingly frustrating with real-world use.

This frustration came sharply into focus recently when trying to take macro pictures of mealybugs on a Venus flytrap. I wanted to take the pictures in portrait mode, but could not change the angle of the lens to point at the bugs. This prompted me to start looking for an L-bracket.

As I was already fairly deep into the Manfrotto ecosystem, I first looked at the Manfrotto Q2 L-bracket.

Unfortunately, this bracket costs more than an arm and a leg in South Africa, which forced me to start looking for a more budget friendly alternative.

I found quite a few L-brackets on Temu, but they all used an Arca Swiss quick release mechanism. This meant I needed to convert my tripod head to use the Arca Swiss system. The Manfrotto 200PL receiver is not removable, so I had to make an Arca Swiss adaptor using the Manfrotto quick release plate. Fortunately, Temu also had Arca Swiss receiver plates, which are normally mounted on ball heads. Both the receiver plate and the L-bracket cost less than R200, including VAT and import tax.

The L-bracket came in two parts, complete with screws, an Allen key and a D-ring screw for mounting the bracket on the camera. The bracket was very easy to assemble (at some stage I will take it apart again and glue the screws into position).

In the picture above, you can see there is sufficient space between the L-bracket and the camera to access the camera's accessory ports (a shutter remote is plugged in). Mounting the L-bracket as shown also allows full access to the camera's battery compartment.

The Cooper's aloe (Aloe cooperi) above was taken in portrait orientation, without having to fight the tripod head.

I am very happy with this latest addition to my camera kit.

(updated: 3 February 2026)