An L-Bracket from SmallRig
L-Brackets are very useful beacuse they allow when working with a tripod to change the camera very fast between landscape or portrait mode.
Introduction
Ever since the days with the Canon 5D MK II i owned an l-Bracket fitting for my camera. This time i had a Kirk L-Bracket which was pretty expensive, but i had to fit very prcisely to reach all connectors and battery compartment and so on.
With my Canon 6D MK II there wasn’t as much limitation, because for triggering the shutter one could a smartphone via WifI. This was the reason i got myself an universal L-Bracket from Mengs. This L-Bracket i would have loved to attach to my Lumix G81 but on this camera this inuversal bracket didn’t fit at all. Since i wanted to get more into videography i got my self a Cage from SmallRig for the Lumix.
I did a small video on this:
Lumix G9 and SmallRig
Now with my new Lumix G9 i had to decide again. Since a cage doesn’t substitute a tripod attachment i searched for a L-Bracket. A perfectly fitting bracket like from RRS would cost arround 200,– €.
After some research i found the L-Bracket from SmallRig which is made for this camera modell but with arround 70,– € probably a better deal.
The L-Bracket from smallRig fits very accurate to the Lumix G9 body and ads a grip for a better handling of the camera.
On the grip side on the bottom there is a door so one can reach the battery compartment and change batteries while the L-Bracket is mounted.
The sidepart of the L-Bracket can be pulled out and arrested so one easily can rech the connectors (USB,HDMI and audio in). With this side bracket you’ll have a second grip to hold the camera more stable while capturing video clips.
As an accessory you can a second cold shoe for mounting a external microphone for example.
With this the hot shoe of the camera is free or can be used for an external monitor.
A good solution too me is that the littel screw-driver is attached to the bottom side of the bracket and holds with magnetic.
Problems with the L-Bracket
With the L-Bracket from SmallRig you maybe run into 2 issues. First the swiveling display cannot be used completely because it can’t be turned horizontally towards the camera, for example for images taken close to the gorund, because the rig is in the way. This might be a poblem for videos but its the same problem as with the Canon 6D MK II and the Mengs L-Bracket.
The second issue is about compatibility to the Arca Swiss standard. While with my tripods i don’t have any problems with a ball-head from Benro or with the Arca Swiss p0 head but with the Novoflex focusssing rail i can’t insert the camera.
Conclusion
The SmallRig L-bracket fits pretty good to my Lumix G9 and i can deal with the issue that the swiveling display is limited a little bit in flexibility. And comparing the price point to other manufacturers i don’t have a problem with the profile being a little bit wider.
ciao tuxoche
