Stepping Up To The Plate: A Really Right Stuff B57L L-Plate Review

A quick-release plate (or QR plate) is the part of a camera tripod that is directly attached to the bottom of the camera. It allows the camera to be quickly attached to, and removed from, a tripod.The QR plate is simply a piece of metal or plastic screwed into the bottom of the camera and will have rubber or cork-like pads on top to grip the bottom of the camera.  Many tripods come with a QR plate of some sort, and only differ in the way that the QR actually attaches to the tripod itself.

The QR plate included in most, if not all, tripod or tripod head (e.g. ballhead, geared, etc.) packages are usually just have a flat top. This is because there is no way for the manufacturer to know what their buyers will be putting on top of their QR plates. In most cases sticking with the QR plate that came with a tripod or head will be enough for most people. Even the more economical tripods will have a QR plate that can hold the average compact camera with no problems.

The issue with these one-size-fits-all-cameras approach to QR plates is that because it’s has a flat surface, it is prone to misalignment whether during attachment, or if the camera is accidentally nudged with enough force.

This can become quite problematic when a camera is used in portrait mode (camera in vertical position). A DSLR position on its side with a relatively heavy lens attached to it will start pointing downwards due to gravity. This will happen even if you have a very sturdy tripod and a heavy-duty head that can handle twice the weight of your camera equipment: the weakness here now lies with the QR plate since it’s not able to hold the camera well. One can screw the QR plate into the camera more tightly, but can run the risk of over-tightening and damaging the screw threads.

I use a Benro tripod coupled with a Benro KB-0 ballhead. The QR plate that came with it is alright for most of my purposes, but when I use heavier gear like a gripped 40D and 24-70 lens in portrait mode, the camera tends to point down over the course of a shoot.  When I recently acquired a used Canon 1Ds Mark II (reviewed here), I knew that the existing QR wouldn’t be able to hold this heavier DSLR body.

A solution to this issue is a QR plate that is designed specifically for one’s camera. Such a QR plate would be designed to match the contour of a given camera’s bottom. Because of this “fit-like-a-glove” approach, this kind of QR plate ensures that the camera is not going to twist out of alignment.

It was just as well that a compatible QR plate showed up on the photography buy-and-sell section of the PiPho forums. It was actually an L-Plate from a company called Really Right Stuff (RRS), and it was packaged for sale with a 1D Mk IIN. I asked the seller if he was willing to sell the L-plate separately from the camera, and he agreed. He also gave a very good price for it too. He shipped it the same day that I sent payment, and I received it a couple of days later.

Wait a minute. We were talking about QR plates, so what’s this business about L-plates?

What’s an L-Plate?

Simply put, an L-plate or L-Bracket as it’s also called, is basically two QR plates stuck together in an L-shape. The bottom horizontal part of the “L” screws on to the bottom of a camera, like a conventional QR plate. The vertical part of the “L” goes up along the side of the camera, and it allows the camera to be mounted on its side on top of a tripod head (demonstrated later in this article).

The L-plate that I acquired is an RRS B57L. It will fit the Canon EOS 1D and 1Ds models up their respective Mark II versions. The 1D and 1Ds Mk III and above will require a different L-Plate. The B57L feels really solid, not surprising as it’s precision-machined from high-quality solid billet tempered aluminum. Its black anodized surface is not only pleasing to the touch, but it also protects the metal underneath from corrosion. The L-plate I received had a few scratches, but they looked like normal wear-and-tear and I don’t mind them considering the price I paid for it.

Attaching the L-plate is easy, just screw it into the bottom of the camera with the vertical part of the plate snug against the side of the camera. The B57L requires a hex/Allen wrench for its screw. The seller wasn’t able to send me the wrench included with the plate, but I was able to use a standard one that I had bought from a hardware store long ago.

Once attached, the solid-feeling L-plate compliments the rock-like construction of my 1Ds Mk II. From an aesthetics point of view it also makes the already-imposing 1Ds Mk II even meaner, similar to putting bull bars on a pickup truck or 4WD vehicle. It simply looks the business.

However, I didn’t buy the RRS L-plate just for looks, I bought it to help hold the 1Ds Mk II and a heavy standard zoom lens steady on a tripod. The B57L, like all plates from RRS, conforms to the Arca-Swiss standard for quick-release plates and quick-release clamps (the QR clamp is the part of the tripod that holds the QR plate.

How Do You Use It?

To use the a QR or L-Plate with your tripod, just slide the rail under the plate into the clamp and ensure that it’s captured by the jaws of the clamp. Center the camera using the guide marks on the plate and clamp. Tighten the clamp by using a knob or lever, depending on what kind of clamp you have.

Once the plate is secured, you can position the camera by moving the ballhead. A long plate like the RRS L-plate will also allow the camera to be repositioned sideways by sliding it few inches without having to move the tripod.

The L-plate is an improvement over a bottom-only plate because it also has a vertical rail. The vertical rail runs up along the side of the camera. When you want to use the camera sideways, you just slide the bottom rail out of the clamp, turn the camera on its side, then slide the vertical rail into the tripod clamp. This allows one to quickly change a camera between horizontal and vertical orientations quickly on a tripod, and there is no need to screw and unscrew anything.

What’s more important, using a camera in portrait orientation with an L-plate allows the camera’s mass to be directly on top of the tripod, instead of hanging out to one side of the ballhead. Why is this important? First of all, having your camera directly on top of your tripod, and not hanging to one side, means that you can take full advantage of the stability and vibration damping of a tripod. This will result in sharper pictures. Secondly, having a heavy camera directly on top of a tripod is more difficult to accidentally tip over than a heavy camera hanging off-kilter to a side.

The RRS L-plates are designed in practicality in mind. They are designed with practicality in mind. For instance, the B57L plate is designed to allow easy access to the side of the camera covered by the vertical part of the plate.

There is an opening on the corner of the L-plate through which you can replace the 1D Mk II’s battery or use a DC coupler while the L-plate is in place. The vertical part of the plate is also offset a bit to the rear, to provide enough clearance for cable connections to the side of the camera, such as sync cord or USB cable connections.

Really Right Stuff makes L-plates and conventional bottom-only plates for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony and Pentax cameras, whether DSLRs or point-and-shoots. They also make other product like plates for lenses that have a tripod foot. It’s very likely that they have a plate that can be used for your camera.

The Catch

The L-plate is not without disadvantages. For one, it adds to the bulk of the camera. It adds around 1/3 of an inch to the height and width of the camera, which could be an issue if your camera is already a snug fit in your bag. The L-plate, while already light, will still add weight to your camera setup, and that’s not really a good thing if your gear is already heavy to begin with and you have to lug it around all day. It will also increase the vertical grip’s girth which may make it unsuitable for people with small hands.

Another issue would be compatibility. While the Arca-Swiss standard for quick-release systems (plates and clamps) is pretty popular, it’s usually associated with better-made tripods and ballheads; you’ll probably won’t see the Arca-Swiss system on really cheap stuff. And it a manufacturer does use the Arca-Swiss standard, they might have interpreted it a bit differently. For example, the B57L wouldn’t slide in completely into the Arca-Swiss-styled QR clamp of my Benro ballhead, and I had to modify the ballhead to make them fit together (I have posted about the modification in another post.). Popular tripod/ballhead manufacturers like Manfrotto, Bogen and Gitzo don’t use the Arca-Swiss system and use their own proprietary QR systems instead.

And then there’s the cost.

A brand new L-plate from RRS can cost upwards of US$140, and a brand new B57L would’ve set me back US$183. Putting that in perspective, one can buy two units of Canon’s 50mm f/1.8 lens. The bottom-only QR plates from RRS cost US$55 each. And that’s not counting shipping from the US. The pricing of well-engineered model-specific plates will deter most photographers from buying one.

Should you get one?

If you use a tripod a lot and want to have your heavy camera setup as stable as possible, then getting a model-specific QR plate in addition to a good tripod and head will make sense. If you want to have more stability when using your camera in portrait/vertical position and added convenience, then you can consider an L-Plate. If you don’t use a tripod much, then it’s not really advisable. Not unless you’re willing to spend that much money to protect 1 or 2 sides of your camera, or make it look nicer.

If you think you want one, and see a plate compatible with your camera up for sale at a very good price, buy it ASAP! I rarely see RRS stuff for sale here and snapped up the first one that showed up.

If you’re able to get an RRS plate for your camera, then rest assured that whatever model it is, it will have the same solid construction, functionality and convenience as the one that the B57L gives me.

Do you use a camera model-specific quick-release plate from RRS or another manufacturer? How do you like them? Have your say in the comment box below!

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