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Recommended Travel Friendly Macro Tripod

Started 5 months ago | Questions thread
Bobby2Shots Senior Member • Posts: 1,121
Re: Shooting upside down? Use an "L" bracket.

maggiemole wrote:

Thanks for the reply, Bobby - I’ve looked at the videos and they are very clear and convincing about the benefits of an L-plate. And they all speak from the point of view of landscape photography, which is a bit different from ground-hugging mushrooms. However, I’m certainly not rejecting the brackets.

Here’s my tripod, and my problem. It’s a Hama Traveller compact pro, sturdy, heavy and with a reversible column and a fixed ballhead which cannot be replaced by anything with an Arca Swiss fitting. It’s why I began by accepting I need a new, lighter, smaller tripod. I get that bit.

But I have no idea about an appropriate ballhead to take an L-bracket the way you describe. A drop-in bracket? What kind of quick release plate? How does it all work to allow the camera to stay the right way up even when the column has placed it very close to the ground? I’m all at sea, as you can tell.

My camera is Lumix GX9, mirrorless of course with a tilt screen. I assume a bracket like the Ellie Short would fit it, but if that’s wrong thinking, please tell me. I’m very grateful for you taking the time to try to enlighten my darkness!

Maggie

Actually, you can probably still use your current tripod and ballhead,,, all you'd need is an adapter on top of your current ballhead-plate. Something like this should do;

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1153080-REG/desmond_dac_38_quick_release_clamp.html

and, it only costs $14.99

You would simply mount this on top of your ballheads' current cork-top camera-plate. I assume yours is a 1/4"/20 screw. Instead of screwing your current cork-top plate into the base of the camera,,,, you would screw it into the underside of the clamp I showed you, and you'd now have arca-swiss compatibility. You'd now need an appropriately sized arca-swiss plate, or an L-bracket to screw onto the base of your camera, and you're done.

Here's a set of two 50mm arca plates for $11.99 They also have a set of two 70mm plates for $14.99

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1726294-REG/desmond_dp_50_2_pack_dp_50_50mm_arca_type_quick.html

Just be aware that there can be differences in how well some of these clamps and plates work when using different brands together. It's usually best to stick with the same brand of plates/clamps/L-brackets.

Some L-brackets are universal,,, and the best are designed for a specific camera, and usually cost quite a bit more. The universal models can interfere with battery-compartment doors, etc. They're cheaper, but can also be a bit of a pain-in-the-u-know-what.

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