Landscape Photography and What I've Learned

[weepete]

I thought one of the most important features of a ball head was ease of positioning. I don't have an L-bracket for testing, but I'm guessing that moving the ball head and recomposing is at least as fast as dismounting, remounting and recomposing with the bracket. And far cheaper. And the camera is lighter for the hand-held shots (I'm assuming most people who use an L-bracket leave it on). It's not like you can leave out the recompose part - I haven't seen a picture through my viewfinder that didn't require a little re-composition from landscape to portrait mode.

Sorry, I still don't get it.

With an L bracket you will keep the centre of your camera in line with the centre of the tripod, where if you flip it on a ball head it moves around the ball giving you a different centre which is then different from the centre of the tripod. Means you can end up with a slightly different angle on foreground objects and can throw off the alignment with the background. To get the same pov you'd then need to move your tripod where with an L bracket you only have to adjust the vertical axis.

 

[JTPhotography]

I thought one of the most important features of a ball head was ease of positioning. I don't have an L-bracket for testing, but I'm guessing that moving the ball head and recomposing is at least as fast as dismounting, remounting and recomposing with the bracket. And far cheaper. And the camera is lighter for the hand-held shots (I'm assuming most people who use an L-bracket leave it on). It's not like you can leave out the recompose part - I haven't seen a picture through my viewfinder that didn't require a little re-composition from landscape to portrait mode.

Sorry, I still don't get it.

With an L bracket you will keep the centre of your camera in line with the centre of the tripod, where if you flip it on a ball head it moves around the ball giving you a different centre which is then different from the centre of the tripod. Means you can end up with a slightly different angle on foreground objects and can throw off the alignment with the background. To get the same pov you'd then need to move your tripod where with an L bracket you only have to adjust the vertical axis.

Yep. Tinkering with the camera and settings is much easier when the entire thing is perched up above the tripod, and the entire rig is more stable.

Most importantly, the brackets I use, Pro Media Gear, have a curvature or cradle that hugs the camera and keeps it from twisting on the camera, as a flat mount can do. When you lay the camera over sideways with a flat mount, the camera can sag if you don't have the plate really tight. PMG makes brackets without the L part that have this curvature and will remain very stable when you lay over into vertical position.

ProMediaGear Bracket Plate for Nikon D800 DSLR Camera PBNMBD12

 

[snerd]

I've been thinking about getting an L bracket simply because I don't like all that weight hanging off the "side" of the tripod. It just doesn't seem very stable to me.

 

[JTPhotography]

One thing about it, you don't even have to remount the camera to improve stability, the camera is more stable when tipped sideways with the L bracket than without.

 

[dennybeall]

I guess I misspoke when I simply said a "good" L-Bracket. I was thinking the difference between a simple L-bracket, just a single piece of metal and relatively cheap, versus an L-bracket with horizontal and vertical adjustments that allows the sensor to be centered over the rotation point of the tripod.

 

[D-B-J]

I guess I misspoke when I simply said a "good" L-Bracket. I was thinking the difference between a simple L-bracket, just a single piece of metal and relatively cheap, versus an L-bracket with horizontal and vertical adjustments that allows the sensor to be centered over the rotation point of the tripod.

Oh oh that makes sense. When I meant L-Bracket I meant the fancy ones built for a certain DSLR.

 

[Tailgunner]

Great stuff!

 

[D-B-J]

Great stuff!

[emoji106][emoji106]

 

[Tailgunner]

Great stuff!

[emoji106][emoji106]

So you still digging the 16-35 F4?

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

What's this mirror lock up? My NEX-7 doesn't seem to have that.

 

[D-B-J]

Great stuff!

[emoji106][emoji106]

So you still digging the 16-35 F4?

Oh my, I absolutely love it!

 

[D-B-J]

What's this mirror lock up? My NEX-7 doesn't seem to have that.

There's a large amount of body shake as a result of mirror slap, which can sometimes effect shorter (say 1/2" or 1") exposures. It's just another way to minimize body movement/vibration on tripod-shots.

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

I was joking with you because my NEX-7 is a mirrorless camera.

 

[D-B-J]

I was joking with you because my NEX-7 is a mirrorless camera.

TOTALLY missed that. Hahahah.

 

[alv]

thank you for your understandable post .i believe its what i learned that helps.as i told my kids "ive made all the mistakes this is what works" thanks al