The Dangers Associated with Vertical Landscape & my solution (with Manfrotto L Bracket Q2)

Landscapes do not have to be captured horizontally but be careful as there are some risk and problems when doing it vertically. Firstly, so many times have I heard in my workshops, my students asking me whether they should pull the tripod from the car boot. Trust me when I say that by the end of the workshop, none of them dares to ask that question again. A tripod is essential for Landscape Photography, and unless I am scouting for the right angle then each Landscape exposure I will take will be with my camera seating on one of my sturdy tripods. The other thing I hear a lot is whether they should frame their scene in portrait or landscape mode. Personally, I hate those expressions when used to define the orientation of an exposure; since it would imply that a Portrait has to be frame vertically and subsequently a Landscape photograph horizontally. For those of you who would wonder whether i have a magic rule to define what orientation works best at any given time well the answer is no. It will depend on your subjects, the curves and patterns in your scene and the narrative you want to capture. As a rule of thumb though I always try both orientations for each subject I want to capture as you may never know what changing the orientation could reveal. By default, our tripod enables us to frame in a horizontal fashion, due to the quick release plate screwed onto the base of our camera. However, all tripod heads can enable one to change the orientation to vertical.

Risk and problem when switching to vertical orientation

Uneven weight distribution

What makes your camera + tripod combination stable is the weight distribution which starts from the top centre of the tripod down through its legs. When tilting the camera to the vertical orientation, the camera gets tilted on a different axis which shifts the whole weight distribution of the setup to the side and subsequently impairs its stability. A solution is to align the tilted camera with one of the tripod legs.

Different frame

The ultimate issue with having the camera on a vertical axis is the framing ends up being all off. One has to often move the tripod to frame the same subject vertically.

 

This is a real waste of time and sometimes it simply cannot be done given the position of the subject to the photographer or the way the tripod holds maybe against a rock or wall.

Level lost

A problem I found with tilting the camera to its vertical position is the need to level it again. That is where some tripod heads are better than others.

My solution: Manfrotto L Bracket Q2

Before i proceed with presenting the solution I found, I have to mention I am not sponsored by Manfrotto and I purchased all the equipment I present.

Why Manfrotto?

As mentioned in the episode on how to choose the right tripod for you, nowadays tripods head come with some kind of quick release plate mechanism which is screwed onto the camera base enabling a quick attach and release of the camera onto the tripod. There two types of quick release plate mechanism:

• The proprietary system: i.e. Manfrotto RC2

• The “standard” arca-swiss  system

Several years ago when I was buying my tripod heads, I made a choice to go with the proprietary Manfrotto quick release (RC2) system as I did not like the locking mechanism of the arca-swiss. So when it came down to finding a solution to my vertical orientation need it had to work with the Manfrotto quick release system.

Rather than using some generic L bracket and some adapters I decided to keep trusting Manfrotto’s quality and get their L Bracket-Q2 (a.k.a MS050M4-Q2). This surely comes at a cost: £85 on Amazon.

Three different models for three different quick release plate sizes:

• L Bracket-Q5 (a.k.a MS050M4-Q5 for 501PL quick release system)

• L Bracket-RC4 (a.ka. MS050M4-RC4 for410PL quick release system) 

The Specs:

The pros

The L Bracket-Q2 really answered each of the points mentioned above. It is an  L shape “plate”  made of magnesium, with has a quick release plate built in on each segment, one for horizontal ( which has a screw which goes into the camera base or battery grip) and the other for vertical orientation. The smart thing about this system is that it enables you to set the two quick release plates equidistant from the lens which guarantees same framing axis. Whether you use a battery grip of not, there are two threaded bolts, a short and a long to meet the necessary distance. There is a “Y” shape measuring tool that helps you being precise with the setup.

 

There is also a little safety peg which adds support in the case where big lenses are used and ensure the bracket remains correctly positioned on the camera body.

 

I think the nice touch of this system also lies with the fact the Allen key required to fix the system onto the camera can be safely stored in the vertical segment of L Bracket itself, so it accompanies you at all time.

 

Finally, when using it with my battery grip (Canon BG-E11), the distance from the bottom plate to the lens is greater, so this means the vertical segment is about 1 inch from the side of my camera. I much admit I quite like that as it provides me with a nice grip to carry my camera.

The cons

The main con with this sort of bracket is that it prevents the easy access to the battery compartment on DSLR whether a battery grip is used or not. The second con would have to be that it obstructs the sockets compartments (HDMI, USB, shutter release cable…). Luckily, since I always use my battery grip, there is a wide enough gap between the camera and the bracket vertical segment for me to access them.

Conclusion

Since I have bought this Manfrotto L Bracket-Q2 several months ago, I have been very efficient when capturing landscapes. It really enables me to adjust my framing orientation in a blink of an eye and safely. It does take quite some extra space in my bag and add 307g to my setup but as mentioned in an earlier episode “I am a Total Warrior!” As an example, the camera 950g + battery grip 312g + lens 780g + L Bracket 307g combination shown here weighs a total of 2.05kg (and that is not counting the two batteries). So while I strongly recommend this Manfrotto L Bracket-Q2 I will not say it is the only one to consider. It works for me and meets my needs but the most important message to retain here is using an L-shaped plate will empower you to shoot great vertical landscapes safely and efficiently, so do think about it. If you enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends using the Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ and Twitter buttons, you can even leave a comment or question below.