Do you leave on or take off your L-Bracket?

Excellent replies from everyone. So now it's my turn.

I've owned or own every camera accessory known to mankind. That said, I've never owned an L bracket. Never found a need for one. So long as the ballhead I'm using has dropouts I can turn the camera the way I need it. My old RRS BH55 had two, my replacement Markins M20 has one, and my new Arca Swiss D4 geared head turns the camera any way I need it to.
I'm not saying they're not needed, but I've never needed one. For me, they are just too bulky. And I don't mean extra weight. I just use a RRS camera plate on the bottom.

I've only had mine for a couple weeks and have removed it twice already. I travel most weeks with work and usually cart a good amount of gear along with me.

My camera just doesn't fit right in my gear bags with it on so leaving it on is not an option.

El Pedro wrote in post #16647953
My camera just doesn't fit right in my gear bags with it on so leaving it on is not an option.

You're right about that. I like to have a bag that is just big enough to fit the camera. I should have realised before I bought an L bracket, but I wasn't expecting the extra 15-20mm on the end of the body to be a problem with my existing bags. The "pro" bags generally just change the 'height' dimension to fit a gripped body (i.e. more square), so that doesn't help.

So at the moment I am using bags that are bigger than I really want to carry for simple outings, and looking for a small bag that is wide enough for the body with bracket. My search for the perfect bag continues . . .

And I leave my bracket on all the time - but I use a tripod every day.

MDJAK wrote in post #16647417
Excellent replies from everyone. So now it's my turn.

I've owned or own every camera accessory known to mankind. That said, I've never owned an L bracket. Never found a need for one. So long as the ballhead I'm using has dropouts I can turn the camera the way I need it. My old RRS BH55 had two, my replacement Markins M20 has one, and my new Arca Swiss D4 geared head turns the camera any way I need it to.
I'm not saying they're not needed, but I've never needed one. For me, they are just too bulky. And I don't mean extra weight. I just use a RRS camera plate on the bottom.

I have been doing a lot of product photography for my company, and I need to switch from landscape to portrait orientation quite often. Using dropouts means I have to readjust the height and position of the tripod each time. This is a deal breaker for me. With the L bracket it takes only seconds to switch, and the lens is virtually in the same place.

Embarrassingly enough, when I first decided to buy an L bracket, it took me a few moments (!) of wondering how it would work with my lenses with tripod rings...

I have an L bracket and regular plate. If I don't need the L bracket I mount the plate which is on 90% of the time these days. I use a hand strap all of the time so there is one on the bracket and one on the plate for easy swaps.

MDJAK wrote in post #16647417
Excellent replies from everyone. So now it's my turn.

I've owned or own every camera accessory known to mankind. That said, I've never owned an L bracket. Never found a need for one. So long as the ballhead I'm using has dropouts I can turn the camera the way I need it. My old RRS BH55 had two, my replacement Markins M20 has one, and my new Arca Swiss D4 geared head turns the camera any way I need it to.
I'm not saying they're not needed, but I've never needed one. For me, they are just too bulky. And I don't mean extra weight. I just use a RRS camera plate on the bottom.

Depending on the size of camera / lens...flipping the ball head over on it's side can cause your entire setup to become very unstable...prone to tipping over. The nice thing with the L-plate is the center of gravity stays right over the entire tripod, making it a much more stable setup. I've seen tripods along with the attached camera / lens topple because of flipping the head over on it's side.

I leave mine attached to my battery grip, then take off the battery grip when I want something smaller.

RileyNZL wrote in post #16649883
I leave mine attached to my battery grip, then take off the battery grip when I want something smaller.

I do the opposite. When I need the battery grip, I don't typically need the L-plate as I will be shooting handheld with the grip. When shooting off a tripod, I don't need the grip.

I still leave it on, altough I rarely use my tripod at the moment. But the Bracket gives a liste extra protection

I leave mine on.

Not only is mine always on (never occurred to me to take it off but then my QR plates were always on as well) but a small one on my pocket camera is always on also and that actually has to come off every time I remove a card, change a battery. But then almost all my pictures are taken with a tripod so the concept of "hand holding" is alien to me in the first place.

Hasn't been removed since installed.

MDJAK wrote in post #16647417
I've owned or own every camera accessory known to mankind. That said, I've never owned an L bracket. Never found a need for one.

What do you do when you want to shoot portrait from a panoramic head?

Mine stay on unless they are going into one of my underwater housings.

JJD.Photography wrote in post #16850152
Hasn't been removed since installed.

This