L-shaped brackets

Since my very first Olympus mirrorless camera (E‑M5), I always equipped my mirrorless cameras with L‑shaped brackets, in short L‑brackets, equipped with an Arca-compatible plate at the bottom and another on the left camera side. I often removed the vertical plate of the brackets, because they usually interfere with the sideways opening of fully articulated LCD screens on the back of the camera bodies. All my various lab stands, tripod heads and monopod heads are equipped with Arca‑compatible clamps, so an L‑bracket or base with a built‑in Arca‑compatible plate is all I need to attach a camera to my numerous studio and field supports.

Early on, I tried two or three "universal" L‑brackets for my cameras, designed to fit on multiple camera makes and models. I quickly gave up on these, because they were a poor fit for the camera and did not prevent twisting between camera and bottom plate. Additionally, some of them needed to be removed to change camera batteries or to access the electronic connectors on the left side of the camera (as seen from behind the camera). Brackets specifically made for my camera model are, almost invariably, a perfect fit for the bottom of the camera, do prevent twisting of the joint between camera and plate, and can be left attached to the camera even when swapping batteries and accessing the connectors.

On cameras equipped with swing‑out fully articulated rear LCD screens, the vertical part of my L‑brackets often prevents me from fully opening up the screen to the left of the camera body (necessary, for example, to twist the screen up or down when shooting with the camera at ground level or above my head). In these cases, often I removed this vertical part of the bracket, and left only the base permanently attached to the camera.

My previous experience with L‑brackets

All went well with L‑brackets for my Olympus cameras from E‑M5 up to E‑M1 II and Sony mirrorless cameras. It was easy to find multiple models of L‑brackets made specifically for each of these cameras. I had no problem finding brackets even for legacy models of the Olympus E‑PL and E‑PM series. For cameras that lack a built‑in grip for the right hand, L‑brackets were always available with a good‑sized hand grip.

Sometimes I purchased brackets made by American companies like RRSReally Right Stuff, other times no‑brand brackets made in China. You can see on other pages of this site the brackets I use or used, for example, on my E‑M1, E‑M1 II and Sony Alpha R II. On my earliest mirrorless cameras, like the E‑M5, E‑PM2 and Panasonic G3, I initially used non‑specific rectangular plates, with all the problems of twisting and misalignment they cause.

Then Olympus sold its camera business, and that is when trouble begun. OM System, the new company, introduced the OM‑1 flagship camera. For several months, no L‑brackets were available. RRS finally announced their bracket (discussed below), but for several more months no EU‑based seller had it available, and shipment of this bracket from the United States to Sweden was about as expensive as sending the bracket up to the ISSInternational Space Station with a resupply rocket. Well, not quite as expensive, but enough to more than double the total cost, and on arrival I would have to pay another 25% of the total (including shipment) in Swedish sales tax.

SmallRig camera cage for OM‑1

For a while I considered buying a video cage for the OM‑1 made by SmallRig. It is reasonably priced, but not quite equivalent to an L‑bracket. For one thing, its vertical plate is not Arca‑compatible, but NATO‑compatible (roughly half as wide as Arca). A NATO to Arca adapter looks like a kludge when attached to the cage, and would probably block the sideways opening of the screen and/or the electronic contacts. Additionally, the cage slightly reduces the reach of the fingertips of the right hand between the grip and camera body on the right side of the camera, and makes access to some of the camera controls more difficult.

On the plus side, this cage carries several 1/4"‑20 threaded sockets, two 3/8"‑16 threaded sockets, and a cold shoe, usable for attaching accessories around the camera. A second, better placed cold shoe can be attached with two small screws at the top of the cage (unless a cage handle is attached there). A small wide‑blade screwdriver is stored under the base plate. A camera strap can also be attached to the base plate. As a whole, this cage is designed for video, rather than still imaging.

Like the RRS plate, this cage was hard to find in the EU, and eventually I gave up on this solution.

STC bracket

The Taiwanese company STC makes its own version of an L‑bracket for the OM‑1. I did not buy it because of a dubious feature: a flip‑down, two‑part extension of the bottom of the handle. My hands are average‑sized for a European, which means the grip of the OM‑1 is slightly too short for my little finger, but certainly I don't need a 3 cm extension of the grip (a ham‑fisted giant might still find it useful, though). When flipped up, this extension covers the battery door. Some parts of this bracket also look uncomfortably thin. The optional vertical plate makes no effort to avoid preventing the full opening of the articulated LCD screen.

3 Legged Thing "Ollie" OM‑1 bracket

After what felt to me like an eternity, the British 3 Legged Thing introduced the Ollie L‑bracket for the OM‑1 (Figure 1). I ordered one, since the price was reasonable and the shipment from the UK was orders of magnitude cheaper than from the US. I could not avoid the Swedish sales tax surcharge, because of the UK's divorce from the EU.

Figure 1 shows how the vertical plate of the bracket prevents the LCD screen of the camera from fully opening sideways, a very common problem with L‑brackets.

A cutout in the outline of the vertical plate of the bracket accommodates the tilted screen (Figure 2). This partly solves the problem shown in Figure 1. Still, I am a little nervous about swinging the screen with its glass surface so close to naked metal.

This bracket fits the bottom of the camera relatively well, but leaves the part of the camera bottom under the grip and battery compartment completely naked. Apparently, 3 Legged Things decided it was easier to lop off the right end of the camera plate, instead of machining it to fit the bottom of the camera grip and battery compartment like any respectable bracket does. Therefore, this bracket does nothing to improve the grip on the camera by my right little finger.

The (thankfully removable) vertical plate of the bracket can slide to the left by over 30 mm after completely unscrewing a captive locking screw at the bottom of the camera plate. This screw doubles as a safety stop for the Arca plate, and cannot be removed. An additional, removable safety stop screw is present at the opposite side of the plate. A number of additional threaded holes in the extending part of the bracket allows seven alternative positions of the vertical plate, moving it farther from the camera boby. This allows a slightly wider opening of the LCD screen, but still does not allow the screen to open by a complete half‑turn unless it is also twisted as shown in Figure 2. The bracket, once extended sideways, does take up more space in a camera bag. A hex key is required for unlocking the vertical plate.

This bracket is unusual also because of its construction in three separate pieces. The vertical plate is a 2‑piece construction held together by two proprietary Allen screws. Two more screws hold the vertical plate aligned within the bottom plate once unlocked with a captive screw. Including the second safety screw on the Arca plate and the 1/4"‑20 Allen screw for attaching the camera, in total there are no less than 7 screws of 5 different types. Inexplicably, the 1/4"‑20 screw differs from all other screws of the bracket by requiring a non‑metric Allen key. All other 1/4"‑20 screws in my dozens of Arca plates and other fixtures, including several made in the US, do require a metric 4 mm Allen key, but not this one. Is this meant to proudly state "Made in Non‑Metric UK, Home of the Imperial Units"?

As an alternative to the non‑metric Allen key, the 1/4"‑20 screw also has a helpful slot where a small coin could fit. The problem is, the head of the screw is deeply recessed within the Arca plate (Figure 3), out of reach of even the smallest coins currently circulating in Sweden. So you do need either the proper non‑metric Allen key, or an unusually large flat‑bladed screwdriver (the heavy‑duty type that can easily exceed 30 cm in length - are you willing to carry one in your camera bag?).

I do remember that an oddly‑shaped multi‑tool came with the bracket, including a plastic carabiner, two or three very short Allen keys, and a flat blade driver. We all know that, if you use two or more camera bags, this type of tool will invariably end up being stored in the camera bag you are not carrying with you when you need the tool. As for myself, I lost track of this multi‑tool, and it seems impossible to find an equivalent small tool in my country (short of getting a Jumbo‑sized multi‑tool that provides dozens of other, completely useless tools). I prefer the Allen keys magnetically attached within recesses of the bracket by RRS and other brands. Even after years of use, I never lost any of them (they are very cheap to replace, although you might need to cut a generic one to make it a little shorter).

A plastic cable management divider also accompanies the bracket. This accessory attaches to the vertical plate of the bracket. I never used it, and prefer to leave the opening of the vertical plate uncluttered, to allow twisting the LCD screen as shown in Figure 2.

I used this L‑bracket, on and off, with or without its vertical plate, for at least one year. At the time of writing, a notice on the 3 Legged Thing web site says that this bracket has been replaced by an updated, single-piece model introduced after the three-pieces model (see below).

3 Legged Thing also produces a simpler OM‑1 L‑bracket made in a single piece (and therefore not adjustable). It has the same type of cutout in the vertical plate as the Ollie, the same recessed 1/4"‑20 screw that requires a special tool (provided with the bracket) or a non‑metric Allen key, an eyelet under the camera for a camera strap, and a QDquick disconnect socket.

Leofoto currently offers a single-piece bracket for the OM-1 quite similar to, and cheaper than, the 3 Legged Thing single-piece model. This Leofoto bracket comes with a single M3 safety screw on both the horizontal and vertical Arca plates, a standard metric Allen screw for the camera, a suitable metric Allen key for the camera screw magnetically attached at the bottom of the bracket, and a better QD socket than the 3 Legged Thing bracket.

RRS BOM1‑LS

In 2024, I purchased a Wimberley MH‑100 MonoGimbal monopod head for the OM System 150‑600 mm. This renewed my interest in an OM‑1 L‑bracket with a vertical plate, for attaching the OM‑1 directly to the MH‑100 on a monopod. Also, I discovered that a German company was offering the RRS OM‑1 bracket. The price was almost the same as buying it directly from the US (except that the German sales tax is lower than the Swedish one). Nonetheless, I bit the bullet because the RRS bracket has a few desirable features missing from the 3 Legged Thing bracket (more about this below).

The German company that sells the RRS bracket in the EU does not seem to keep more than a couple of this model in stock. I occasionally kept an eye on their web site in 2023 and 2024, and this bracket remained backordered for several months. Then a stock of two brackets came, and after I placed my order, only one remains at the time of writing. Possibly they can order more from RSS if they are contacted by interested customers, but also RSS at times runs out of OM‑1 brackets, and marks time for weeks or months before making another batch.

For months after initially advertising the OM‑1 bracket, the RRS web site displayed a notice asking potential buyers to contact RRS, in order to gauge the interest in this new article before starting to produce it. I guess there was some interest, albeit only tepid. I did not contact them, since I had not made up my mind at the time. Besides, I like to keep my options open, rather than commit to purchase an item that I might not receive for months (if ever, should they decide that the demand is too small to start production).

As a whole, it is a pity that there seems to be so little interest in what I regard as the best L‑bracket for the OM‑1. Pricing is certainly one of the factors responsible for this low interest. Perhaps OM System should fill this gap, either by designing their own bracket or contracting RRS to produce it for them, because a well‑made L‑bracket is almost obligatory for a pro‑level camera.

The Really Right Stuff BOM1‑LS is a two‑parts L‑bracket for the OM‑1 and OM‑1 II. Like in several other RRS L‑brackets, the vertical plate of the bracket is inserted in a slot at the bottom of the camera plate and locked in place with a 1/4"-20 screw. The supplied Allen key is stored in a slot of the vertical plate (Figure 4), and operates both this screw, and the 1/4"-20 screw that attaches the bracket to the camera.

The hex key is held in place by two small magnets and well in sight of the photographer. In other RRS brackets, the key is hidden in a machined groove of the bottom plate, so if you forget to put the key back in its groove you will find it missing the next time you look for the key by turning the camera upside down.

To free the Allen key from its groove, insert one finger into the bottom of the the hole in the vertical plate, and push the end of the key toward the rear of the camera. You cannot get a grip on the key along the vertical slot in which it sits. The magnets are strong, and it seems unlikely that they key may accidentally drop out of its storage slot.

Some models of RRS brackets are manufactured in a single piece, while others, including the BOM1‑LS, are made in two parts. In this case, the two parts can be purchased separately. You may decide to purchase only the base of the bracket and attach it at the bottom of the camera, avoiding the problem of the vertical plate of the plate getting in the way of the camera connectors and/or of the outward rotation of an articulated LCD screen. RRS does not seem to provide model‑specific instructions for its L‑brackets, only generic instructions loosely applicable to most of its two‑piece brackets.

The design of the vertical plate of the bracket varies among bracket models. Older types of RRS brackets generally cover the left side of the camera body, limiting access to the camera connectors and the opening of articulated screens. This is the case, for example, of the L‑bracket for the Olympus E‑M1 II and III. The BOM1‑LS differs in that the vertical plate is offset in the forward direction (Figure 4), thus providing a less restricted access to the connectors and allowing the articulated screen of the OM‑1 to open completely sideways. The screen can still be rotated up or down by roughly 30‑40° (as long as the vertical plate is not mounted in an Arca clamp).

I do not know what is the purpose of the two circular depressions on the left side of the vertical plate. Two more comparable depressions are present at the bottom of the horizontal plate.

The vertical plate can be locked in place as close as possible to the camera, or up to 23 mm from the camera body (Figure 5-6).

A threaded 1/4"‑20 socket is available at the bottom of the camera plate. A QDquick disconnect steel socket is present at the bottom of the plate, under the camera grip. The camera plate is carefully machined to allow the door of the battery compartment to fully open, without unnecessarily weakening the camera plate or leaving parts of the camera bottom not covered by the plate. In this way, the camera plate does provide a few mm of extension at the bottom of the camera grip, sufficient to provide a better grip with mi little finger.

An attachment for a camera strap is present at the right end of the camera plate. A center mark on the rear of the camera plate shows the center of the camera sensor and allows the camera to be properly centered in a rotating tripod head.

The Arca plate at the bottom of the bracket, like the vertical plate, lacks safety screws to prevent the camera from sliding out of an Arca clamp.

Finally, it can be interesting to see a side‑by‑side image of the 3LT3 Legged Thing and RRS brackets discussed above (Figure 7). In particular, this figure shows how the surface of the RRS base is carefully machined to accommodate the relief of the camera base, including a locating pin matching a socket under the camera grip and other small features.

My only regret about this RRS L‑bracket is that I should have bought one much earlier.

Conclusions

In contrast to earlier Olympus camera models, very few types of L‑brackets are available for the OM System OM-1. This is a clear failure of many third‑party manufacturers to keep up with the needs of the market. Lots of third‑party L‑brackets are currently available even for obscure legacy cameras 10 to 15 years old, so why not for the OM‑1?

The RRS L‑bracket is the only type for the OM‑1 that I can recommend without reservations, from the point of view of functionality and design.

The price of the RRS L‑bracket is already high in the US, and more than doubles for EU buyers. This is an obvious failure of the RRS international distribution channels (or lack thereof). Selling RRS products through e.g. international Amazon sites would reduce RRS's profit per item, but the larger volume of international sales should more than make up for this. At present, no RRS products are directly sold by Amazon on its EU sites.

The 3 Legged Thing L‑bracket is usable and cheaper than the RRS, albeit has multiple idiosyncrasies (odd camera screw, no plate under the camera grip, vertical plate in the way of fully opening the LCD screen, necessary Allen key not stored on the bracket). 3 Legged Thing has much to learn from RRS L-brackets.