Dedicated L-Bracket for Cameras in the Sony Alpha Range
Review by Dave Williams
The L-bracket is a piece of gear that, quite honestly, I don’t know how I lived without before I had one. This review specifically focuses on the 3 Legged Thing Alfie, an L-bracket designed to be compatible with a selection of cameras in the Sony Alpha range, but if you use a different system, there are other brackets by 3 Legged Thing for Nikon Z-series (Zelda and Zaara), Canon EOS R-series (Roxie), Fujifilm (Gracy and Freya), and Olympus OM-1 (Ollie), as well as generic L-Brackets (QR-11 2.0).
The 3 Legged Thing L-bracket system is evolving, and a key feature of the Alfie that makes it stand out from the crowd is the inclusion of an adapter compatible with the Peak Design Capture Clip v3. This adapter is also included with Ollie and Freya, and will be with every new iteration in the 3 Legged Thing L-bracket range. It comes as a result of so many users asking for it. 3 Legged Thing has answered their customers’ wishes and made this a standard addition.
Alfie is constructed from aerospace-grade magnesium alloy, which is strong, lightweight, has a great strength-to-weight ratio, and is corrosion-resistant. (This is why we see it so much in materials lists for camera gear.) The Alfie attaches to the Sony Alpha range of cameras with a standard 1/4″-20 threads, and it’s shaped to match the contours of the camera body, leaving recesses for all the ports and the flip-out screen, as well as space to access the battery door. The base is extendable, which means the side of the Alfie can be slid out to give a greater level of access to the side ports when shooting tethered, for example. Staying on the theme of tethering, there’s also a cable-management tool included, which can be attached to Alfie to keep everything tidy. Another notable feature is the two 1/4″-20 female threads that allow other accessories to be attached.
Shooting with Alfie means that the 38mm Arca-Swiss-sized plate can be attached to the 3 Legged Thing AirHed, or any other compatible ball head in either landscape or portrait orientation, giving great stability in either aspect. The key benefits to this are that we don’t need to readjust anything, and the center of gravity remains directly over the tripod rather than off-setting the weight and potentially losing balance.
3 Legged Thing has once again improved an already amazing piece of gear. The Alfie L-bracket for Sony cameras is a must-have camera accessory that provides excellent versatility, seamless switching between landscape and portrait modes, and a durable build, enhancing the overall shooting experience.
