Nikon Z9 L bracket

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Got the smallrig one for the Z9 and its pretty nice. Has attach points for the strap on the lower right and upper left so that you can remove the snap rings from both points on the camera. There is a notch out on the side for the focus mode button that kind of guides your finger there. It also has a nice curved form fitted bottom plate with an anti twist post. The only thing I might have some concern with is the left side flexes just a bit more than I would like when you apply pressure but for 79 bucks its a nice unit. I usually use Kirk but this surprised me.
 
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JerryF said:
Got the smallrig one for the Z9 and its pretty nice. Has attach points for the strap on the lower right and upper left so that you can remove the snap rings from both points on the camera. There is a notch out on the side for the focus mode button that kind of guides your finger there. It also has a nice curved form fitted bottom plate with an anti twist post. The only thing I might have some concern with is the left side flexes just a bit more than I would like when you apply pressure but for 79 bucks its a nice unit. I usually use Kirk but this surprised me.
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Never understood the "for $79" concept to rationalize a flimsy product that's supposed to guard a $10,000 investment. The way I use a camera, the L bracket takes much of the stress and abuse. That's, to me is like putting cheap brake pads on a 7,000lb off-roader.
 
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I bought the Smallrig in anticipation of receiving my Z9 prior to a trip last weekend. Didn't see the Kirk in stock. Unfortunately, my Z9 still hasn't showed up. B&H told me they were for sure getting it last Monday but Monday came and went and no Z9s, with no further updates for at last 10 days. :mad: Anyway, the Smallrig L-bracket seems to be very nice. It's very light weight which I appreciate, because I tend to leave it on the camera all the time and the Z9 will be heavy enough. It also seems plenty sturdy. I can't imagine any problems with the camera and a wide to medium telephoto lens mounted on a tripod. After all, I don't knock my tripod around when the camera is on it as that sort of defeats the purpose of the tripod.;) If I'm using a big lens then I mount using the lens's tripod foot, so the L-bracket becomes irrelevant.
 
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Ben C said:
I bought the Smallrig in anticipation of receiving my Z9
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I received my Z9 two weeks ago and started searching for an L plate, ordered the Smallrig and have already received it. I think it was a fair price. I like the quality and it seems to fit the camera well! I also mount my bigger lenses using the lens foot with plates purchased on Amazon.
 
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For those of you who received your Z9s in the last couple weeks, where did you order from? I ordered from B&H on the morning of Oct 28th (or whatever date it was that preorders opened) but I'm not NPS. Still, we're going on five months now. Would have thought B&H would have been able to fill the first morning's preorders by now. I've got a Costa Rica trip coming up at the end of the month and it's becoming clear I will by Z9-less. :-(
 
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So far I only use large lenses on my Z9 - lenses with a tripod collar. If I start shooting with shorter lenses I'll need to get an L bracket
 
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For those of you who received your Z9s in the last couple weeks, where did you order from?
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My wife ordered as a Christmas present on Dec.10th thru Nikon USA. Nothing at all happened until about a month ago when I applied for NPS membership. After a couple phone calls to Nikon USA we managed to connect my NPS membership # to the order. Less than two weeks after that I was notified by email that it would ship 2-day air. :cool:
 
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Ben C said:
For those of you who received your Z9s in the last couple weeks, where did you order from? I ordered from B&H on the morning of Oct 28th (or whatever date it was that preorders opened) but I'm not NPS. Still, we're going on five months now. Would have thought B&H would have been able to fill the first morning's preorders by now. I've got a Costa Rica trip coming up at the end of the month and it's becoming clear I will by Z9-less. :-(
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I’m in the same boat. I really hoped I would have the Z9 by now, but I got my Smallrig L-bracket earlier this week 👍🏼
 
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I'm a big fan of Kirk Enterprise stuff. I like the quick release system which Small Rig doesn't have. I also don't fee I need an L-Bracket for the Z9. Most of the time I use it with a telephoto lens in which case the camera is attached to the tripod via the lens and I can rotate the camera with the lens collar. For portraits and other work, I will use the Z6ii with an L-Bracket.
 
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Hut2 said:
I hope so. I order Kirk and feel like I need to change it to RRS, same function but the look and feel of RRS is a cut above
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Have you used Kirk brackets? I've had a LOT of RRS L brackets. I now have the Kirk L for the Z9. IMHO Kirk is every bit as well manufactured as the RRS. YMMV.....
 
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Nimi said:
Never understood the "for $79" concept to rationalize a flimsy product that's supposed to guard a $10,000 investment. The way I use a camera, the L bracket takes much of the stress and abuse. That's, to me is like putting cheap brake pads on a 7,000lb off-roader.
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Just noticed this. I have a couple of SmallRig L brackets, and they are plenty sturdy enough. Well-designed and bottom line, a real bargain. I love to Buy American (just purchased two L.L. Bean Adirondack chairs made in the US of A), but I think the SmallRig L brackets get a thumbs up.
 
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GrandNagus50 said:
Just noticed this. I have a couple of SmallRig L brackets, and they are plenty sturdy enough. Well-designed and bottom line, a real bargain. I love to Buy American (just purchased two L.L. Bean Adirondack chairs made in the US of A), but I think the SmallRig L brackets get a thumbs up.
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I have one too, picked up because the alternatives weren't available, and it's a flimsy piece of underengineered crap which quickly cracked at the angle. Thin aluminum structure requires thinking, the metal itself doesn't have much inherent strength. Their design philosophy suggests to me that they're trying to minimize material, not maximize strength.
 
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Nimi said:
I have one too, picked up because the alternatives weren't available, and it's a flimsy piece of underengineered crap which quickly cracked at the angle. Thin aluminum structure requires thinking, the metal itself doesn't have much inherent strength. Their design philosophy suggests to me that they're trying to minimize material, not maximize strength.
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Some of us are really, really hard on our gear, and some of us are not. I just think you might consider that for many if not most users a flimsy piece of underengineered crap might be fine.
 
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I’m genuinely curious what sort of “stress and abuse” people subject their gear to. I realize Nikon makes sturdy cameras but I still treat them with care. Maybe the Z9 can take all sorts of abuse since it has no moving parts but I’d still be worried about the expensive lens attached to it in the case of any impact powerful enough to break an aluminum bracket that is firmly secured to the camera body. So I ask with genuine curiosity how you are breaking the aluminum bracket?

My main concern with an L-bracket is does it fit well to the camera body without blocking any of the buttons, doors or ports, does it attach securely without the possibility of twisting and working loose, and does the Arca-Swiss groove fit securely on my tripod head. I don’t use an L-bracket for protection like others have stated.
 
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Ben C said:
I’m genuinely curious what sort of “stress and abuse” people subject their gear to. I realize Nikon makes sturdy cameras but I still treat them with care. Maybe the Z9 can take all sorts of abuse since it has no moving parts but I’d still be worried about the expensive lens attached to it in the case of any impact powerful enough to break an aluminum bracket that is firmly secured to the camera body. So I ask with genuine curiosity how you are breaking the aluminum bracket?

My main concern with an L-bracket is does it fit well to the camera body without blocking any of the buttons, doors or ports, does it attach securely without the possibility of twisting and working loose, and does the Arca-Swiss groove fit securely on my tripod head. I don’t use an L-bracket for protection like others have stated.
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In the case of the SmallRig I broke, it was not abused at all. I used it with a Fujifilm GFX100s and a 63mm lens, so just a little more weight than my Z9 with a 50/1.2. It was clamped down using an Arca-type head on the vertical (portrait orientation) and turned downwards so the the entire weight of the camera plus lens (3lb) was stressing the area where the two pieces come together. It was suspended like that for 4 or five hours as I was shooting flat-lays for a catalog under it. I noticed the break in the junction when I took it apart at the conclusion of the shoot. That's a $10,000 set up which would have come down crashing into a hard floor 2 meters below it. Last SmallRig product for me.
 
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I'm using the SmallRig version; adjustable AND the tool to remove is stored in it (on the bottom). I thought I'd hate having it on the cam and would just throw it on when using the ball head (for portrait or landscape work) but I truly forgot it was there after about 5 minutes of using the camera. I removed the little triangle thingys that Nikon cameras have for their straps, but not necessary ultimately. Cheers!

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I have an RRS L bracket for my D7500 and D500, and thought they were great. I then put a grip on the D500, and found out that the L bracket for a gripped D500 was no longer available from RRS. So I went to the Kirk L bracket. Personally I found the Kirk to be every bit the quality of the RRS. I highly recommend either one.
 
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Darrellhar said:
I'm hoping to receive my Z9 this week and in anticipation of that I wanted to purchase a L Bracket for it. I typically get RRS but they are only offering a modular design for it and they also have no ETA on when they will start shipping them. Kirk has a more slim design and it appears they will be shipping in late March early April. Does anyone have any positive or negative things to say about Kirk L brackets. I have a lens plate from them but that is obviously different. I don't plan on needing to access the side ports at all so it would be overall build quality that I would be more interested in. Both offer hole for QD system which I love using.

I know there is supply shortages for a lot of material but I was really surprised that RRS and Kirk didn't have plates already available. I know Z9's are in short supply but they have been out for a few months now and assume many purchase brackets for their camera although maybe not as many with this style of camera since it more sports/wildlife than landscape. Still I don't recall them ever being this far behind with offering brackets for new cameras before. With how hot the Z9 is you would think they would want to be out ahead of that.

Oh well any feed back on Kirk L brackets would be appreciated. Thank you
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The Kirk is shipping...
I ordered the Kirk BL-Z9 L bracket and the LP-70 foot for the Z 100-400mm on 3 April. The website said the L Bracket was pre-order/backorder, but Fedex delivered both items yesterday!

cheers, jim
 
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Butlerkid said:
Have you used Kirk brackets? I've had a LOT of RRS L brackets. I now have the Kirk L for the Z9. IMHO Kirk is every bit as well manufactured as the RRS. YMMV.....
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Kirk make some fine stuff, every bit as good as RRS. I have found all the products I have used to be well resolved and function as intended.... cheaper too
 
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