Tripod heads and quick release plates.... (part one)

 Years ago after a lot of faffing about and trying different tripod heads I standardized on the Manfrotto 015 head. These worked for me, and they were reasonable compact to go in a tripod bag and not have handles sticking out all over the place.
 My first ever tripod had a quick release plate, this was a cumbersome "lump" for want of a better word, looking something like a thimble. It works fine in practice on the tripod, the big problem was the camera had to be put down on it side on a table because of the "lump" sticking out of the bottom.
 Then in college we had the manfrotto 030-14 with the huge hexagonal QR plates, these were miles better but the heads were expensive at the time, and money was tight. So I never had one.
 Back to more recent time, as I said I bought the manfrotto 015 head, loved it and bought two more for my other tripods, then the smaller version (cant remember the number) for my small lightweight tripod. Job done.
 The only drawback was none of these were quick release, indeed you need to tilt the head to be able to get at the screw to attach the camera.
 Fast forward to 2019... the world has changed... not for the better, but I digress! After one low light shoot to many I decided to look into QR heads to replace my aging 015 heads.
 Now the thing it I like those heads. Yes theres miles better out there now, but my God have you seen the prices? One I looked at was £320 second hand (thats just the bloody head) Now my budget wont run to that without me having cold sweats at night and a defib twice daily. So no chance.
 Second best option was a much cheaper one... thing is I still like the heads I have, then I found quick release adapter plates.  These fit on your existing tripod head and essentially convert it to a QR head.
 Now we're cocking on gas, these are affordable and do the job while leaving me with the same heads that I'm used to. Thing is theres loads of different ones.
 Now another "new" gadget is the popular L bracket. This is L shaped (who would have guessed?) and screws onto your camera and fits the QR heads. Ok nothing clever there, the plate that comes with the head already does that... Except the clever part is the L plate means the camera clips onto the head in landscape OR portrait format, no need to tilt the head on it's side.
 This means the camera is now over the centre column and not hanging the weight off one side regardless of the format you shoot, it also means if you change from portrait to landscape format the camera lens is more or less the same spot, no need to adjust the tripod to get the height the same.
 Now these L brackets are standard for the Arca swiss QR plates, so thats what I need. A good look at various videos confirm that then it's find one I like.
 So off with my order. Next day delivery.

In part two we'll take a proper look at what I bought.