5D Mk II L Bracket w/ space for cable release

thingiverse

When searching for an L Bracket for my 5D Mk II, all I could find were pricey versions by RRS and other expensive brands that seemed overpriced for a glorified chunk of aluminum. Reluctant to spend that much money, I decided to try out some designs from Thingiverse instead. Empiricus's design stood out as the best option for me. It is very rigid, features arca swiss rails that fit my ball head on both sides, and is specifically designed to fit the 5D2 perfectly. After taking it out shooting, I found that it worked exceptionally well. The only thing I didn't like was that I couldn't use my cable release. So for longer telephoto shots, I had to rely on a 10 second timer to let vibrations settle down from pushing the shutter release, or else I'd end up with horrible motion blur. So I took his STL file and imported it into Blender, then manhandled it into a shape that was slightly more conducive to use with this specific cable release (although it will likely work on others as well): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C0K2PQU. I filled in the 1/4 20 hole on the short side of the L, and cut out a slot for the cable release to plug in. I then slightly thickened the shorter side of the L so that the plug would sit comfortably below the arca swiss rail when plugged in, and not cause problems with sliding it into place on my ballhead. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't seem to lose any rigidity or strength even with the large cutout. The ability of my ballhead to grip the short side rails is also unaffected, despite the slight change in angle. This L bracket is now the ideal tool for my use.