[cmohr]

Having had a great L-bracket on my K-5 with grip, moving to the K-1 , the lack of suck an item was a disappointment .


I did use the Mestos K-5 l-bracket on my K-1, and , whilst it gave me the ability to swap landscape to portrait , the lack of being able to swap out the battery in the Grip, whilst the L-plate was attached, was a hassle. No-body out there seemed to be making a suitable l-bracket , so I decided to look beyond, the made to measure.
I looked for similar sized Dslr brackets, for a bracket with a grip attached, with an opening as large as the K-1 grips battery door, sadly none came up. But, looking at the configs of different manufacturers, I came across the ProMedia range of brackets. And, they made some brackets, modular in design. I realized, that one of their designs may infact work on the K-1.


The ProMedia PBNMPD18. For the Nikon D850 with grip. It's modular design allows for the L-bracket part of the bracket to be removed. It has only one large arm, that goes around from the rear of the camera to attach the portrait mount, so nothing to interfere with the battery door .


All I had to do was drill a new mounting hole in the bottom bracket, to align with the mount pont on the K-1 battery grip. It wasn't hard to figure out exactly where to drill, as I had the Mestos bracket to help me map where I needed it. I drilled a 6.5mm hole, and then used a 12.7mm countersink drill bit to seat the screw I was using. The Promedia bracket Is already using such a system, so I stuck with it. I had already a 1/4 inch stainless hex screw to mount the base plate.


Once drilled and countersunk, the screw fitted perfectly flush with the base of the bracket.
I do apologize about the crappy phone pics, but they are the only ones I could take for the moment.
So, It's strong, stable, the base plate has a lip at the rear,and two larger ones at the front, so it doesn't move on the grip. The L-bracket, slides up against the rubber doors of the Mic and headphone covers, so not metal against the body, I also don't and probably won't ever use them so it's not an issue to me, also, If I were to need them, I wouldn't be using the camera in portrait mode anyway, so, would remove, or slide out the l-bracket to make way.


In the first pic, you can see all the mounting screws . The top most screw is the one I drilled to attach to the Grip. The lower ones are the slides for the L-bracket. I can easily open the Battery door of the grip ,whilst the bracket is in place, part or the reason for it in the first place. While it is larger than the mestos,, It works, and when I don't need the l-bracket, I can simply remove it and leave just the bottom arca plate, which, is moulded and fits nicely in the hand. You can see in the second two pics, the modular design, and how the l-bracket attaches via the two stainless steel rods.


So, for the moment, I have a working l-bracket on my K-1, it's stable, doesn't twist. I can open and replace the battery in the grip, without removing anything. Also, the ProMedia l-bracket has a few extra 1/4 in mounts all over it, one, notably on the top of the l-bracket, and I'm thinking that if I attach a cold shoe on there, and slide the arm out to it's extreme, it will make a fine off camera flash mount. I'll post a pic or two when I get around to that.


Still wish somebody out there would realize we Pentax users need a custom bracket. Whilst this works, I admit , it's not as form fitting as the Mestos bracket for my K-5. But, as I said. It works well. Very well.


Arrrrr
cmohr

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[dave2k]

Thanks for sharing. I did a couple of searches on "ProMedia PBNMPD18" and did not find any matches. Can you provide a link to the product or provide additional information?

[angerdan]

I looked for similar sized Dslr brackets, for a bracket with a grip attached, with an opening as large as the K-1 grips battery door, sadly none came up.

Yea, unfortunately only l-plates for the K-1 without battery grips are available.
But i guess when using heavier lenses as counterweight, you can use the tipod collar of the lenses to mount the system on a tripod.
Some related threads:
pentax k-1 with grip and L bracket
K1 Battery Grip
Arca-Swiss Plate for the K-1?
L Bracket, Grip and mounting stuff for K1
Universal Bracket for the K-1: Success!
What QR plate are you using with the K1?
RRS L-plate for K-1
Kirk plate for K-1

[cmohr]

Thanks for sharing. I did a couple of searches on "ProMedia PBNMPD18" and did not find any matches. Can you provide a link to the product or provide additional information?

I bought mine from fleabay, but here is the one from their site. I also see that they are on the B&H site as well.

PLNMBD18 L-Bracket, Nikon D850 MB-D18 Grip, Arca-Swiss Type (L-Plate)

Remember,This is what I am using, I had to drill a hole to mount it, It's not a perfect fit, but does what I need it to do. I'm not saying it's for everybody, it's more of a work around. There are a few different model that ProMedia make, I wish there had been a store that stocked them so I could go in and try one on the camera to see what the fit was like. But, not down here in Australia. It was just a leap of faith that the size would be close, and, this one did fit ok.

Again, I'm not saying everybody should rush out and get one, expecting it to just fit on. You have to modify it to work, and that was a risk I took.

Arrrr

cmohr

[dave2k]

You have to modify it to work, and that was a risk I took.

Well I've already modified two non-specific L-brackets to make them work with my cameras without grips, one for the K-3 and one for the K-1, so I'm willing to do a little work!

[AggieDad]

Looks great.

Is the attachment point on the K-1's battery grip offset as it is on the K-3II? I haven't been able to find an L-bracket to use when the battery grip iron the camera, and this might be a solution.

Many thanks.

Don

[SirTomster]

Anyone know if you can swap out the battery in the grip when the camera is on? Ie if the camera has drained the battery on the Grip and moved to internal, can you then swap out the battery in the grip so the camera can use it next?

[cmohr]

Looks great.

Is the attachment point on the K-1's battery grip offset as it is on the K-3II? I haven't been able to find an L-bracket to use when the battery grip iron the camera, and this might be a solution.

Many thanks.

Don

Don, If you mean the mounting point on the K-3 battery grip , being offset as on the K-1 battery grip, Yes, the attachment screw is in basically exactly the same place as my K-5 grip, I actually was using the Mestos L-Plate from my K-5 with grip on the K-1, it fitted well,and worked as a L-plate for my K-1 with grip, but, obviously, i could not remove the battery door from the grip without removing the l-plate. (which is the same as ant other generic l-plate, except the K-5 mestos plate was better suited and fitted much better than the generic ones on the market)

As a Note, I placed my K-5 mestos l-plate on my K-3 grip, and the position of the mounting screw is exactly the same. ( I have a Mestos K-3 with grip L-plate on the way from Mestos for my K-3ii with grip as I write this)

Anyone know if you can swap out the battery in the grip when the camera is on? Ie if the camera has drained the battery on the Grip and moved to internal, can you then swap out the battery in the grip so the camera can use it next?

That I am unsure, But it's possible,,,?? as the camera is running from just the in-camera battery, removing the grip battery, may not cause an issue.

BUT.....

****** That being said, i personally have not tried, and when dealing with electronics and power, first rule before changing or adding power is generally to switch OFF the device to prevent possible damage. ******

But you can definitely, as you can see in one of my pics, with the L-plate in position on camera, easily open the battery door and slide out the tray to replace the battery, in this config, I set the camera to use the grip battery first and then the in-camera battery second, so as the grip battery is drained I can swap to a new one and keep the in-camera battery full longer so I don't have to remove the battery grip itself as often to recharge that battery , the L-plate does not interfere with it in any way. This L-plate does protrude from the K-1 more than a nice custom fit like the Mestos l-plates, but, is exactly the same fit as it was manufactured to be as can be seen on the ProMediGear website. My only modification was the new mounting hole I drilled. Most all of the doors on the side of the camera are accessible with the l-plate in place, and those that are not, the headphones and mic can easily be accessed by loosening the adjuster on the arm and sliding it outwards. And, if using them, it would be for video, and I would only ever shoot video in landscape not portrait, so not a problem. As well, The Portrait arm is very simple to remove if I want a lessor form to the camera and don't need portrait mode.


I will try to post somebetter pics of the set-up again this weekend.


cmohr

Arrrrrrrr

[AggieDad]

Don, If you mean the mounting point on the K-3 battery grip , being offset as on the K-1 battery grip, Yes, the attachment screw is in basically exactly the same place as my K-5 grip, I actually was using the Mestos L-Plate from my K-5 with grip on the K-1, it fitted well,and worked as a L-plate for my K-1 with grip, but, obviously, i could not remove the battery door from the grip without removing the l-plate. (which is the same as ant other generic l-plate, except the K-5 mestos plate was better suited and fitted much better than the generic ones on the market)

As a Note, I placed my K-5 mestos l-plate on my K-3 grip, and the position of the mounting screw is exactly the same. ( I have a Mestos K-3 with grip L-plate on the way from Mestos for my K-3ii with grip as I write this)

Thanks for the info about the Mestos L-plate.

Don

[jmpince]

Hello guys,

I am looking for an L-bracke for my K1-ii with grip, and fortunately I have found this thread... I have been looking a lot... And tried tons of L-brackets without success... But... i have found that the the mestos one for the K3 with grip with a little modification could work on the K1... Could somebody confirm this and if the hole on the grip is in place for the k1?

I have attached a photo of what I am talking about...