Why Use An "L" Bracket?

[rouxster]

I see so many wedding photographers using L Brackets on their cameras. What is the purpose of these? Does the brand matter? I'm sure some can be flimsy.

[zona5101]

it gets the flash off axis which does two things 1) eliminates red-eye 2) throws the shadows down and away from the subject.

[inkista]

The other useful thing a flash bracket is that a lot of them allow you to move the flash to be over the camera when you're in portrait orientation--without the bracket, the light would be to the side.

[wulf]

It makes you look like a pro, too. I took some photos for a friend's wedding back in September and I did notice that, once I'd put the bracket on, I started getting people to ask me to take their picture

Wulf

[Raoul Isidro]

The L bracket is a throwback from the olden days of film where the flash were mostly from a third party manufacturer like Metz.I used a Metz 45 and Metz 60 back then. These flashes can be used on ANY camera using a simple adapter and were very powerfull speedlights. Nikon and Canon have caught up to the technology and ate up the market share in the last 20 years...
Modern L brackets are able to mount same brand speedlights for off center flash effects.