The L-rail is made of very resistant and distortion-light metal. It contributes to the camera on and hardly allows for quick mounting and dismounting of the camera from the tripod. By L-shape can change from landscape to portrait without the camera, such as the balance negatively impacted on ball heads or three-way Neigern because it is pivoted from the center to the center of gravity. Especially with lightweight travel tripod the L-rail brings real stability advantages. On the long side of the L-rail activate an additional 1/4-inch-thread is cut in the material to which you also with mounted rail can still be screwed onto a tripod without quick release the camera. I use this thread for my Blackrapid camera strap, which can remain on the camera when it is mounted on an Arca-Swiss-compatible tripod head .. The price-performance ratio is phenomenal. An unrestricted recommendation.