Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Gorillapod






The Gorillapod by Joby is a really awesome product. It takes the portable tripod and improves on it ten fold. I used to use a small flexible tripod that was very cheap, but I thought served it's purpose, until I got a Gorillapod. A friend of mine mentioned them to me so I checked out their site. The first thing I saw was an animation of a Gorillapod holding a camera jumping from tree to tree. The Gorillapod was holding on to the branches with it's legs wrapped around the branches. Right away I knew one way or another I needed to try this product out.

First off, the Gorillapod came with 3 different attachment options. A screw on option for the bottom of cameras, a adhesive option (2 included), and a suction cup option. Now, you don't need to use one or the other, you can use all of them since these attachment points can be removed from the Gorillapod. When it comes too all these attachment options, they can not only be used for cameras, but also for things like an Ipod, where you may want to have the tripod hold it in place while watching a movie. To remove the mount from the Gorillapod you simply rotate the locking mechanism and push the button and the mount slides right off and another can be put on.

The legs of the Gorillapod are completely flexible. They are basically ball joints. The end of the leg is covered in a rugged rubber cap, and each leg has rubber grips up the length of the leg. The gray parts on the pictures are the rubber grip.

The Gorillapod is very durable and versatile. I like it because you can get your camera at different angles and place it on uneven surfaces. The legs can also be wrapped around railings, tree branches, etc, etc. You can basically place your camera anywhere with the Gorillapod.

The only improvement/change I'd make is to make the suction cup a little better. It takes some playing with to get it to stick. You definitely need to moisten it to get it to work.

If you have a digital camera, a compact tripod is a must. And I highly recommend the Gorillapod. There are different styles, sizes and colors of Gorillapod. The one shown here is the original Gorillapod. Functioning and quality are top notch!!

Price: $21.95
Suggested max camera weight: 11.5 oz.
Colors: Gray, Blue, Green, Orange, Pink, Red, Yellow


3 comments:

Reiko said...

Im curious... how much effort does it take to manipulate the 'pod? That is to say is it merely sufficient for a pocket-sized point and shoot or is it capable of holding the weight of a DSLR? D80 gets a lil heavy and any decent sized lens adds some fair amount of torque to the equation.

Just wonderin. Looks cool.

Cheers.

Stump said...

I love these little Gorrila pod things. I've got the one you have, and the one just above it. I can use the larger one with my Canon 5Dii with a small light lens, like a 50mm or at most, the 24-105L.

The small pod I use occasionally for holding a flash off camera wrapped around a pole or branch, etc. Works in a pinch, and the pod makes a pretty slick travel bipod that can stow inside my camera bag.

Jake said...

It's very easy to manipulate, but doesn't move on it's own when used with the suggested weight camera. They have different Gorillapods for different weights of cameras!