Review: Gorillapod tripod

GO APE: It looks pretty strange, but the flexibility of the Gorillapod tripod makes it a handy stand-in for a real tripod.

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The Joby Gorillapod is a plastic, awful looking tripod that would make any old fashion and classic photographer (like me) feel hesitant about trying it. But I'm glad I did.

It is small, very light and has three arms that are easily bendable. It can be used as a traditional tripod, moulded to orient the camera in any direction, or it can be attached to tree branches, poles, bottles or anything you can think of.

What is amazing is that the camera indeed felt secure and steady almost anywhere.

Many times I don't carry a tripod around as it doesn't fit in my camera bag and I end up regretting it, but the plastic Gorillapod can be carried around without needing a lot of space and without taking too much time to set it up.

The Gorrilapod is clearly not an alternative to a regular tripod as you cannot use it to pan sideways and it is not fast at changing from vertical to horizontal exposures, but as an additional accessory it comes in handy in many situations.  

I found it particularly fun to use it with my camera attached to my motorcycle handlebar with a wide-angle lens taking photos while riding (very dangerous and I don't recommend trying this).

A low point is that when pressing the shutter the camera shakes a little and you can loose focus of the object being photographed. For this reason, timed shutter or remote control shutter may be needed in some situations.

The Gorrillapod was a nice surprise and something completely different to play with and I do not think any amateur photography-lover will regret buying it.

$40 for the Joby Gorillapod Original (for compact cameras), $70 for Gorillapod SLR that supports light dSLRs, and $80 for the Gorillapod Zoom for SLRs with zoom lenses.

More info at Joby's website.