Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Review--Joby Gorillapod SLR-Zoom Tripod thingy.

On a recent trip to Rome, I was attempting to take some night shots of the Vatican, when low and behold the Corpo della Gendarmeria (Vatican Cops), drove their car with flashing blues within millimetres of my camera. Without getting out of the car and with little room for interpretive error, they proceed to tell me that no tripods are allow. I spent the next few hours wishing for a beanbag, and resting my camera on any solid object I could find. Although I did get a few shots of value that night, I mostly got a sore back. I needed something small versatile and light.

A couple of years back Joby released a small bendable tabletop tripod for compact cameras. The difference was that this mini pod was intended to be a Rubik’s snake like creation that allowed the user to attach the tripod to almost any thing. I remember thinking that at a max load weight of 270gm it was a nice idea but not really of that much use to any one not using a small PNS, let a long a 200mm f2,8. Eventually they came out with an up-rated version the “SLR” but with a max weight of 800gm it seem to fall very short of the DSLR weight range. Well finally, they have come out with the Gorillapod SLR-ZOOM, it has been designed for use with the heavier DSLRs and with a max weight of 3000g may just be the thing I have been looking for.

Joby - Gorillapod SLR-ZOOM

I jumped on line and found it for a range of prices anywhere from £25.90 to £69.55, well being the mathematical genius I am, and knowing that 26 is less than 70, I went for the £25.90 (with shipping) from amazon.uk. It took about a week to arrive and came with no packaging. At fist this seems a bit suspect, but the Joby website dose offer discounts for no packaging they call it the "eco-packaged" version; fine by me, in fact I give them an extra point for that. What do I need a cardboard box for anyway?

First impression it that is it lot bigger then I thought it would be. It is about 23cm in length and a triangular diameter of about 6.5cm. The feel of it is nice and firm. The design is a series of interlocking balls that each have a rubber ring on the outside parameter, the “feet are balls with a rubber cap. The one ½ of each ball fit into each other and they can rotate around as such. The joint are all nice and tight, however, my first thought was to wonder how long will they will stay nice and tight.

Even though I was at work when it arrived, I immediately started to play with it. None of the Gorillapods are intended to be a replacement for a good sturdy tripod, but as a small alternative for use during walking or unusual situations. The Gorillapods are designed to be shaped to fit the environment that they are in, and to bend around lamp posts, park benches, door frames, or even motorcycle parts and hold the camera steady. So I grabbed the boss’s Olympus E510 with sigma 150 macro lens (heavy combination), and started to attach it to every thing I could find.

I tried about 10 different attachments, and I have been very impressed. In most of the places I have attached it (once I got it stable) it stayed stable, no lens drift and it never fell off. However, depending on what you are attaching it to it can take a few tries to get a good solid mount. The Gorillapod SLR ZOOM, came with out any kind of head in it so the positioning of the camera is completely dictated by the mounting position (the camera mounts to a 1/4inch mounting screw on the pod). Joby, however, made the Gorillapod SLR ZOOM so that any kind of head will fit, and it comes with a 3/8 inch professional tripod head mount as part of the package. Cant really complain about this, not many high spec tripods come with a head anyway.

Well my first impressions are:
With the SLR-ZOOM weighing in at only 241gm (without a head), it is the type of gear designed to bring with you anywhere, every time e.g. toss it in your kit bag and forget until needed. The Gorillapod SLR ZOOM seems very well built, and does what it says it will on the box. I am still concerned that after a while the stiffness of the interlocking balls will wear out, and the Gorillapod will become useless, but only time will tell. I will try to update this when relevant.

Like many tripods you should use a remote (or delay) to open the shutter for long exposures as even though the Gorillapod SLR ZOOM is steady you can get some hand-shake. The usefulness is slightly hampered by the direct mount, so I am going to add a ball head to it which will allow the camera to be at independent angles from the required mounting position, adding an aftermarket head is even suggest by Joby, so not really a surprise that it may be better with on. All in all I think that this seems to be a good product and for the time being will be getting put though its (and my) paces.

I have attached some Pics although this is my D300 (at home) with a 70-200 on it.. I have decided on a manfrotto ball head (488 C2) which will make this come to use under £100 so it is getting up there in price.. but I can see a lot of uses for it..

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