wnut
02-16-2008, 08:50 AM
<img src="http://www.connectreviews.com/images/gorillapod_slrzoom.jpg">
a couple months ago i inquired if any of you had any real world experience with the gorilla pod for SLR's - <a href="http://forums.audiworld.com/photo/msgs/29257.phtml">original thread</a>
lar h 88 was generous enough to gift me one for the holidays and since then i've been able to play with it around my house (attaching it onto door knobs, stair railing, faux wall partitions, and even the television), confident in my 'urban' experiments i decided to take it out into the wild. i've used it at the beach during the mavericks surf competition and more recently in europe.
first the good - the platform is more stable then i expected, the heaviest lens i've attached was a sigma 28-70 f2.8, and truthfully i would not attach anything larger due to darwinism. that pod latched itself to every surface i attempted to affix it to, even a bridge over the river seines for a evening picture of the eiffel (if it did not hold i would have kissed my camera and lens good bye). So, in short the contraption actually works.
the not so good - there is no such thing as 'fine adjustment' with this thing, it's not delicate and it takes brute force to make the balls move at first then just blunt force afterwards. i can't tell you the number of times i jammed my knuckels into the rocks at mavericks or into the pavement in front of buckingham palace. The tread depth could also be an issue, when screwed into the base of my d70 it's a reverse tripod with two legs in front and one in back. from a 'tangle' standpoint this doesn't matter. from a 'tripod' standpoint this obviously gets tricky. i wish it had a removable clip/platform as screwing it in and out is a total pita. i also wish there was some kind of bubble level because setting this thing up in the middle of a busy intersection just makes you look ridiculous. my last rant is that it's not easy to store, the last time you'll see it perfectly straight is the moment you remove it from the package. it's too tough to 'crumple' up but too stubborn to straighten out...however it's not bigger then any modern umbrella so i will take it backpacking later this year and see how it works in a true wilderness.
excuse the hack processing:
taken via remote while attached to railing
<img src="http://www.adecadentexistence.com/images/Europe/images/dsc_8528.jpg">
on a corner of champs-elysee, long exposure of the arc de triomphe
<img src="http://www.adecadentexistence.com/images/Europe/images/dsc_9390.jpg">
attached to the 'modern' radiator thing in our hotel room
<img src="http://www.adecadentexistence.com/images/Europe/images/dsc_9395.jpg">
attached to the bridge railing on the river seines, i held the camera strap just in case.
<img src="http://www.adecadentexistence.com/images/Europe/images/dsc_9436.jpg">
another bridge, river seines
<img src="http://www.adecadentexistence.com/images/Europe/images/dsc_9485.jpg">
long exposure, set up on the ground in front of the louvre.
<img src="http://www.adecadentexistence.com/images/Europe/images/dsc_9489.jpg">
i definitely was glad that i had it, it got into areas where a traditional tripod could not have, and a mini tripod would not of sufficed. it filled it's niche and although has a few stubborn issues, they're easily overlooked. just don't mount your baller 300mm primes on it.
a couple months ago i inquired if any of you had any real world experience with the gorilla pod for SLR's - <a href="http://forums.audiworld.com/photo/msgs/29257.phtml">original thread</a>
lar h 88 was generous enough to gift me one for the holidays and since then i've been able to play with it around my house (attaching it onto door knobs, stair railing, faux wall partitions, and even the television), confident in my 'urban' experiments i decided to take it out into the wild. i've used it at the beach during the mavericks surf competition and more recently in europe.
first the good - the platform is more stable then i expected, the heaviest lens i've attached was a sigma 28-70 f2.8, and truthfully i would not attach anything larger due to darwinism. that pod latched itself to every surface i attempted to affix it to, even a bridge over the river seines for a evening picture of the eiffel (if it did not hold i would have kissed my camera and lens good bye). So, in short the contraption actually works.
the not so good - there is no such thing as 'fine adjustment' with this thing, it's not delicate and it takes brute force to make the balls move at first then just blunt force afterwards. i can't tell you the number of times i jammed my knuckels into the rocks at mavericks or into the pavement in front of buckingham palace. The tread depth could also be an issue, when screwed into the base of my d70 it's a reverse tripod with two legs in front and one in back. from a 'tangle' standpoint this doesn't matter. from a 'tripod' standpoint this obviously gets tricky. i wish it had a removable clip/platform as screwing it in and out is a total pita. i also wish there was some kind of bubble level because setting this thing up in the middle of a busy intersection just makes you look ridiculous. my last rant is that it's not easy to store, the last time you'll see it perfectly straight is the moment you remove it from the package. it's too tough to 'crumple' up but too stubborn to straighten out...however it's not bigger then any modern umbrella so i will take it backpacking later this year and see how it works in a true wilderness.
excuse the hack processing:
taken via remote while attached to railing
<img src="http://www.adecadentexistence.com/images/Europe/images/dsc_8528.jpg">
on a corner of champs-elysee, long exposure of the arc de triomphe
<img src="http://www.adecadentexistence.com/images/Europe/images/dsc_9390.jpg">
attached to the 'modern' radiator thing in our hotel room
<img src="http://www.adecadentexistence.com/images/Europe/images/dsc_9395.jpg">
attached to the bridge railing on the river seines, i held the camera strap just in case.
<img src="http://www.adecadentexistence.com/images/Europe/images/dsc_9436.jpg">
another bridge, river seines
<img src="http://www.adecadentexistence.com/images/Europe/images/dsc_9485.jpg">
long exposure, set up on the ground in front of the louvre.
<img src="http://www.adecadentexistence.com/images/Europe/images/dsc_9489.jpg">
i definitely was glad that i had it, it got into areas where a traditional tripod could not have, and a mini tripod would not of sufficed. it filled it's niche and although has a few stubborn issues, they're easily overlooked. just don't mount your baller 300mm primes on it.