For any Travel-plan we tend to choose right set of folks to accompany us and travel planning happens accordingly. It's very important to have like minded folks onboard during your trip and similarly smart choice of Travel Gadgets is also very important. Travelling-Camera loves to accompany Gorila-pod for right reasons. This post will introduce you to Gorillapod (a convenient tripod) and a quick review.
Photo Credit for first image - Joby website (We had added correct link, which is sending 404 now)
3 years back one of my friends brought a Gorillapod from UK and it was produced by a company called Joby, which has different patents for this unique tripod which is very convenient to use. At that time, Joby was probably the only company which was producing these tripods, called as Gorillapods. I got the one which is the middle of the photograph shown on left. This is supposed to handled medium sized DSLRs with normal lenses and mainly built for point-n-shoot & bridge cameras. These days some local companies have started making these tripods, which are available at cheaper rates now.
I have been using this Tripod for last few years now and find it quite useful when you are travelling. You need not to carry a huge tripod with you and the biggest advantage is that you can put/fix it anywhere, even when you don't have flat surface. Imagine your self in a forest where you don't have space top put the tripod with three straight legs. This gorillapod can be tied around branches of the tree or anything on this earth. Of course, this Gorillpod can't provide you the height which can be achieved with normal tripods but height can be achieved by placing these gorillapods at some high place or arrange something to put under this.
At times, it's difficult to fix this gorilla-pod and have accurate alignment. This is one of the main challenges, but at times I find it ok as I can correct the alignment later in post-processing, if this can help me in capturing sharp images and long exposure shots.
I can't use bigger lenses on my DLSR when using Gorilla-pod, but there are bigger & better versions available. I have seen folks using these Gorila-pods with cameras likes D800 with Nikkor 80-200, which is very heavy combination to put on these tripods.
I hate carrying tripods during my trips, except the ones where I am supposed to do any commercial shoot. For most of my trips, I keep Gorilla-pod with me, although many times it remains inside my bag. But it's very helpful when you really need something to stabilize your camera body. It's definitely a smart choice for Travel Photographers, but be aware of it's limitations if you plan to have something like this in your Travel-bag.
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