I have to be honest. When I opened my Gorillapod GP3 as a gift last year, I wasn’t terribly excited. I already had an Ultrapod II and it was working just fine for my needs. I really didn’t see where I would use it in place of the other one. Now, over a year later, I see it for what it is and what it can do.
The unique design of the Gorillapod enables you to make micro adjustments to the height or tilt of whatever you have sitting on top. Not as smooth as a pan/ tilt head, but it isn’t meant to replace a full fledged tripod. The GP3 is the model designed to hold DSLR’s, but they have a range of models for different size cameras, and at different prices.
Mine has been used for taking macro shots, mounting the camera to odd objects (the rubber feet hold it on windows well, as long as you straddle it that is), even wrapping the legs around small fence posts and such. Just the other day I was doing taking some pics in a warehouse and didn’t have a lightstand with me. There was a small step ladder nearby, so I grabbed the Gorillapod, put the Cactus trigger and flash on it – instant lightstand with great “fine-tuning” ability.
It is also quite a conversation piece. I keep it latched onto my Caselogic Hardshell Backpack at all times, even while traveling. People are always asking me “how do you like that? I have been thinking about getting one.” I understand their curiousity and, perhaps, hidden skepticism. I felt the same way. But now I am a believer. If you don’t have one, you don’t know what you are missing, but I would encourage you to get one and try it for yourself.
Cactus remote trigger
My first real commission
I arrived at the offices about 10 minutes before I was to take the picture. I wanted to get a sense of where we might be shooting. I settled on two options – in the executive’s office, or in the conference room. Once he arrived and we spoke, we settled on the conference room so we would have a solid background that wasn’t distracting. I setup the camera, put the flash to camera right, mounted on my Cactus Trigger and a Gorillapod
. This was my second shoot with the Cactus Trigger, and the first indoors. It proved useful, but with some caveats.
All in all I was satisfied with the shoot. I was there for maybe 20 minutes, then spent about 40 minutes in Adobe Lightroom 2
. I offered up the pictures for client review on my Zenfolio site, and within 24 hours the whole transaction was done. Can’t imagine how painful this process must have been in the days before digital.
So, what did I learn?
I am sure it went better than I think though. As I said, they liked the result and paid me. It could have gone the other way if it had not been acceptable.