Gorillapod SLR

I hate carrying tripods around. It is such a hassle to carry it around, take only a couple of pictures and bring it back home.
 
In the last couple of years, I haven’t had a tripod. Whenever I needed one, I improvised with various things that fell to hand at that moment, a bench, wall, table, big rock, basically anything I could find. The trouble with using such an improvised support is adjusting the composition. This is especially difficult if the camera in question has no live view. You have to adjust where the camera is pointing by folding and tucking the camera strap under the camera. Basically it is very tedious and frustrating.

When I saw the GorillaPod, I thought that it could help. I liked the idea that I could place it easily on irregular surfaces or wrap it around poles and railings and things. I bought the GorillaPod SLR to use with my Nikon D40.
 

After using trying to use it a couple of times, I realized that it was not the answer for me.
First of all, while it is great to wrap around a horizontal railing, the neck (the part upwards from where the legs meet) is so saggy and inconsistent that you never dare leave it farther than an arms reach away. This is because the neck can suddenly sag down and bump the front of the lens into wherever it is sitting. So using it by wrapping it around things is basically out of the question.

Next, when you are feeling adventurous and use it in this way, it is next to impossible to adjust the composition. Whenever you try to adjust where the camera is pointing, and move the neck of the GorillaPod, the legs loosen themselves as well. Adjusting it into the desired position is not an easy task.
 
Using it on a tabletop or a flat surface presents its own challenges. The legs are too flexible to be used like a classic tripod, and it is almost impossible to get it to stay stable on a flat surface. The trouble is, as soon as it starts leaning toward one of the legs because of the flex, since the center of gravity is high because of the camera, the flexing continues until the camera basically falls over.

The biggest problem however, was in adjusting camera settings and composition. Because of all the flexible joints, anytime you press a button on the camera or change the composition slightly, the whole thing moves a bit. Then you have the adjust the composition again. Then the legs move as well when you are trying to move just the neck. Then you adjust the neck and put it down. Now it is still not correct since you got the neck right but the legs moved. Again and again… Arrrghhhhh!!!!!!
 
In the end, the GorillaPod SLR is very useful for me as a fancy paperweight. I will be going out and buying a tripod with a ball head which I can actually fix! I was really hopeful when buying it that it was going to help me but alas, that turned out not to be the case…