Flex King- Joby Gorillapod Focus

Recently I bought a flexible tripod, Joby Focus from B&H (USA). I was shopping for a suitable tripod that is portable for travel, lightweight, strong enough to hold my Fuji X system, easy to use and able use for situations where my usual tripod is not as applicable.

I have narrowed down to a smaller carbon fiber tripod that can fold to 30cm, a Taiwan designed Takeway Clamp and the Joby Gorillapod.

There are times I am shooting places where the tripod setup is cumbersome especially for city night shoots: examples, on a bridge, ledge of the building, low angle setup and indoors tight space. I have a small tripod for my mirrorless setup already and getting a smaller one seems a duplication. For the Taiwan clamp, it looks good but it seems to be restricted to clamping to round bar and tree branches.

Looking at Joby's ad and some user's youtube demonstration, it seems to have more possibilities in the setting up. It can be place on a flat surface, wrap on bars, wrap on rocks and also wrap on lamp posts.The flexible legs with rubber rings simply wrap around uneven surfaces,

I chose the most expensive Focus model. There are a SLR model and compact model but the quality and reviews seems to be on the negative side. A good holding system is very important to protect your equipment. There are many copies out there and I think the original is still the best.

Using it is fairly easy, the wrapping of the legs is smooth. Once all rubber parts especially the 3 ends are in contact on the surfaces, the tripod becomes very stable and secure.

The ballhead that come as a set has a good quality feel. The handling on the knobs are smooth and positive. The whole tripod is able to withstand the weight of 11Lbs (5kg). It is more than enough for my Fuji X system which is about 1kg or less depending on the lens I mount.

Below are the photos of my first run with the flexi tripod and some examples where it can be mounted and the results.

1) It can wrap on a handle of a plastic chair

2) The usual rounded bar which can be found everywhere in the city or tourist places

3) Road Barrier. It can wrap on odd shapes like this and allows be to have a quick access to the middle of the road, shoot and leave the place after a few shots.

3a) Mount on a vertical square pole

3C) on a bench

4) The results from the road barrier

5) putting on a flat surface and low angle .No problem.

6) On the over head bridge