The hottest thing on the market! Or, should it be, "The biggest joke on the market."
I have been looking for a reasonable priced table tripod and a ball head to do some macro photography. personally, I hate tripods. They create commotion and taken to a museum, it gets every security guard in the building at your location with eminent arrest if do not disassemble the tripod at once. Most of the tripod related hardware I have purchased had the proper specifications when I purchased it but once in use, most of it if all, seemed inadequate and flimsy. Then one day, I became aware of the Joby line, advertising three different pods with three different load bearing capabilities and I believed an answer to my macro tripod search was over.
I ordered the Gorilla-Focus and the only ball head they manufacture which has a 3 kg rating.
When it arrived, my first reaction was amazement that this little gismo with legs just about a foot long, would support my macro gear consisting of a canon 5D camera with a canon 100mm macro lens and a Canon ring light.
Before becoming serious with this gorilla, I played with it trying to wrap it around some objects and giving it the standard tripod configuration. Bending the legs in and out and wrapping them around a pipe. it occurred to me that strong hands and fingers were needed here! This gorilla is not for sissies and my daughter gave up rather early in the game.
I assembled the camera gear, screwed it all on the 3 kg Joby ball head which was assembled to the Gorilla-Focus pod and put the whole thing on a flat varnished work table where it promptly started to collapse in slow motion. No, it was not the ball head that slipped but the Gorilla was going through its knees! The leg ball joints were giving way under the load of the camera, the lens and the ring light! One leg was weaker then the rest and I watched the slow collapse until the weakest leg touched the table and further collapse came to a halt! The whole "set-up" had come to a rests at some awkward position useless for what I wanted to do and I stood there staring at it until my wife came in and ask me what "that" was.
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| Joby Gorilla-Focus mounted on a fence pole* |
After recovering from the shock, I went to the Canon web site and started to add up the listed weights of each item. The Camera body of the 5D was 730 grams, the Canon macro lens was 600 grams, and the Canon ring light was 500 grams. the weight of the Joby ball head was not listed but I estimate it to be at about 150 grams. Throw-in about 100 grams for 4 AA batteries then altogether, the rig is about 1860 grams or a small 2 KG.
The Gorilla-Focus is rated for 5 KG. What gives here?
The problem is that we do not know how this pod is rated. The advertising and the product specifications tell the buyer the pod will support 5 KG or 11 pounds. The product associated pictures show a Canon SLR camera with battery pack and a "L" type Canon lens mounted wrapped around a pipe fitting on top of a pole.
My rig, sans battery pack and a lighter lens caused the Gorilla pod to collapse standing on the three legs which were spread apart about 120 degrees. The problem became worse when the "tripod" spread was increased to about 45 degrees (lower the setup) until the lens stopped it from further collapse. The wider the tripod spread the weaker the unit becomes. It was evident that this Gorilla pod was not capable of supporting a canon camera with a 100 mm lens standing on a flat table positioned for macro work.
Next, I tried to use it "wrapped around" a pole. The picture below is a Joby product picture showing a video camera with transition head wrapped around a tree branch. I played around with that position and was totally unsuccessful in duplication this position with my much lighter camera setup.
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| Joby Gorilla-Focus Camera Pod defying gravity* |
I was unable to "make" the Gorilla Focus grip the branch thightly enough to secure the rig "heads-up." The picture above, showing a video camera and its associated hardware, could not have been shot unless it was in perfect balance or had additional anchor(s) other than or in addition to the branch.
Unless I am not handling this gismo appropriately or, I was running out of patience, or maybe the Gorilla Focus pod I received was not functioning properly, I felt a decision to get out of the gorilla business would be the proper one and return the unit to the seller.
Part II
Getting in touch with Joby and letting them know about my experiences with a just purchased Gorilla Focus tripod, resulted in a number of email exchanges where Joby assured me that the Gorilla Focus tripod would support the advertised load. Joby indicated that the pod I received was defective and they would send me a new one from their warehouse in San Francisco.
A few days later the replacement arrived and I tested the load carrying capacity in the same manner as done before and low and behold, the Gorilla Focus indeed supported my assembled macro camera setup and I assume it will support the advertised "give & /take" 11 pounds. Needles to say I was more then pleased with the way Joby had handled this problem.
I find the pod useful for macro setups and other table work. How useful this pod would be in the field, wrapping it around structures and trees, is another story. Adjusting the legs is hard. This pod may support 11 pounds, but it does this at the cost of strong spring tension in the leg assemblies. I asked my wife to wrap the tripod legs around a table leg and she could not do it. Interestingly she mused, if the pod get's enough use, it will loosen-up and things become easier. If that is so, then the pod can no longer carry the 11 pounds.
For casual use, like putting it on uneven rocky surfaces, shooting from the hood or the roof of your car, I belief that will work. I still belief, the pod is most useful for table work and I shall continue to use it for hat purpose.
*pictures by Joby