I love the fact that my compact digital camera allows me to take pictures of my geeklet just about everywhere. I can’t stand the fact that when I want to use it with a tripod, I have to lug along a device that weighs easily 15 times as much as the camera. Don’t even get me started on those cheapo mini-tripods — I’ve broken more of them than I care to admit having spent the money on. And although negative tripods have a high level of geek cred, they’re not convenient when I want to park the camera and walk away, or want a weird camera angle. Enter the Joby Gorillapod.
With three flexible, multi-jointed, rubber padded legs, the Gorillapod is almost sure to be capable of standing on or wrapping around something in your immediate vicinity. Signposts, swingsets, the top rail of the stakebed on a Radio Flyer wagon — something will work. Perfect for my needs. And they make the little guy in three sizes, from "compact point and shoot" up to "big dSLR with zoom lens." The price range is reasonable, too, running from about $22 for the compact unit for point-and-shoot cameras
