Flexible tripods

These great little tripods are light, portable and VERY useful for getting shots where you need the stability for a longer exposure but don’t want the hassle of lugging a full size tripod around. The really small ones will fit in a jeans pocket or handbag for use with your little compact, and even the SLR sizes slip into a belt or the side of a rucksack and add very little weight to your baggage.

The really clever thing is that the legs are completely flexible, so you can wrap them around posts, fences and gates, or use the legs to position your camera on walls, bridges – anywhere you need that extra stable platform. They also mean that you can get self portraits if you use the self timer or a remote control to let you get into the shot too.

Joby Gorillapod were the original models on the market, but there are now any number of cheap variants on eBay and other sites.

The main thing to remember when getting one of these is to get the one above the size you think you need. If you try to mount a heavy DSLR with a big zoom lens on the normal SLR model for instance, you may find that it can’t support the weight, especially if the camera is at an odd angle. The flexible legs are brilliant but you REALLY don’t want your camera to come crashing down off that pole or fencepost because it’s to heavy for the tripod, so always go for the bigger size!