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Joby – Makers of Gorillapod, Gorillatorch and Gorillamobile
Joby Gorillapod SLR ZOOM review
I’m very happy to provide a product review for one of my sponsors for my cycling adventure – Joby. Joby have supplied me with an awesome Gorillapod – SLR ZOOM. 
Delivery:
Delivery was very fast and took just 4 days all the way from San Francisco to the Wirral, UK. It was delivered via Fed Express and was secured so that no damage would occur during shipment. 
Why the SLR ZOOM?
Well, for the trip i’m doing I wanted something lightweight, the SLR ZOOM comes in at 241g (8.5oz). I wanted something small – 25 x 6 x 6cm (9.8 x 2.4 x 2.4″) and also something that could support my Canon 7D (SLR ZOOM holds up to 3kg!) and have flexibility that I can produce interesting camera angles. One of my concerns was due to the flexibility of the SLR ZOOM I was a tad worried about getting my photos off balance. However the SLR ZOOM comes with a nice bubble level feature which allows you to correctly align your camera for the perfect shot. This used with the Canon 7D’s Dual-Axis Electronic Level means that it would be pretty hard to take photos mis-aligned. 
The SLR ZOOM gives me everything I was looking for as a tripod to cycle to New Zealandwith and makes it a pretty decent part of my equipment kit list.
What is the strength and flexibility like?
A review wouldn’t be complete without my own tests. I was using my Canon 7D along with a Canon 50mm 1.4mm lens. Although it’s not the heaviest lens in the world, it is all I have so far to test with. My first test was looking at the strength of the SLR ZOOM to be able to support the Canon 7D while set up like a normal tripod. I first set up the tripod so that the Canon 7D was tipped to the side. I found that after adjusting the legs of the SLR ZOOM I was able to find a comfortable in which the 7D was perfectly steady. 
Another test in this position showed again the camera was perfectly steady. 
Now for the interesting part. What can I attach it to? In this test the SLR ZOOM was wrapped around my banister. There was a 4 foot drop onto hard wooden floors if it didn’t hold the camera. I was quite nervous doing this test as if it went wrong there goes my camera. I wrapped the tripod legs around the banister and after some adjusting and playing around until it got to the point where I felt safe I let go. 
I was pretty happy that the camera stayed in the postion I put it in! As you can see from the image the Joby did a fantastic job of keeping my camera in the required position. Another test shot this time with a new position for the camera. Again, after some trail and error I finally wrapped the legs of the tripod in a secure enough position to support the camera body and the lens. 
Another image showing just how well it supports my Canon 7D. 
Overall thoughts? Pleasantly surprised at the strength of the SLR ZOOM. I felt comfortable taking my heads off and allowing the tripod to do its job.
Accessories
The SLR ZOOM has some pretty nice accessories as well. These can be seen below and are called spike feet. 
You can assemble the spike feet onto the legs of your SLR ZOOM and you get a pretty funky looking camera setup, like below. 
What’s great about the spike feet is that they are perfect for macro photography and can add more stability to your camera if on the right surface such as grass etc. I’m pretty excited about using the SLR-ZOOM and what it can do while on the road. Stay tuned for future updates of this product while on the road. For more information about the SLR ZOOM and other products that Joby offers such as: GorrillaPod, GorrillaMobile and GorrillaTouch you can visit the Joby website.
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