Pretty much everybody now owns a camera, especially as most phones these days have one. And everybody knows how to take a photo, but not everyone can take a good photo – taking a really good photo does require a level of skill and a steady hand. In our house, the nearly-teenager seems to spend a lot of time pouting into her phone taking photos (I’m sure she thinks we can’t see her sitting on the sofa doing it).
Whether you are a hobbyist or professional photographer taking photos to send to friends, to put on your social media pages or to add to your latest blog / website post or maybe even just to practice your teenage pouting, to get the best out of any photo will usually require extra equipment and accessories – that could be lights, tripods and different lenses or even those filters that everyone seems to use these days. If you are looking for perfect stable and even shots then a tripod is must have accessory – you just place your phone or camera on top and place on a flat surface and hey presto you can take a steady photo that isn’t at an angle much more easily. But what if the surface you are placing your tripod on is uneven? Help is at hand with the PodZilla tripod from JOBY – a tripod with flexible legs so that you can get the tripod to stand firmly and securely, even on uneven surfaces, and because the legs are flexible you can even wrap the legs around other objects to get different angles and perspectives that you might not ordinarily be able to get – perfect for aspiring content creators and selfie-loving teenagers!
The JOBY PodZilla Flexible Tripod Kit comes in Medium and Large sizes to fit different sizes of smartphones and cameras. It is also available is several different colour options. For this review we received the Medium size in bright yellow (our pouting budding photographer loved the bright colour). The kit contains a PodZilla Flexible Tripod and a smartphone clamp, both of which have been designed for ease of use to help you get the best photos and videos from your smartphone or camera.
- Flexible tripod to allow versatile content creation
- Push button locking mechanism for portrait positioning
- 1/4 attachment to support devices weighing up to 1kg (2.2lb)
- Includes Phone Clamp with double cold shoe attachment
- Medium kit holds smartphone with widths of 6.7-8.8cm (2.6-3.5”)
The purpose of a tripod is to hold a camera completely steady so that there is no movement or vibration when taking a photo or video but when the terrain that it is placed on isn’t flat and smooth the uneven surface can make this a much more difficult prospect. The PodZilla is a much more versatile tripod that solves this problem and brings other ways to use it as well. The three tripod legs are each fully articulated, constructed with a durable aluminium core and covered in grippy rubber, and whilst they are strong and rigid, they can also be bent to different angles, positions and heights and even wrapped around other objects. There is also a ball joint on top of the tripod so that you can adjust the smartphone or camera and move to varying angles to straighten or even slant the image. If you want a photo taken from a higher position or somewhere where placing the tripod on the ground just won’t do, then the tripod legs are flexible enough that you can actually wrap the legs around an object to give a higher or different position. This makes the tripod much more versatile.
Whilst the legs of the PodZilla can easily be manipulated into different angles and be twisted around things, they do remain strong, durable and solid when a phone or camera is placed on top.
As well as the tripod, the kit also comes with a phone clamp. This twists on to the top of the tripod until it is screwed firmly on and the phone holder twists around and can be opened up to fit your smartphone (we used it securely with a Samsung A12) – the medium version we were using will open to accommodate phones with widths of 6.7-8.8cm (2.6-3.5”). When the clamp is not in use, it twists around into one longer piece, making it easier to store.
Overall, the JOBY PodZilla Flexible Tripod Kit has gone down really well in our house. It is so easy to use with a camera or smartphone and very easy to bend the legs into the best position to get the best angles. It really does make taking photographs and videos much easier, although now more time and care is spent in getting the tripod into the perfect position. Being able to bend the legs to suit whatever surface it is placed on is superb and certainly ensures that it is better than other tripods with standard rigid legs, and the kids love being able to effectively tie the tripod to things such as chair frames to give them better and much more unique angles when playing around with different images (it really is very secure when they do this).
The tripod and clamp are also light enough that they can be taken anywhere with you, and lightweight enough to hold for those selfies that kids want to constantly take.
We all think that the JOBY PodZilla Flexible Tripod Kit is excellent. It doesn’t matter if you are an amateur or professional, budding content creator or social media fanatic that loves taking selfies, this tripod makes taking photos much simpler and easier and will ultimately give a much better output than holding the phone (usually with an unsteady hand). This is definitely a smartphone accessory that will get lots of use.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £41.95
For more information or to buy, visit joby.com.
