Replacing my lost tripod

I lost my Joby GorillaPod SLR-Zoom tripod in Iceland last month.  It was painful as it was early in the trip and I had intended to use the tripod as a second tripod for time-lapse, etc.  I had to improvise thereafter and use things like camera bag to prop up my camera, but in truth nothing beats the utility of a tripod.  Hence I was sourcing for a replacement before my next overseas trip in April.

Initially I contemplated getting SLR-Zoom again, or its bigger brother, Focus.  But then I looked back at my previous usage scenarios and realised GorillaPod may not be my best bet.  I used to like GorillaPod's flexible legs which can be bent around and attach to railings and fence.  However, that's provided you don't put too much weight on it, even when that weight is still supposedly well below its limit.  If the weight is too much, the GorillaPod will tilt and fall from the railing.  I have had a few close calls when I put my Nikon D610 on it before.  In my opinion it's far safer to use clamps like Phottix Multi Clamp to attach to railings and fence, when necessary.

Of course, clamps can't be put on the ground unlike GorillaPod.  In that scenario the GorillaPod behaves like a normal tripod, albeit without extensible legs, which sort of limits its usefulness compared to normal tripod.

Consequently I decided to look for a small normal tripod instead and purchase the Sirui T-025X tripod.  Although I can no longer wrap it around railings and fence, the legs are extensible yet the whole tripod folds down to a very compact form factor comparable to SLR-Zoom!

After using this new tripod for a while, I really like its small form factor.  I can squeeze it inside my camera bag rather than hang it outside like what I will do for bigger tripods.  I do regret the inability of the footpads to be replaceable by spikes, but that's not a big cons (yet).  The centre column is extensible as well, thus when the tripod is fully extended, its height is actually quite comfortable to deal with.  However, I always try to use it without the centre column and only attach when necessary, as using the centre column causes the camera to become less stable.