Cam-Pod

review by ivar.



A little while ago, I was reading a press-release on ephotozine about the Cam-Pod. (no, it's not related to the iPod)

The cam-pod is an old-fashion beanbag in a new housing so to speak. It's a camera support which you are supposed to be able to use on just about any surface according to the makers.

I ordered the cam-pod from http://www.cam-pod.com, where I had the option of paying by credit-card, or by paypal. I used the latter, and ordering was a piece of cake. I received the cam-pod 7 days after I ordered it, and am suitably impressed with that since it had to ship from Australia to the Netherlands.

It came in a plastic bubble-lined envelope:



There are 2 sizes, normal and mini. The normal one is for SLR type cameras, and the mini for point and shoot-sized cameras.

I ordered the regular size, for AUD $24.95, and with shipping that came to AUD$37.90, a little less then USD$30, a fair price I thought.



The Cam-Pod Consists of 8 segments filled with a plastic filling

It's just under 500 grams (about 1lb) and is about 36cm (14") by 18cm (7")
It folds well.



To get an idea of the size, this is the Cam-Pod with a 30d & 24-105



Using the Cam-Pod actually seems pretty easy, you fold it in a certain way, you put the camera on, wiggle the camera a bit, and voila. And I must admit, it does feel pretty stable.



I tried to take some obstacles, and again I have to admit it feels stable. Whether or not this would be something you'd do in real life is another thing.



So, so far, it looks and does really nice. The only problem I can see with it, is that it is difficult to use portrait-oriented.
On it's right side, my camera doesn't get enough support, since the lens is floating in the air, especially with a physically small lens, such as a 50mm



On it's left side it looks alot better already, and it feels a lot more stable:



However, my remote control input is on the left side as well. When connecting it, my camera starts to balance on the remote connector a bit, and looses part of its stability especially with a smaller lens.



With a larger lens, this is less of an issue, since it balances more on the lens than it does on the body.
So for portrait style with a smaller lens, you may need to use the timer function, but other than that, this thing looks pretty cool. I've yet to use it in the field, but I can't wait. So far, a thumbs up!