I recently got a Gorillapod (after it was posted on Cool Tools). It's unbelievably awesome. And is twenty bucks really all that much money, in the grand scheme of things? I say get the Gorillapod.

jan: bendy / compact / mini tripods are so awesome for all sorts of neat things - and it fits in my bag and goes everywhere with me! I don't know anything about the gorillapod.

as far as the skewed horizon problem - this is not uncommon to many photogs. I tend to do it myself. What I've done is turn on the grid feature in my viewfinder. It definitely helps me to keep horizons levelled in handheld shots.

I was told by my best friend who is a photojournalist at our local newspaper that this can be a function of how dominant your 'dominant' eye is. The way it's solved is to learn how to shoot with both eyes open. very, very difficult at first but I'm starting to get used to it.

I don't know what camera you're using, but I know my Stylus point n shoot has a grid feature as well - you turn it on and a grid overlays the LCD. On the stylus, it's a little intrusive, so I tend not to use it much. So perhaps check your camera manual for this.

And regardless of whether or no your camera has a grid feature, I absolutely suggest getting a mini-tripod, they're amazing for so many things.

Jan, I've never seen a bad review of the Gorillapod. It definitely seems worth it.

I've found the grid setting.

I thought there was a metafilter post about the gorillapod but it was actually for this thing.

But I don't really know anything about either one, I'm a shitty photographer.

I've gone for the gorillapod, bought it on eBay to be shipped to Diane's in Ohio, and with the £/$ exchange rate, it's half the price I'd pay in England. w00t!

me3dia has a gorillapod. It was a lot of fun to play with.

Want.

I have not used a gorillapod, but they look awesome. The whole concept and flexibility and size just destroys the cheap bendypods.

My only concern is that the gorillapod's links might loosen with time, rendering it floppy. Also I bet there's a distinct weight limit.

I have one of those cheap bendypods and it's nigh-useless. It's pretty much only good for a few variations where you just don't want to set your camera down on something.(like wet ground, or a table, or something gritty/sandy, but I get freaked out just getting my cameras near sand.)

Also, the cheap bendypods are highly unstable for even the lightest cameras. It's honestly a good way to break a camera.

There would, indeed, seem to be a weight limit. But the Gorillapod people make three versions, including one that's meant for video cameras and SLRs w/zoom lenses and whatnot. Wow, I'm such a shill.

You could skip the tripod all together and just stuff some newspaper in your right shoe - even yourself out. :)

I usually use an alignment feature in my photo editing software - like Google's Picasa,

I've got the little bendy tripod and its very useful but I am seriously thinking about the Gorillapod. Also, the grid helps straighten out horizons quite a bit. iPhoto has a "straighten" feature that lets you cheat, it has markedly improved some of my shots that would have otherwise been useless.

Did anyone else read this as "trendy bipods"? Anyone...?