The Best Gorillapod for Sony A6000 Cameras!

At the time of writing, the Sony a6000 is probably the most popular mirrorless camera on the market and has a massive customer base. In addition to this, when you factor in the rest of the Sony Alpha mirrorless camera range that fit very similar dimensions and weights as the a6000, the customer base is absolutely massive. As you would expect from any camera as popular as the Sony a6000, there are always people reaching out asking for assistance on various camera accessories that they are considering purchasing.

Now, depending on your niche, a Gorillapod can make an excellent accessory and they are very popular little tripods so it should not be surprising that we are seeing a steadily increasing number of people reaching out and asking what the best Gorillapod for Sony a6000 cameras on the market is. As we always try to help as many of our readers as possible, we have decided to make this the subject of today’s article and we are going to take a look at a number of different Gorillapod that are suitable for use with the a6000 as well as other cameras from the Sony Alpha range.

We have decided to feature three different tripods from the Joby Gorillapod range but we feel that the GorillaPod 3K will probably be best for the vast majority of our readers who use the a6000. Since its release, it has proven to be very popular due to its great image stabilization and amazing build quality while also having a cheap price tag. This has also led to the tripod earning itself an excellent reputation within the community that just keeps on getting better as time goes on.

We will be going over all three of our featured Gorillapods below and going into the areas where we feel that they are optimal for your a6000 or other Sony Alpha camera body. We have our comparison table where we will be going over some key features of all three of the Gorillapod and then having a short breakdown of each below. After that, we will be focusing exclusively on our primary recommendation, the GorillaPod 3K and going into why we feel it is the best option.

Comparison Table

Last update on 2024-03-17 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Now, the camera body of your Sony a6000 comes in at around 0.76 pounds of payload weight without any camera accessories being mounted to it at all. You then have to factor in the weight of your camera accessories too so you can estimate your total payload weight. You will have your lens of choice that will usually range from 0.5 pounds up to around one pound, potentially an external microphone that can be between 0.1 to around 0.25 pounds, and potentially an external flash unit as well as any other camera accessories you need.

We would highly recommend that our readers workout the highest possible camera payload weight that you may be used with your Sony a6000 prior to choosing your Gorillapod below. The last thing that you want is to mount your a6000 to your Gorillapod thinking it can take the weight only for it to give way due to your camera payload being higher than the Gorillapod maximum load capacity.

Now, first up, we have the GorillaPod 1K this is the lowest possible Gorillapod that you can safely mount a Sony a6000 to. That said though, we would never recommend the 1K as it only offers a maximum load capacity of 2.2 pounds and the vast majority of a6000 setups will come in above this. That said, there are a small number of very light a6000 rigs that can work with the Gorillapod 1k but we would always recommend that our readers go with either of the options below over the 1k.

Next up we have our primary recommendation, the GorillaPod 3K that we feel will be the best option for the vast majority of our readers who own the Sony a6000 or any other camera from the Sony Alpha camera range. It offers a maximum load capacity of 6.6 pounds of camera payload weight and will cover the majority of regular a6000 rigs that we would imagine that most of our readers will be using.

Again though, as we said at the start of this section, double-check the total payload weight of your own a6000 rig and make sure that it is under the 6.6-pound maximum load capacity. If it is lower than 5.28 pounds it is even better as we only ever recommend that our readers use up to eighty percent of devices maximum load capacity.

The final Gorillapod that we would recommend for use with the Sony a6000 is the GorillaPod 5K but in all fairness, its eleven-pound maximum load capacity is going to be overkill for the majority of our readers. The additional cost on the Gorillapod 5k just makes it a weak option in our opinion unless you use a very heavy rig with your a6000 or you know that you will be upgrading to a heavier camera such as a DSLR in the near future.

Now that we have covered all three of our featured Gorillapod options for Sony a6000 cameras we will be focusing exclusively on the GorillaPod 3K for the rest of the article. As we have mentioned above, it is our primary recommendation and in our opinion, it will be the best option for the majority of our readers so we want to focus on it.

Performance And Functionality

The versatility of the Joby Gorillapod range is second to none at the time of writing and they are able to provide you with some excellent image stabilization in a large number of situations where a traditional tripod would struggle. For example, if you are into your vlogging then you can use the Gorillapod as a quick and easy handheld grip to vlog into your camera and then place it on your desk to use as a tripod without having to interrupt the vlog. If you are out traveling and need to be able to mount your camera to a random object, the legs of the Gorillapod can easily wrap around branches or poles and a whole manner of other things too.

This versatility ensures that you almost always have access to a quick and easy source of image stabilization for your Sony a6000 no matter your situation. The easily adjustable legs on the Gorillapod range also make the tripod as easy as possible to balance, even on uneven surfaces while the easy to see bubble level allows you to quickly and easily see that your camera is level before capturing any photographs or video footage.

As we mentioned earlier in the article, GorillaPod 3K offers a maximum load capacity of 6.6 pounds of camera payload weight meaning that it can easily support the vast majority of popular Sony a6000 camera rigs at the time of writing. On top of this though, its mounting thread can also allow you to mount other camera accessories such as video lights to the Gorillapod that are within its load capacity limits to help ensure you are getting the lighting you need when on location. This just further increases the versatility and list of uses of the Gorillapod range if you do choose to add one to your collection of camera accessories.

Although Joby has always ensured that the price tag for their Gorillapod tripods is as low as possible does not mean that they are low quality, quite the contrary. They have an excellent build quality and the rubberized foot grips at the base of the tripod’s legs offer a firm and secure grip when in use too. This gives you the peace of mind of knowing that your a6000 is safe when mounted to your Gorillapod when in use on wet or slippy surfaces.

The Gorillapod 3k also comes with a three hundred and sixty-degree panning bed as well as the ability to fully rotate the tripod head through ninety degrees to tile your Sony a6000 in either direction as required during use. Although this may not be too useful depending on your niche if you are using your a6000 for something like vlogging and your social media accounts it is a great little feature.

You can use the tripod with your a6000 mounted in landscape to capture photographs or video footage to show off on your YouTube channel before quickly and easily tilting your camera through ninety degrees to capture content ideal for platforms like Instagram. Due to the orientation of smartphones, portrait based content tends to do much better on apps like Instagram and the Gorillapod 3k offers you the ability to quickly and easily switch between portrait and landscape while still having your image stabilization.

When you factor all of this in as well as the fact that the Gorillapod 3k is only around $40 depending on the retailer that you purchase it from, it really is easy to see why it is such a popular tripod option with the community. It is great for your a6000 as well as any other mirrorless cameras and the community has chosen to post a bunch of excellent, third-party reviews that you can read for additional insight.

User Interface And Control System

Now, unlike a traditional tripod, a Gorillapod has no real control system to speak of and has been designed to be as simple and straight forward to use as possible. If you are new to using tripods or are looking for something that is quick and easy to use then this plays to your advantage as a Gorillapod can be set up within seconds.

As we touched on above, the Gorillapod 3k is extremely easy to balance and the bubble level on the Gorillapods head makes it quick and easy to double-check that your a6000 is level. If you are doing something like travel vlogging or travel photography where you may be switching location multiple times while having a short duration to capture your content then this can really help.

Build Quality And Design

Joby has managed to build up an excellent reputation for their Gorillapods amongst the community with them rapidly becoming known for having an excellent build quality that ensures you are getting a very tough and robust tripod. This is a great feat considering just how robust the Gorillapod range actually is while also being so small and lightweight at the same time as well as providing massive maximum load capacities relative to their price point and size.

The Gorillapod 6k comes in at around 2.4 x 2.6 x 12 inches while being only 0.86 pounds of weight too. This makes it extremely easy to add to your camera accessories bag without having to take up too much space or weight. If you are working in a niche where you have to fly on a regular basis this reduces the chance of your Gorillapod knocking you over your airline baggage allowance and helping to reduce costs.

This is due to the majority of the Gorillapod 3k being made from with Japanese medical-grade ABS plastic or high-quality German TPE. It ensures that the tripod is light, tough, and extremely effective at providing your Sony a6000 with reliable image stabilization during use. All in all, as you would expect from a Joby product, the tripod has an excellent build quality for its price point in the market and we doubt that any compeating brand will be able to beat it for the foreseeable future.

Our Verdict

That concludes our article going over what we feel is the best Gorillapod for Sony a6000 cameras on the market right now. As we mentioned back at the start of the article, if you are using a super heavy a6000 setup or know that you will be upgrading to a heavy DSLR camera body in the future, the GorillaPod 5K may be the best option for you.

That said though, we are confident that the GorillaPod 3K is the best option for the vast majority of Sony a6000 owners and should be your primary consideration. It offers a great maximum load capacity with great performance without having to worry about you breaking the bank.

If you are still on the fence about the Gorillapod 3k then there are a large number of independent reviews online that have been posted by third-party photographers, videographers, and vloggers that you can read. You are able to skim over a handful of those and see how effective the Gorillapod 3k is and how good of an addition to your camera accessories that it can actually make.

Image Licensing

Shared under Creative Commons – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Morgan – 324/365 – March 24, 2009 – https://flic.kr/p/69SVss

hey tiffany! – Gorillapod slr zoom – https://flic.kr/p/65C21a