"Handy" Little Stand

I was looking for a simple tripod that would enable long exposure/night photos or delayed timer snapshot where I can run around and stick my big melon head into the frame.

Being a combination photographer/gizmologist, I had to continually fight the urge to purchase a larger, more capable camera stand... but I realize that if it doesn't fit into a coat pocket or a small bag, it probably will be left in the front hall coat closet with my other three tripods !!

Keeping that in mind, I searched amazon.com and found this tiny and inexpensive unit. This here is the "Zykkor Mini Travel Flexible Tabletop Pocket Size Tripod with Spider Legs for Compact Digital Cameras and Camcorders"

Ain't that a mouthful!!

Regardless of what it is called, it will hold small cameras pretty well --- below you can see it supporting my Canon G9, which is a fairly heavy unit. I can't say that I would put anything larger on it (no way does my DSLR sit on it), and during setup, you need to be particularly careful to spread the bendy legs open enough to create a stable platform, but I think it will do what I want it to. I see similar designs from various "brand" names -- my guess is that they all come off the same production line running in a lights out operation in China or India somewhere.

I haven't torqued on it too much yet, so time will tell if this holds up to normal use/abuse... but for $2.75 delivered, it is hard to beat!