For years, JOBY has been creating a line of odd-looking but creatively functional tripods like its GorillaPods, which allow photographers to mount their cameras (and smartphones) in places where normal tripods and supports dare not attempt. It is with this history of innovative camera supports that JOBY is entering the traditional tripod market with its new feature-filled RangePro Smart aluminum tripod.
Designed for today’s content creators, the RangePro Smart comes with the standard features that you’d expect from a modern full-size tripod. The Smart Ball Head accepts the same Arca-type-compatible plates that the GorillaPod 5K and GorillaPod 3K PRO use. The aluminum 4-section twist-lock legs can be individually angled with M-Lock leg angle selectors. The telescoping center column has an integrated weight hook for added stability—or to hang whatever needs hanging while you capture images or video. An included phone mount allows you to capture stable content with your smartphone in either the landscape or vertical orientation. The phone mount also has a cold shoe for accessory mounting.
Designed with portability and travel in mind, the JOBY RangePro Smart’s legs also fold up 180°—an almost-mandatory feature for a serious travel tripod—for storage in an included protective bag. When fully folded, the tripod is 16.73" long. Fully extended, the unit extends to just shy of 63"—52" with the center column retracted. Minimum shooting height is 16.93". The tripod weighs a slight 3.73 lb and has a working capacity of 17.64 lb—ideal for interchangeable-lens mirrorless cameras and small DSLRs.
The RangePro Smart is built in Italy. JOBY’s parent company, Vitec Imaging Solutions, owns the likes of Italian tripod stalwarts Gitzo and Manfrotto. With this new JOBY, you are getting a combination of JOBY ingenuity with more than a century of tripod-manufacturing expertise.
Often, we see companies with a traditional product portfolio occasionally throw a design curveball onto the market. For more than 10 years, JOBY has hurled nothing but curveballs, sliders, and off-speed pitches at customers with its funky camera supports that fill a practical market segment effectively. With the company’s new RangePro Smart, JOBY comes at us with a straight fastball and bravely enters the traditional tripod market armed with a worthy first pitch backed by a decade’s worth of creative experience and knowledge in camera support.
What do you think of the new entry from JOBY? Let us know in the Comments section, below.
