looking for a mini tripod to spotlight

ne1 knows of good versatile mini tripod or something which holds your typical hand-sized torch (e.g. Eagletac T20, Surefire 6P, Surefire C2, Surefire A2, 4Sevens Quark) and which can swivel in a generous range of steradians (see solid angle)?

today i tried to clean the floors of our badly illuminated house and i liked the idea of benefiting from my powerful flashlights (e.g. the 720 lumens of my T20). there was no way i could think of to position and fix the torch on top of a table (at the edge of the table) and make the beam point to the beneath lying ground, i.e. in the downward direction.

In tailstand mode, the torch would light up the ceiling (let's call it "@0 degrees"). If i want to illuminate the floor, i would need something like a supporting stand (maybe a mini tripod?) which let's my flashlight point in any direction, e.g. @90 degrees (horizontal) or @135 degrees.

How do you do it? Maybe some really recommendable commercial solution exists already perfect for our flashlights?

an angled light like the Zebralight H51 with its beam diffused can be strapped to the leg/s of a table for the task, angled down.

some tripods have a center column that can be tilted for low angled shots can be use with lights like Zebralight H51 strapped to the center column, tilted downwards.

the Streamlight Sidewinder can be placed on the edge of tables & tilted downwards too. but the max output is rather low.

I've been looking for a way to attach a AA sized flashlight to the Joby Gorillapod, which might be what you are looking for. I'm thinking a simple clamp that has an attachment for your standard camera tripod screw would work. I've been meaning to search local camera stores for something like this but haven't gotten around to it yet.

The Gorillapod is cheap, light and incredibly versatile imo.

You can get like these single sided sticky ones that attach to the gorilla pod I'd just be concerned with the heat output of the light when using it. But a AA light's heat is nothing to worry about.The only problem is that you need a flat surface

As far as Gorillapods go,there are many imitators and all are substandard IMHO. Buy once,cry once. Do not skimp to save a few shekels because you will not be

happy with the garbage you might end up with. Gorillapod also makes several versions of the pod ,including heavy duty models designed for DSLR's and such.I

have been using them for years and am a big fan of all their products.

yes, reading the customer reviews on DX the imitations (clones, replicas) seem to work for a limited time only and for lighter stuff than specified. then the joints get all soft and hold even less weight. and they dont have magnetic feet. so with Gorillapod (~22$) i get the better quality original, okay.

imitations sell at 4$. that's not a few shekels saved lol.

Good to hear that your a big fan. i am gonna be a big fan too, i am confident. my amazon package is already in transit. crazy.

Seems some posts were deleted.

Anyhow, got the Universal Clamp Mount from DX today and here are the pics I promised:





















That clamp is larger than what I had originally pictured in my head to serve as a mount for flashlights on the Gorillapod, but as you can see it works really well.

Unfortunately I have no larger lights to test with.

yes, several of yours and several of mine have been deleted.. seems like.

damn, these are great beautiful pictures!!!!!!!!!
thanks a million for sharing them :huh:

As i can see you have the larger joby, and not the standard joby with magnetics like mine. the larger joby was too expensive for me .. and i really hope that my standard joby is large enough to go well with the DX clamp. If you've got yours, then i should get mine too .. because we ordered it on the same day didnt we?

i certainly dont mind the clamp being that big .. it's the standard joby which could have a problem with it (balance and momentum -> tripod falls haha). we'll see. would be too cool if i got it tomorrow in the mail! :naughty:

Thanks again for the really nice and helpful photos!! (Once i got mine, i will post scans (Epson scanner) since i dont own a digicam). I am sure that more people will follow our example (joby+clam) after having seen your fantastic pictures!! :wave:

You're most welcome. I just checked the Joby website and as far as I can tell, my Gorillapod, which is the 'Original', is the same size as the 'Magnetic' model. I could be wrong though.

on the pix yours looks bigger, though.
mine is black and red.

hmmh.
(today nothing was in the mail. still 9 consignments to arrive, see my sig.)