The Story: As you can probably tell by now, every one of my reviews start with a story on how I came to find the certain product I am reviewing. This one started in New Orleans this past January. As you know I was there at Imaging USA which is a massive photography conference. One of the main highlights is the expo, with tons of vendors and goodies that photographers go nuts over. While browsing, I happened upon DaisyGrip and thought that it was the neatest thing I had seen there. After meeting Christine and her husband David, I explained to them what I was doing with my blog and how I wanted to review products that not everyone had heard of and help shine some light on how neat they are! Hence, my new relationship with the DaisyGrip! =)
After using it for a couple family sessions (with small children), I can see what a great tool it truly is to have in my gear bag. It attaches really easy right into the camera's hot shoe and is made of great quality material so you know it's not going anywhere and neither is whatever you put in it. It is even able to hold your iPhone. (This would have come in real handy for a photo-shoot I had at Christmas where I was trying to get three children and a newborn to pay attention to me. Finally in desperation my husband pulled out his iPhone and all of them looked in amazement. Here is the link to the past blog entry to see what I am talking about).
For both shoots pictured I used a stuffed toy in order for it to be seen in the photos. I also used the iPhone on a couple other shoots which greatly caught each child’s attention, but I didn't get the smile the stuffed toy would bring. This could also be due to the fact, that I tend to shoot further away with either a fixed or zoom lens, which ended up being too far away for them to see the screen. This led to squinting or the child would get up to move closer and view it. (See blooper’s below =)
Summary of it all...\
Pros: Innovative, portable, easy to attach, sturdy grip, and really does get children's attention and provide a genuine smile!
Cons: It takes over the hot shoe and therefore no wireless trigger, flash, etc. can be mounted. I was however able to use my 7D and after mounting it use the pop up flash to trigger my X1600. (*There is a bracket that will be released shortly that will fix this problem and allow the DaisyGrip to attach to it while still allowing for a wireless trigger). When using it with an iPhone, you have to have a wide lens in order to be close enough for the child to see what is on the screen. And lastly due to the short attention span of children, after about ten minutes or so they are done with the fun and silliness of it and on to the next thing. So my suggestion would be to have a couple backup toys up your sleeve and bring them out once you have everything in position to get the exact smile you want!
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