What is a Beanpod?

The Beanpod is designed as a mini-beanbag - a lightweight way of supporting your camera and lenses. Billed as a portable alternative when a tripod is too heavy or bulky to carry with you, the idea is that you can stabilize your camera on a nearby wall or floor for support while using slower shutter speeds, at the same time protecting against scratches or damage.

This really appealed to me, as in many of the macro shots I like to take, even a mini-tripod is too high to get the angle I want - but hand holding just isn’t stable enough when the slightest shake translates into huge blur.

The Beanpod is an oval shape, approximately 8 inches long by 5 inches wide, weighs under 50g and is made of a wipeable material with foam beads inside. It costs £9.99 including postage and is available from beanpods.co.uk.

First Impressions

Unfortunately, my first impressions were not good ones. It took a couple of weeks to arrive (this was before the postal strikes here in the UK) and when it did I was stung for an 8p deficient postage charge with an additional £1 handling fee - i.e. the wrong postage had been applied to the envelope. So, instead of £9.99 incl postage it actually cost me £11.07. I emailed the company to let them know over a week ago and have yet to receive a response. Not a good start.

In addition, the product itself appears very disappointing. The website states that it is approximately 2 inches thick and around 50g in weight. Mine weighs 35g and is less than an inch thick - maybe a failed attempt at getting the cheaper postage rates to keep costs down? It feels very flimsy - I’m fairly certain I could stitch something similar up on my sewing machine for a fraction of the cost (although I probably wouldn’t have the skill to embroider the word “Beanpod” on it, but that’s hardly a major product feature) I took one look at it and thought “that will never support my DSLR with 100mm lens”.

It did come with a sheet of tips on how to use it though, so there was nothing to be lost in giving it a fair trial.

Pros

However, when I started using it, I was pleasantly surprised. It did support both the lens and body (as seen in the photograph to the left) extremely well and (in combination with timed shutter release to minimize shake) is very effective in getting sharp images with slow shutter speeds.

Its compact size and weight means that it easily fits into the front pocket of my camera bag, or even slipped inside a coat pocket - there’s no excuse for not having it with you at all times. For a compact camera, it’s even better as I always felt faintly silly taking a proper tripod out just for my little camera, but for an evening out it would be great just to whip this little cushion out and use it in conjunction with a handy table to get your shot.

It’s waterproof and very useful protection for your camera when using it on the floor - for that all important snail macro, perhaps.

With it being so thin, you can really get in low to your subject while still having some control of lens direction/position that you wouldn’t get by resting it directly on the table and even a mini-tripod would be too high or not stable enough for the job.

Cons

Eventually though, I found myself getting increasingly frustrated that it wasn’t pliable enough for what I needed it for - particularly noticeable if you want a specific angle. It is possible to squash it around a bit, but with the lack of height you are quite limited. With a larger camera beanbag, you have more height and can also remove or add beans as required - with this you’re stuck with the beans already in there as it’s completely sealed.

I wouldn’t trust it to be stable enough on its own if in a precarious position, such as on a wall - camera strap should be used at all times (and to be fair, it does warn about this on the tip sheet provided), but even then I would be reluctant to risk it dropping. A full-size camera beanbag would give much more support than provided by the Beanpod and may be a better alternative in many circumstances.

It’s also worth noting, that while taking photographs on the floor it is INCREDIBLY difficult to see through the viewfinder as it is so low, even lying flat makes it very difficult to compose. If you’re wanting to take these sorts of shots it may also be worth investing in an Angle Finder - a device that attaches to the eyepiece to allow you to see through the viewfinder at a ninety degree angle. These however, are not cheap (the Canon version is around £130). This is not so much a flaw in the Beanpod itself (although a larger beanbag may give you more flexibility and room while lying on the footpath to get your shot) but a reminder that often you solve one problem, just to discover more camera equipment must-haves.

The biggest disadvantage in the Beanpod though, in my opinion, is lack of value for money. It may be fairly inexpensive, but the materials, build quality, usefulness and poor follow-up service don’t seem good enough to justify that tenner.

Conclusion

The Beanpod may be worth buying if you need something small, portable and convenient for occasional use outside the home and don’t have the skills or inclination to run up one of your own on a sewing machine. I suspect it’ll be of more interest to creative compact owners than DSLR owners - as if you’re carrying an SLR around, you’re already used to lugging around a fair weight, and a larger camera beanbag wouldn’t make a huge difference, with plenty of additional benefits to make up for the weight and extra cost.