Joby GorillaTorch Flare

The GorillaTorch Flare is downright cool. There’s so many interesting features involved that I feel like any photographer can eventually, given time and patience, find a use for this device. It may not be the best light as far as compensating for a mobile phone’s lack of a workable camera flash, but it acts as a bit of a Swiss Army Knife in terms of usability.

Like the Gorilla Mobile, the legs are flexible, but rigid enough to hold itself up. There’s no hot shoe or cold foot, but if you can find a rail or a post or any remotely flat surface/ something to wrap its legs around, then it’s going to be fine. It’s the same principle as putting an external flash on a tripod for a photo shoot. The only real drawback is you have to anticipate where you’re going to want your light coming from, you can’t really point and shoot. Another amazing feature, one I was excited about discovering, is that Joby decided to put some decently strong magnets on the bottoms of the feet. They won’t hold it to everything, but they do enough to make the Torch that much more versatile.

As far as the actual light goes, it’s a bit on the fluorescent side as far as color. It’s also pretty narrow, so don’t expect to light a big scene. But you can change the light from dim to medium to bright, and then take it a step further and make it a strobe. Keep clicking, and it will turn to a red light, and one last click makes it a red strobe. Not positive you’ll ever want to use the red light for a strobe, but if you try really hard I’m sure there’s a purpose for it out there somewhere. Worst-case scenario, you’re car breaks down and you strobe a red light to protect yourself from oncoming traffic as you try and fix it.

I have to recommend this device purely on the upside it has. It’s light, it’s small, you can bring with you pretty easily, and with minor effort you can find a use for it.