Would you trust a malleable ball of adhesive to hold your camera? That's the gamble GekkoGum is hoping their buyers will take with its new smartphone and action cam accessory.
On the now fully-funded Kickstarter campaign, the fledgling company is quick to assure that they have tested their material for quite some time. "Although we experienced that GekkoGum works perfectly," they explain, "we shared it with our friends and received lots of positive feedback."
If the product does, indeed, live up to their friends' positive feedback, this could open up whole new worlds for filmmakers. You could feasibly stick this thing anywhere to get just the right angle on a still shot or even mount it on a dolly to get the action shot you want.
This ability is perhaps most impressively demonstrated in the video below, where the camera is literally attached to a bike spoke.
If you're a run-and-gun filmmaker, this extremely portable (and hopefully reasonably priced) mount could prove useful. It's reusable and comes in a small triangular wrapper. You could feasibly carry a couple of these packets around in your pocket.
There are, of course, a few limitations to the adhesive's stickiness. The producers recommend GekkoGum for devices with a maximum weight of 7.0 oz/200 grams. So don't be thinking you can get away with sticking a small DSLR to a wall with one of these. In addition, the company advises you to steer clear of water sports. Also, the product won't stick to silicone. It's also hard to tell just how shaky footage will be without some sort of stabilizer involved.
Courtesy of GekkoGum.
The ball itself is made up of a rubber compound without hazardous properties. The company claims "it's odorless, free of grease, and doesn't stick to your fingers. GekkoGum can be cleaned with fresh water to remove superficial dirt and keeps its characteristics for many years (no aging, embrittlement or shrinkage.)" Hey, no one likes shrinkage!
