Casey Neistat's Tripod and Mine: How a Reflection in His Glasses Gave Him Away

There's a moment in one of Casey Neistat's recent vlogs the kind that feels like it was pulled straight from 2016 where the light catches just right, and in the reflection of his signature Ray-Ban Wayfarers, you can make out the silhouette of a small tripod sitting on a surface nearby. It's compact. Minimal. Purposeful. And I recognized it immediately, because I've been using the exact same one for the past six months.

We're living in a full Casey Neistat daily vlog renaissance right now. His latest uploads have that electric NYC energy that made him the most-watched filmmaker on YouTube nearly a decade ago, and I am eating it up. Watching those videos pulled me down a gear rabbit hole and when I spotted that reflection, I had to laugh. Because sometimes the internet confirms what your own hands already figured out.

Casey Neistat Vlogs are back baby!!

Let me take you through my tripod journey, from my wobbly Joby GorillaPod to the Neewer Portable Travel Mini Tabletop Tripod that's become my go-to support for my Canon R6 and why I think it might be the best sub-$50 piece of camera gear a content creator can own right now.

This is Casey’s Tripod

The GorillaPod Era: Flexible, Fearless, and Frustrating

If you've watched any Casey Neistat vlogs and if you're reading this, you have you already know the GorillaPod. It's the flexible-legged, twist-around-anything tripod that's been glued to creators' hands since the early DSLR vlogging days. Casey has used them extensively throughout his career, and for good reason.

My first real tripod was a Joby GorillaPod, and for what it is, it's genuinely brilliant. The wraparound legs let you mount your camera on a railing, a fence post, a branch, a speaker stack at a concert. When I was first building out my kit for event coverage and run-and-gun shooting, that adaptability was everything. You don't always have a flat surface. Sometimes you need your camera wedged into the side of a stage barricade, or looped around a pole at a venue. The GorillaPod is the answer for those moments.

But here's where it starts to show its limits: it's not a great stand, it's a great mount. When you need your camera flat on a table at desk height for a talking head, a product shot, a vlog intro the GorillaPod gets awkward fast. The legs splay in ways you don't want them to, the height is inconsistent, and on a smooth surface, you're nursing that thing the whole time. I started wanting something more intentional. The GorillaPod is still in my bag. It's not dead to me. But it became a specialty tool rather than a daily driver.

Casey’s Classic GorillaPod

The MantisLPod Chapter: Going Heavier, Thinking Bigger

My next move was toward something more structured I picked up a MantisPod 2.0, a hybrid travel tripod that promised the best of both worlds: the compact portability of a tabletop stand with the height extension of a real tripod. And it delivered on some of that. It felt substantial. It handled my Canon R6 with no complaints. When I had time to set up properly a controlled shoot, an indoor event it was solid.

The problem? I stopped using it on the move. The setup time added friction I didn't want when I'm covering a concert, chasing moments at a wrestling event, or trying to grab a quick vlog segment between shots. Content creation at the speed I work requires gear that disappears into the process. If your tripod becomes a whole thing, you're losing moments.

The MantisLPod is a great piece of gear. I just realized I needed something faster to deploy.

This is my MantisPod 2.0. It had a short life.

Watching Casey Neistat's Vlogs in 2025 and Spotting Something Familiar

I'll be honest when Casey started uploading more regularly and that vintage NYC vlog energy came flooding back, I binged a lot of it. It's impossible not to. Watching those videos in 2025 feels like discovering a genre you forgot you loved. The bike rides, the quick cuts, the handheld urgency of it it reminded me why I got into content creation in the first place.

And then I saw it. A reflection in his glasses. Just a shape, really but compact, low-profile, aluminum legs, sitting on a surface like it belonged there. The Neewer Portable Travel Mini Tabletop Tripod. The exact one I'd switched to six months earlier.

Now, I want to be clear: I can't confirm 100% what tripod Casey Neistat is using right now. Gear databases that track his setup note he's historically used both GorillaPods and the Manfrotto Element Traveller as his primary small support options. But that reflection told a story. And whether or not Casey and I are matching gear right now, the fact that my eye immediately recognized that silhouette as a compact tabletop mini says everything about why that form factor wins for working creators.

The Neewer Portable Travel Mini Tabletop Tripod: Why This Is My Favorite

Let me tell you about this thing properly.

The Neewer Portable Travel Mini Tabletop Tripod (the aluminum alloy 20"/50cm model) is not glamorous. It doesn't have a brand story. It doesn't cost $200. It costs around $45 and it quietly does everything right. Here's what won me over:

It's Built for the Canon R6 Even Without Trying to Be. My Canon R6 is not a tiny camera. Paired with a lens, it has real weight. I was skeptical a mini tabletop tripod could handle it without wobbling or slowly tilting under load. The Neewer's 11 lb (5 kg) max load capacity puts that concern to rest immediately. It holds my R6 with a lens attached without a single complaint. That's the spec that separates it from cheaper plastic tabletop tripods that are really only built for smartphones.

The Ball Head Is the Real Story. A 360-degree swivel ball head with an Arca-type quick release plate means I'm mounting and unmounting the R6 in seconds. No fiddling with screws under pressure. No tripod thread frustration. Click in, lock it, shoot. For event work, that speed matters enormously. The bubble level keeps me honest on flat surfaces, and the three-position leg angle adjustment gives me flexibility on surfaces that aren't perfectly flat a table edge, a step, a ledge.

It Collapses Small Enough to Actually Carry. This is where a lot of "portable" tripods lie to you. The Neewer folds down genuinely compact slim enough to slide into a side pocket of my camera bag without reorganizing anything. When you're heading to a concert or a wrestling event, every ounce and every inch of bag space is a decision. This tripod disappears into the kit.

Height Range That Actually Works for Vlogging and Desk Shots. The adjustable height range 6.7" to 19.7" covers the real-world scenarios I encounter most. Low angles, desk level, slight elevation for a cleaner vlog frame. Five sections of adjustable leg height means I'm not locked into one look.

It Doesn't Slip. Non-slip rubber feet might sound basic, but it's the feature you notice when you don't have it. My R6 is not getting launched off a table because a tripod slid on a smooth surface. The rubber feet stay put.

Casey Neistat doing his thing!

The Tripod Philosophy for Content Creators: What I've Learned

Going from GorillaPod → MantisLPod → Neewer taught me something worth saying out loud: Your tripod should disappear. The best support gear is the stuff that gets out of the way of the story. When I'm covering a concert or shooting a wrestling card in DFW, I don't have time to wrestle my gear. I need to mount, frame, shoot, and move. The Neewer lets me do that. Casey Neistat built a decade of compelling content by solving this exact problem at every stage of his career. His gear choices GorillaPods, Manfrottos, whatever that was in his glasses all point to the same principle: stay mobile, stay ready, never let the setup slow down the story.

I'm not claiming to be Casey Neistat. But I've been watching his work since the daily vlog days, and some of that efficiency obsession rubbed off. When I spotted what might be a Neewer mini in the reflection of his Wayfarers, it felt like a quiet confirmation: the best creators have always gravitated toward compact, capable, no-friction tools.

Final Verdict: The Neewer Is the Daily Driver

If you're a content creator shooting with a mirrorless camera Canon R6, Sony A7 series, Fujifilm, whatever and you want a tabletop tripod you'll actually use every day, the Neewer Portable Travel Mini Tabletop Tripod handles real camera weight, deploys in seconds, packs down to nothing, and costs less than a tank of gas.

The GorillaPod stays in the bag for the wraparound moments. The bigger tripod stays home for the controlled studio work. But for everything in between events, vlogs, run-and-gun content, hotel room setups on the road the Neewer is what's coming with me. Tap the button below and check out my YouTube channel to learn more.

Mike Moore is the owner of 8BitBlood, a DFW-based content studio specializing in video production, drone cinematography, and event coverage. Follow the blog for gear reviews, production tips, and coverage from the DFW content scene.