Quote Originally Posted by Marko View Post
I've never used one - interesting.
To my eye though, compared to my extra solid tripod it seems seriously inferior in terms of overall stability when pressing the shutter. Am I offbase?
Ummm no not really. Using a timer is the best option with the bean bag. You may be under-selling it's usefulness though. There are places where it's difficult to take a decent quality tripod ... like a 5 km trek around a rocky shoreline for instance. Often you'll opt not to drag the tripod along. That's where the bean bag can be handy because it's super light and easy to carry or stash. There's even versions for shooting out of cars but I think they are used mostly to rest a long zoom lens on.
Mostly though I think a tripod is a much better option.

Chris Marquart loves bean bags!