NEED TO KNOW: The three kinds of selfie sticks

It’s called a ‘monopod’, don’t you know?

Despite the dumb advertising online and in stores, all selfie sticks are not the same.

Three kinds

There are three types of selfie sticks; the manual, the Bluetooth, and the tripod. The marketing doesn’t make any distinction between these three, but go for the wrong one and you really will look like an idiot.

1. The manual selfie stick

Forget manual selfie sticks. You clip a phone on the end … and then what? Requiring you to line up the shot, then bring it back to your body to set your phone’s built-in timer … no thanks. Some do have a cable that goes into your phone’s headphones slot, with a button on the handle for taking a shot, but such models are increasingly rare.

2. The Bluetooth selfie stick

Forget selfies per se – these make taking photos from unusual angles really easy. Just pair the Bluetooth button on the handle with your phone, and it will always communicate again. Just press the button to take a picture. Easy.

3. The tripod selfie stick

This is the one the photographers secretly stash in their backpacks. It’s called a monopod, of course, and as well as gripping a smartphone at one end, it contains a small tripod on the other. Cue time-lapse photography from a phone of a sunrise, a sunset or a busy street scene. Not a selfie in sight …