UKC

Am after a extendable pole to mount my canon 5d on so I can get shots from above the climber /boulderer, does any on know were I can get one or what the proper name for one is have tryed google using a combo of diffrent words but only seem to get results for things that are not what I'm looking for also after a gadget that plugs into camara and youa wire / lead comes down to a small screen so you can see what the camara is pointing at, again don't know what it is called, sorry if discriptions are a bit vauge but I'm sure people will know what I'm after any help much appreciated.

In reply to Russell Lovett: are you talking about a camera crane? they are serious pieces of kit, you can make small ones but not really good enough to get any decent video from. a cheap proper one will cost you about £1900, and the professional ones are rediculous! ssome of the shots from them are sick though, take a look at this, it was filmed in reverse to make the shot easily possible, its noticeable if you look, but if you saw it just once, you wouldnt tell youtube.com/watch?v=NZFy5nVIdYE&

Sam

In reply to Russell Lovett: I just use a manfrotto light stand, or a monopod, and also a stand designed to hold backdrops when Im shooting from above climber.I mount the camera on a brolley bracket and job is all good, you could also use a ball or pan/tilt head.I use slings harnessed to my chest and tied at intervals along the stand to steady the 'photo dong', especially the 4metre long backdrop stand. I trigger the camera wirelessly using pocket wizards. For Live view screens try this..

http://www.hahnel.ie/index.cfm/action/productSearch/pid/65%29

Or shoot and look and reposition.Works well enough when shooting super wide.


All the best.

Mail me if you need any more info, Im sure there are better set ups out there but play around and find one that works for you.. It doesnt have to be expensive either.

In reply to Russell Lovett:

A bit of terminology that you could search on is

Pole Aerial Photography

for getting photos like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/26712210@N05/4614184140/

you can buy various masts and booms specifically for elevated photography - these tend to cost mega bucks. Most people usually adapt some other sort of extendable pole to take a camera, this might be a window cleaners pole, painters pole, pool cleaners etc.. or use a fishing pole.

safely getting something the weight of your 5d+glass safely up metres into the air, repositioning and back to the ground again may be difficult - the leverage exerted on the pole by the weight of camera might be too much.

a fair place to look at what other people do including how they mount their ca,era etc is the Pole Aerial Photography Group on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/pole_aerial_photography/

In reply:

There's some video, pics and description of the pole setup that Simon Carter uses at:
http://www.verticallifemag.com.au/video-simon-carter-words-about-pictures/

In reply to Russell Lovett: I've been trying the same idea Russell. So far I've been using a monopod but next plan to araldite a 1/4inch thread into the top of a tent pole section and then use that. I'm thinking of the old frame tents that have a bearing pop connection preventing them from separating if upside down..

Like the idea of a sling rigged camera dong though will try that too. Final thought, I've mainly been using my poles to push a strobe out from the camera a is for OCF work I've found trying to camera mount is hit and miss with aiming and subject composition. I think this is more to do with practice than anything else, not sure a screen in feasible, you'd need a very long HDMI cable