16' DIY Polecam for professional use
 

I'm almost there! I've been working on this garage project for several months now. I'm doing the final tweaking; the pans and tilts are still not quite as smooth as I would like them. There is also an apparent see sawing on moves which I want to eliminate.

If you are in the San Francisco Bay area and need footage shot with this, please contact me! I currently have a Canon 5Dmii on it, and I'm working on the remote focusing mechanism right now. I can swap head cables and fit a small video camera (CX-550) and control it with lanc for zoom, focus, start/stop.

Here's a short video of it:

Re: 16' DIY Polecam for professional use
 

Hi Warren

Nice Pro looking rig! What kind of money are talking about for the build so far?

Re: 16' DIY Polecam for professional use
 

Have you thought about using "DSLR Controller" an android app. for focusing?

Re: 16' DIY Polecam for professional use
 

Thanks, Chris. I haven't tallied up the total cost, but off the top of my head, the carbon fiber poles were $1800, Servocity head $399, aluminum plates and tubes $50, wiring $70, weights $38, various nuts, bolts, washers, and clips $30, etc. I'm "borrowing" the controller and joystick from my Jimmy Jib. If I can get my rig to perform the way I want, I'll add 2 more extensions, making it a 24' unit.

Donald, thanks for the heads up about the android focus app, I didn't know about it! The focusing unit is actually done, but not connected yet. I'm waiting for a flexible lens focus gear to arrive in the mail. The focus servo is also borrowed from Jimmy Jib since it can be controlled from the control box. All I need to do is attach a short rod to the baseplate, hook up the servo, then I'm good to go.

An authentic starter Polecam kit costs around $10k. I just saw an Indian knockoff (I think it was Cine city Pro aim) for about $2300 but Pro aim is known to build theirs with poor quality.

Re: 16' DIY Polecam for professional use
 

neat hardly need a dji phantom now
how did you manage those truck shots? was the whole rig rolling?

Re: 16' DIY Polecam for professional use
 

Looks like a great tool for real estate features.

Re: 16' DIY Polecam for professional use
 

There were no truck shots at all, the tripod was absolutely stationary. The last indoor shot looked like a truck shot because the boom was swinging to the right while the head was panning to the left at the same speed. My target was the door, I tried to keep it centered, giving the illusion that the camera was moving forward when in fact it was traveling in an arc.