I'm mulling over the idea of putting together a cheap pole cam using a PC350 (which I have at hand) and a (very) cheap multi camera housing, which I would need to buy. Other than attaching a scaffold pole to the housing are there any other really cheap alternatives that people have come across!?
Ideally I'd like to make some kind of 'scope' so I can see what's going on down there, but the budget doesn't stretch to anything like a L&M remote monitor. I really am talking very low budget here.
Any ideas?
Cheers, Simon
Yes Simon, buy one from Bob Gladden, http://ovisions.com/index.html . He has been making good ones for years. You can buy his pole cams from Gates Housings or deal with Bob direct. It will save you a lot of time and trouble and doesn't cost that much. If you contact him yourself, tell him I sent you and you will probably get some kind of break.
Steve B)
Hi Steve
That's great thanks! The 4 - 7 ft one looks ideal, I'll send Bob an email.
Cheers, Simon
We used to duct tape a broom handle to ours...
LOL. Still I do suppose the broom handle would beat the scaffold pole for lightness and ease of use!
The broom stick has now been officially promoted to plan B above the scaffold pole - thanks Mike!
Honestly, you can do some amazing things by visiting your local Home Depot....if you have those way out where Mike V. lives
The Bob Gladden poles look great, but I'd still need some kind of scope system to see what's going on (can't stretch the budget to include a remote monitor!).
I've been reading up and come across someone who made one out of some lengths of rainwater pipe and a couple of mirrors. I'm going to mess around with that first and see what I can come up with. I'll post some photos once it's done so you can all have a laugh!
Cheers, Simon
Hi Simon,
Mikes idea is not that far out. I made a pole cam last year using bits n pieces found from hardware stores. We got a broom / utility handle made from light aluminium and drilled a hole through the lower end to offer a pivot point. We had a small lipstick cam in a housing and then put a bracket on that with a nut through that and the hole on the base of the pole. A spring was then attached to the back oc the housing and on to the pole to suffice enough torque to maintain a downward facing position if the pole was left to hang vertically. We then made a circular collar using hose clamps with a piece of cable trapped inside from the front edge of the housing so we than had control of tilting the camera underwater, panning was done using the wrist. The one we made was only your regular broom handle length but I'm sure with a bit of effort and searching you could find the potential to make a telescopic option.
The only luxury we had was a regular s-video cable out to one of the Sony 'clamshell' MiniDV portable decks so we could both watch the footage and record topside. It worked great and we managed to get some awesome footage around the sea lion colonies of False Bay in South Africa.
