Hand monopod for underwater photography from the shore

Hello to everybody! 

Few days ago I’ve bought Olympus tg-6 to take photos of the life creatures that inhabit rivers, lakes and ponds in Moscow region (Russia). Now it is winter here with lots of snow and cold temperatures below zero. But some rivers are not totally frozen. I am thinking about examining the underwater creatures from the shore with this camera attached to long hand monopod. I will need to get somewhere hand monopod of around 3 meters length with a head that can rotate 360 degrees in vertical direction to be able to attach camera not upside down. I’m attaching the sketches of this construction)) Does anybody know if I can buy somewhere such devices?

Inon (inon.jp) makes a carbon telescopic arm that extended to around 103.5 cm or 4 0 inches. A verity of camera/actioncam mounts can be added. It can also be extended by mounting a second Inon arm or a DYI extension.

8 hours ago, Phil Rudin said:

Inon (inon.jp) makes a carbon telescopic arm that extended to around 103.5 cm or 4 0 inches. A verity of camera/actioncam mounts can be added. It can also be extended by mounting a second Inon arm or a DYI extension.

 

Thank you!

What you are seeking to use is called a polecam. There are a few threads on them here on Wetpixel. I have been using polecams for years to photograph salmon. My longest is a 2.5 meter long piece of surplus aluminum tubing. This is about as long as I can transport in the bed of a pickup truck. I have also used an old metal monopod. After a few uses the sections would not slide due silt getting into the mechanism. So I leave it as a permanently extended monopod. I use various ball mounts and other hardware such as made by ULCS to attach the housing to the pole. I have a few picks taken over the years of my setups. More can be found in past Wetpixel postings.

The first 2 images show my long pole being used.

Here are some shots of the monopod in sue. Not the adaptations to local conditions. There was a lot of current where I shot the Chinook Salmon - note blurry water but found a large rock at the water's edge to help hold it in place. I hit my photo limit on this shot so maybe later.

More shots.

On 12/21/2021 at 10:52 PM, Tom_Kline said:

What you are seeking to use is called a polecam. There are a few threads on them here on Wetpixel. I have been using polecams for years to photograph salmon. My longest is a 2.5 meter long piece of surplus aluminum tubing. This is about as long as I can transport in the bed of a pickup truck. I have also used an old metal monopod. After a few uses the sections would not slide due silt getting into the mechanism. So I leave it as a permanently extended monopod. I use various ball mounts and other hardware such as made by ULCS to attach the housing to the pole. I have a few picks taken over the years of my setups. More can be found in past Wetpixel postings.

The first 2 images show my long pole being used.

Thank you very much! Will google this device.

Some more shots that Wetpixel would not allow me to post the other day. You can see the cable running downstream in the first pic. Keeping the cable out of pix can be challenging!!! It is literally a drag!!!

On 12/25/2021 at 1:13 AM, Tom_Kline said:

Some more shots that Wetpixel would not allow me to post the other day. You can see the cable running downstream in the first pic. Keeping the cable out of pix can be challenging!!! It is literally a drag!!!

 

That is cool that you live in a place, where salmons can be seen so close!

I took some more photos to show my quadrapod and my water-wings. By using different length bolts it is possible to have camera sit more or less level on the bottom where there is a slope. The water-wings are to provide some positive buoyancy when using the rather negative Nauticam optical accessories but something like this (float arms in different positions and different holes ) could be used with a go-pro to have your camera float near the surface. This plate has already been used for a few different purposes (note extra holes and circular wear).

On 12/29/2021 at 1:33 AM, Tom_Kline said:

I took some more photos to show my quadrapod and my water-wings. By using different length bolts it is possible to have camera sit more or less level on the bottom where there is a slope. The water-wings are to provide some positive buoyancy when using the rather negative Nauticam optical accessories but something like this (float arms in different positions and different holes ) could be used with a go-pro to have your camera float near the surface. This plate has already been used for a few different purposes (note extra holes and circular wear).

Wow! Interesting idea!

On 12/21/2021 at 10:52 PM, Tom_Kline said:

What you are seeking to use is called a polecam. There are a few threads on them here on Wetpixel. I have been using polecams for years to photograph salmon. My longest is a 2.5 meter long piece of surplus aluminum tubing. This is about as long as I can transport in the bed of a pickup truck. I have also used an old metal monopod. After a few uses the sections would not slide due silt getting into the mechanism. So I leave it as a permanently extended monopod. I use various ball mounts and other hardware such as made by ULCS to attach the housing to the pole. I have a few picks taken over the years of my setups. More can be found in past Wetpixel postings.

The first 2 images show my long pole being used.

Hi Tom. I’ve just bought Fujimi FJBH-Z1 tripod head and found it very useful at first glance. It can be attached to monopod or tripod in various ways and also can work without monopod and tripod. Here are some pics of this device.

Looks like this will work!! Moving parts will need some maintenance.