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MillimeterPolecam
May 18, 2009 12:00 PM, By Dan Ochiva
Can be attached to the body via a harness. Price: TBA
Leave it to someone who has to use a piece of gear to figure out the best way to improve it. That’s the concept behind Polecam and its jib, which turns up in sports and documentary productions.
The United Kingdom-based company, which was founded in 1998 by cameraman/director Steffan Hewitt, came about when he had to direct a series of windsurfing commercials in Hawaii. With no readily available rig to allow him to shoot wide-angle sequences directly in front of a windsurfer in action, Hewitt devised a rig comprising a miniature camera on a carbon-fiber windsurfing mast.
Today, an improved version of the jib comes with five universal, custom-wound carbon-fiber sections each measuring more than 3ft. each in length, 1.6in. in diameter. The counterweight arm of the Polecam rig doesn’t cut into the action either, since it only protrudes to the rear a maximum of 3ft.; this rear protrusion contains the counterweights, batteries (typically 10Ah), CCU, and interface unit.
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