Been working out various things for action camera filming and one was improving on the pole. Started with one of those ultra compact telescoping chrome steel poles. It worked as a pole, but the only thing it really had going for it was that it collapsed down small enough to stuff into a cargo pocket for the lift ride up. Being steel it wasn’t particularly light for its size, but worse yet was it relied on friction fit to hold the segments which makes it wiggly.
I then got a pair of Leki carbon hiking poles and adapted it to mount a camera to its tip. The pole is very light. It’s great as hiking poles. However it had some issues for use an action camera pole. It has a 1/4×20 camera mount adapter, but that was quickly abandoned as it is too flimsy for action use. I then created a Frankenstein adapter for the tip, which I think I’ve blogged about in the past. That worked. The collapsed size is a bit long, too long to fit inside my riding backpack, not a major issue. The biggest issue was that it used twist lock to hold the segments. This was a problem in that using it with a camera mounted to the end, the segments would unscrew allowing the camera to flop around. You could try and screw the lock really tight, but it would present a challenge of aligning the camera the way I wanted consistently, and when I wanted to collapse it to stow for transport or lift ride it was a pain.
I then switched to the QuikPod brand telescoping pole. The model I got is more like a conventional photographers aluminum monopod with lever locks, except that the handle is at the bottom of the pole. The lever locks allowed quick and secure deployment and collapsing without changing the aim of the camera. This was getting closer to what I wanted.
The next issue was the poleness of the pole. What do I mean, you ask? Well, a pole is a pole, a straight rod. Now grip the end of the pole and try holding it horizontally straight out in front of you. Give it a few minutes and you should start to feel it in your wrist. So what I wanted to do was to put a side grip on the pole, kinda like a tonfa. So for this current iteration of the action pole, I picked up the latest QuikPod model, their Quikpod Sport. It’s basically the same but with one less segment so it’s shorter, smaller and lighter. I’ve rarely used the original at full extension, so this was good. Had to figure out how to attach a handle, I found online that Minoura made a bunch of nice clamps made to attach all manner of things to bicycle tubes. Bought a bunch of them. Also found a bunch of handles made to screw into the tripod hole of cameras to give you a grip. Ordered one straight one, and one angled pistol grip style.
The pistol grip made from molded hollow plastic and was quite light. I fiddled with the hardware and managed to attach it to the pole. But whoever designed this did it with old school viewfinder to eye design in mind, except if used that way the thumb groove does not fit.
If used as a forward held pistol grip, then what you see at the left is what happens. It tilts downward, pretty unergo. But it just so happens that this is perfect for me. My intended grip is more like the tonfa grip and it angles the pole perfectly. This handle should also solve problems with the pole rotating when I have it strapped to my pack or bike.
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