Polecam HQ were pleased to welcome this week Mathias Loew of Kamtek and Matthias Gollmer of Polevision, our distributor and an experienced Polecam owner operator from Germany.
The days purpose was two-fold. Hot from a in-depth 3D workshop in Berlin the previous day, they were keen to get to grips with the polecam 3D rigs simplicity which came as a breath of fresh air.
They also took away their own new 3D pan and tilt head and 3D levelling plate as an upgrade to their polecam rigs.
The guys spent some time updating us with recent polecam projects they have worked on.
On the 31st May 2010 nine YLE Television camera operators and freelancers including an Estonian cameraman attended a full days workshop, hosted by Polecam distributer Teknoav using their own demonstration rig.
After viewing showreels, it was down to business and hands on practice in the studio with the 5 Pole Rig and Iconix camera combination.
written by John Mans | Image Gallery
Whale Wars is a one-hour weekly American documentary-style reality television series that premiered on on the Animal Planet cable channel.
If follows the activities of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society which disputes Japanese claims that whaling performed in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is legally accepted research rather than banned commercially-based whaling.
The society's founder, Paul Watson, persuaded the Discovery Channel to make a reality show documentary which follows Paul and his crew aboard the MV Steve Irwin in their attempt to deter Japanese ships from hunting whales off the coast of Antarctica. The result would be a ten-part series.
Polecam operator Steve Rausch has completed his second season capturing ISOC National SnoCross Racing (SnoX). Nine events were organized by the International Series of Champions during winter 2009-2010, each race being streamed live on the internet and later edited into a one-hour show for transmission on the Versus cable TV network.
Polecam is a great system for covering these races especially with the conditions and terrain being extremely challenging," Steve details. "My gear consists of a five-section Polecam with a Camera Corps HD Mini Zoom, recording to Convergent Design Flash XDR. I sometimes fit a Hamas HR.5x wide angle adapter and Tiffen filters. All depends on the light and what's coming at me. We can position our rig on the starting line or on steep corners and even move it between heats for completely different views. Polecam's lightweight construction allows us to place it on slopes where pedestal set-ups are just not practical. The Polecam also enables us to get shots from angles that would otherwise be impossible. And it is far safer than the heavy steel of a traditional crane when you are operating near fast moving objects on ice or snow."
Steve Rausch's company, Focused Motion, specializes in HD and SD video production for broadcast and corporate arenas. See www.focusedmotion.com/polecam