Any recommendations on a good pole for an assistant to hold a profoto head/beauty dish with? I'm not sure if it is better to go with some sort of boom/pole or a monopod. I'm thinking something with a well placed grip might be helpful?
I've been searching on B&H tonight but a pretty bewildering selection of things to look at!
Great tip! In fact, I was just studying those poles in the hardware store today and wondering how to mount a light to one! I just ordered one of the adapters.
Most light stands you will be able to remove the legs from easily enough, the center pole being a perfect boom arm, I had a spare mid sized light stand lying around and it now gets used as my main boom arm.
There are painters poles that are in 3 sections. You simply screw them together. Makes things easy for traveling. You can get them in aluminum or wood. They are sturdy too.
I just made a light stick from a Shur-Line pole w/Kacey pole adapter. Looks great, works great, but, be careful about how much weight you put at the end of that pole. I tried a AB800 & old style AB Beauty dish w/grid and found that it was a little too heavy to use effectively. The AB800 plus medium foldable softbox was about the heaviest combination we could use safely.
Personally, I just stick a Manfrotto stud on the end of a Bogen monopod...gives me about 5' extension and I haven't had any issues with weight or sturdiness. Also means less gear to run around with, as the monopod may already be with me and the stud is negligible.
"Personally, I just stick a Manfrotto stud on the end of a Bogen monopod...gives me about 5' extension and I haven't had any issues with weight or sturdiness. Also means less gear to run around with, as the monopod may already be with me and the stud is negligible."
The main difference between a painters pole and a monopod is length. with a painters pole you can rest the weight on the ground and just hold it to the angle you like, but with a monopod you will typically need to be holding all the weight of the strobe and modifier.
Heavy in that it was difficult to control, especially for my female assistant. I believe the pole is 12' long and we use it fully extended. As you shorten it up, as shatterkiss noted, it is more controllable. I was also thinking that a flag bearers belt might help alot for some assistants.
brett maxwell wrote:
The main difference between a painters pole and a monopod is length. with a painters pole you can rest the weight on the ground and just hold it to the angle you like, but with a monopod you will typically need to be holding all the weight of the strobe and modifier.
True, but leverage becomes an issue as your pole gets longer: you may have the weight resting on the ground, but the extended pole means you'll have a lot less control over it and the effective weight will be greater if it's held out at an angle. And, realistically, how much weight are you putting on the end of a hand-held pole? 5 or 6 lbs? For maybe five minutes at a time? Stick the foot of a monopod in the waistband of your pants and it isn't much of an issue.
I wouldn't be comfortable putting a dish and strobe on a painter's pole...the ones I have flex with just a paint roller on them. I'd rather use something that's designed to actually carry a load. I've also found that it's rare that I need to get a handheld source up higher than 8 or 9 feet, so the extra length isn't really a benefit.
I can see both sides on this one. I do like the idea of the painter's pole holding the weight and the fact that most of my outdoors shots will be in the sand should provide some added support.
I do need to get a monopod at some point, but I am having a hard time selecting between them online. I have a new Acute2 Ringflash (that they were nice enough to send me for free for buying the acuteb) and could see how a monopod could help in supporting that. Perhaps I should just get to the gym more often!
I use my california sunbounce boomstick - available in 2 and 3 riser versions - they are far more sturdy than a painters pole. Put my 28" BD on the end for assistant to yield
can use these boomsticks as PAP (pole aerial photography), for light holding and as a kick-stand for reflectors. An awesome tool in itself.
Paint poles come in many sizes and strengths. There are ones for homeowners to paint the bedroom that are lightweight that are great for light loads. There are also ones for the professional painter that are very strong. Much stronger than many of the light stands on the market. Poles are very controllable by placing your foot on the end when leaning it.
Well while waiting on the painter's pole adapter to arrive I came up with a different solution using items I already had.
For the pole I am using a the 40" Center Pole from my Avenger C Stand. Then 1-2 feet from the bottom I am attaching the Avenger Super Clamp Griphead. The griphead portion of that attaches very nicely to the handle on my Profoto AcuteB. It also stablizes the pole quite a bit by having a 10 pound weight at the bottom.
The bottom of the Avenger pole is a junior pin that works great for shoving in the sand. I figure I can also bring along the turtle base and that will give an assistant a place to rest the stand.
The pole is quite heavy though so it is best suited for resting on the ground with the pole going vertically up. It's an extremely rigid pole though so I feel very secure with my lights on top. Obviously if the assistant is going in the water I would need to move the AcuteB way up the pole (possibly making it hard to control) or put it in a backpack for the assistant.
