Looking for a larger version of Towercam

[Tom Lowe]

I need to find a telescoping pole that can elevate the camera straight up into the air about 40 or 50 feet, or more. Towercam looks great, but the units are not large enough for what i have in mind. Are there any similar rigs that are larger and more robust?

The pole needs to extend smoothly and slowly, because I will be shooting from the pole as it is extending.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Anyone?

 

[Jason Comparetto]

What's the budget?

 

[Zach Gray]

All I can think of that gets that high is a vertical single man lift. How portable and smooth I have no idea.

http://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/equipment.aspx?itemid=0070035&catid=1210


Edit: found it!

http://floatograph.com/telescoping-masts/index.php

 

[Phil Holland]

The pole needs to extend smoothly and slowly, because I will be shooting from the pole as it is extending.

Just saw this now man.

My father is a woodworker and when I was a kid I worked on jobs with him when installing cabinets in kitchens.

We sometimes used cabinet lifts:

Basically a pulley (or two) on the top of a smooth track with a lifting platform on one side and a crank on the other. I used this when I was kid and shot some S16 footage, I didn't have a jib at that age!

A few better ideas.

40-50 feet is a good distance. What you can do is raise a beam to the height and secure two lines going down the the ground or base of the supporting platform Those will be your "track". Adding a simple pulley and counter weight can offset the camera weight and you could actually likely rig something up with one of the Kessler Motors if you are looking to do a timelapse. Like mount the turntable on it's side to control the move. Similar to the jib concept you showed a while ago, only lifting a cable via the turntable as a wheel and having the line coil.

Essentially a dual line cable cam that moves vertically with a weight offset.

For the BBC's Planet Earth they rigged a bicycle wheel cable cam platform, which was extremely portable.

Additionally you can find things like this or build them:

Hope that helps. Just need something to mount that cable cam to that's really secure. A single beam can be that with proper tie downs.