Polecam Starter Pack Arrives In Hollywood

Following the broadcast industry debut of Polecam Starter Pack at the NAB show in April, the Polecam team headed for Cine Gear 2011 in early June to display the new system to US filmmakers.
Held at Paramount Studios, Cine Gear attracted 120 exhibiting companies and occupied the New York Street outdoor set plus two indoor stages.
Greg Salman of Los Angeles-based Polecam USA, said: "American filmmakers have long appreciated the versatility of camera cranes. The recent introduction of high-specification D-SLR cameras at very affordable prices makes them naturally receptive to the Polecam concept.
"The new Starter Pack is a highly cost-efficient rig with a 12 foot span, ideally suited to the burgeoning D-SLR market. It comes with a newly designed wide head accommodating a D-SLR camera or similarly compact camcorders. We demonstrated the system with a Canon D-SLR mounted at the working end."
He continued: "The cinematographers and camera operators attending Cine Gear were really impressed by the wide head and its eight pound payload capacity. This makes the rig incredibly versatile and opens up Polecam to a whole range of new camera options. The most frequent question we were were getting was: "Can you put a Red Epic on it?", to which the answer is: "We think so, if we can get our hands on one to try out". Check back for more info on that!"
Polecam Starter pack incorporates a newly developed wide head with encoded motor control providing accurate pan and tilt even at very low speed, coupled with a progressive damping mechanism. The head itself is a fully motorised remote unit under joystick command from a controller located near the Polecam mounting pivot.
Polecam Starter Pack includes three interlocking carbon-fibre poles with a forward reach of nearly 12 feet. The rig can be expanded gradually into a full-scale rig spanning up to 26 feet. Follow-focus is achieved using optional devices such as the Hocus Focus wireless controller. Polecam Starter Pack can be set up in minutes without needing special tools.
in addition to the new Starter Pack, Polecam's Cine Gear 2011 exhibit featured a full Polecam rig with a 3D head and two Toshiba IK-HD1 3-CCD HD cameras. Polecam also demonstrated the recently introduced StadiumCam one-piece miniature camera which offers an ultra-wide-angle 170 degree field-of-view. Designed for sports applications, the 5 x 3 x 3 inch StadiumCam weighs just 1 pound and can be mounted quickly, easily and safely practically anywhere.
(KMcA)