The combination of a long pole with a 360 degree camera makes it possible to obtain very interesting images, which are very similar to images captured with a drone at low altitude. In my previous articles, I have already tested the 3 meter poles from Telesin and Insta360. I suggest here that you take this approach even further by using an even longer pole, 6 meters.
The classic commercial poles are between 1 m and 2 m, others are around 3 m for the longest. Solutions to have an even longer pole are uncommon. For experimentation purposes, I decided to build myself a 6m pole for photographic use. For this, I started with a commercial pole dedicated to cleaning. The tip is of course not intended to hold a camera, I modified it to fix a 1/4 ” screw.
The pole is quite heavy and bulky, it consists of only 3 tubes, which means that it remains quite long even in the fully folded position. With such characteristics, its transport is not easy, it does not fit in the trunk of a car and a fortiori not in a backpack.
A point to note is that with such a length the pole undergoes flexions, and that despite its maintenance, this automatically results in oscillations, quite pronounced vibrations. Fortunately, the stabilization capabilities of 360 cameras, and in particular of the Insta360, make all the images captured still perfectly usable.
In addition, the size of the pole, the handle and the flexion mentioned in the previous section, mean that the fixing system is not completely invisible. If you keep the photographer holding the camera in the picture, you will find that the boom is very visible and even quite distracting in the pictures. Conversely, by not keeping it in the image, you will have quite usable images, and a rather spectacular rendering.
Holding it by hand is not easy, the weight, the wind, the deformations of the pole require a certain strength and great vigilance not to hurt the 360 camera or someone.
IN SUMMARY
The images obtained with a 6m pole are very interesting, however this is done at the cost of a fairly limited flexibility of use. For my part, apart from a few special cases, I find that the images obtained with a 3m pole are already very relevant and that with much more practical equipment. The 3m poles are indeed very light and fit in your backpack, I move around with my 360 camera, always accompanied by a 1.20m pole and a 3m pole.