Look In Every Direction — from INSIDE of the picture

The goal: get the camera up in the air.

The problem: do it without the boss finding out I spent money on it.

This is project is very easy to do and will get the bottom of your pano head 12’ in the air. First you’ll need to get the things on this list (prices are from Home Depot):

After you collect everything from the above lists pile them in the middle of the kitchen floor (just to make the boss nutty). After you get back from the hospital the first thing you’ll do is use a small drill bit to drill out one end of the rivet holding the brush screw assembly on the end of the aluminum shaft. Remove the rivet and slide the brush assembly off of the shaft and put it in your recycling bin.

Next you’ll need to use the small blade screwdriver to remove the rubber cap on the bottom of the soon-to-be pano pole/monopod. Do this by sliding the screwdriver between the pole and the rubber cap, twisting it slightly as you go. It’s glued on with a cheap glue that’s easy to crack as you push and wiggle the screwdriver in between the shaft and rubber cap. Remove the cap and lay it aside for later.

Next slide the center aluminum shaft out of the bottom of the fiberglass shaft a few inches. Put 2 rows of 1" cloth tape directly below and against the plastic ring on the aluminum shaft being careful to NOT overlap the ends of the tape the 2nd time you go around the shaft or it will be too thick (see image for details). Slide the center shaft back in and replace the rubber cap. It’s not necessary to glue it because it’s tight enough to stay on by itself.

Slide the center shaft out of the top of the fiberglass shaft a few inches and put a single row of 1" cloth tape at the end of the shaft (see image for details). Again being careful to NOT overlap the ends of the tape the 2nd time you go around the shaft or it will be too thick for the next step.

Slide the PVC female adapter on the end of the shaft until it seats against the end of the shaft. Drill a #6 hole 5/16" up from the bottom of the adapter (the hole will be centered between the bottom of the adapter and the area where you’d put a wrench, see next image) going completely through to the other side. Try to get it as straight as possible but super accuracy isn’t critical, just don’t drill through your finger.

Insert the #6 screw, washers, lock washer and nut to see how much you have to cut off. If you have one of these it’ll be a snap to cut it to the proper length, if not you’ll need to use the hacksaw and file. Be sure to have the nut ON the shaft when you cut it to length so after you file the end smooth you can use the nut to "clean up" the threads when you take the nut off of the screw. Reassemble everything and tighten it firmly.

Drill a small pilot hole in the center of the 3/4" PVC male plug. It doesn’t have to be perfectly centered or perfectly perpendicular to the end of the plug but be as close as you can. Next drill that pilot hole out to a 3/8" hole. Test the 3/8" cap screw in the hole, if it’s tight, slightly, ever so slightly, redrill it so that the cap screw wiggles ever so slightly in the hole. Because there’s some play between the cap screw and the hole and the bottom of the plug is flat (where you drilled the hole), the cap screw will find its own vertical and wind up being parallel to the shaft when it’s tightened later.

OK, now let’s assemble everything. Put the cap screw up through the hole in the 3/4" PVC male plug, through the fender washer and into the bottom of your normal pano head using the allen wrench to tighten it down snugly. It doesn’t have to be really tight unless you’re going to be using the pano pole/monopod horizontally, even then it’s just to keep the pano head from rotating when you turn the pano pole/monopod shaft.

Screw the pano pole/monopod shaft assembly onto the PVC male plug. You can do it the other way around but it’s a lot easier to rotate the shaft than it is to rotate the complete head assembly. Don’t tighten it too tight or it’ll be really hard to disassemble later.

Congratulations! You’re done.

Almost...

Extend the pano pole/monopod fully and lock it in place with the lockdown friction collar. Make sure that when you extend the center section you don’t slam it out against the inside of the lockdown friction collar or you may shear off the plastic ring at the bottom of the center section (that’s why you put the 2 wraps of tape below it earlier) Put the camera on the head like you normally do. If you don’t want to shoot a nadir you can tilt the pano head down a few degrees (10° down with my Peleng 8mm gives a very small cloneable nadir hole). Attach your remote release and extension cable and use the 3 Rip-Ties to secure it along the "back side" of the shaft with the last Rip-Tie on the outer fiberglass shaft about a foot below the lockdown friction collar. Loop the remote release between the pano pole/monopod and extension cable just above the bottom Rip-Tie so it will be within reach after you raise the pano pole/monopod. Use the small clip to clip the camera strap to the back of the pano head to prevent it from blowing into your shot or dropping into it if you’re using the pano pole/monpod horizontally. Check your connections and raise it up to the vertical by walking down the pano pole/monopod as you raise it. Obviously it will be top heavy so don’t let it get too far off axis and start to fall.

Trust me, that would be bad.

If you can afford it I highly recommend getting a wireless remote release. They are relatively inexpensive when purchased from eBay. I got one for $40 (shipped) from John Camera Store (this is a direct link to JCS if the previous link to his remote releases breaks in the future) that I’m very happy with (it has only 2 units and the receiver mounts in the camera’s hot shoe, so it’s not swinging abound and banging into the camera as you rotate the pano pole). Not only do I use it on the monopod but I use it with normal tripod-mounted panoramas to prevent camera movement when I press the shutter release. Another advantage of getting a wireless release is you don’t have to fool around with attaching a cable to the camera and pano pole and then to the wired remote release. You just plug it into the camera and you’re good to go. The setup hassle is virtually nill. An added benefit is not having to worry about the cable (on the release or the extension cable itself) breaking because you’ve flexed it so many times getting it out and putting it away. This will happen at the worst possible time because Murphy’s Law says it will (hey, it’s the law).

Because PTGui is so good (thanks Joost!) all you need to do is get it close to vertical by eye-balling it. It’s easy to keep it in place by visualizing where the camera is in space and keeping it there (when you look up at it this will come naturally). Once it’s up and has stopped moving around rotate it until you are 90° to one of the flat sides on the PCV plug (it’s easy to see that you’re 90° to the flat side and hard to tell the same thing on the corners so use the flat sides as your rotation reference point) and take your first shot. Rotate the pano pole/monopod 60° instead of the normal 90° (to give you more coverage at the seams and bretter coverage for moving people on the seams) and take the next shot. Because the shaft is hollow you should be able to feel the shutter being released (you might be able to hear it but that depends on the noise environment you’re in). Keeping your feet in the same place bring the camera down by “walking” your hands along the length of the pano pole and bringing the camera to you. Tilt it 90° up (on the pano head) and “walk” the camera back up into the air. Keeping your feet in the same place will put the base of the pano pole in the same place on the ground (or very close to it) and shoot your zenith shot. If you’re standing on something that’s not cloneable you’ll need to shoot a nadir. “Walk” the camera back down to you and tilt the head down 60° then memorize where you were standing and move about 10’ away from that. Raise the pano pole up at a 60° angle (be careful it will feel very heavy because it’s out to the side and acting like a lever with several pounds on the end of it) and with the camera over that position on the ground shoot your nadir (PTGui is smart enough to fix this). You should be able to hold the remote release in your hand at the same time as the pano pole but if it’s a problem you can put the remote release in your mouth and squeeze it with your lips (it works and even though you may look silly you’ll get the shot). Hooray! You’ve just shot your first pano from 12’ in the air.

Now what?

I’m sure you noticed that the pano pole/monopod had a tendency to “walk” across the ground as you rotated it. So let’s take care of that problem next.

Go out to the scrap wood pile you’ve got behind the door in the garage and select a piece of 3/4" plywood that’s about 5" or 6" across. Cut it so that it’s square. Drill a #8 hole in the center of the piece of plywood and the 1 1/2" PVC cap FIPT. Use a 3/8" drill bit to counter-sink the #8 hole on one side of the piece of plywood. Be careful that the drill bit doesn’t bite the wood and go right through it in a heartbeat (see “bad” above). Put the washer on the screw, put the screw through the inside of the 1 1/2" PVC cap FIPT and put it through the piece of plywood securing it with the nut in the counter-sunk hole in the bottom of new pano pole/monopod "foot."

To keep it from sliding across smooth surfaces and/or marring someone’s expensive floor (see “bad” above) you need to add some rubber bumpers to the bottom of it. I used the screw-on type to keep them from being knocked off when I’m out and about.

To use this unit place the pano pole/monopod “foot” where you need it and put the rubber cap on the bottom end of the pano pole/monopod in the 1 1/2" PVC cap FIPT. The outside diameter of the rubber cap is slightly less than the inside diameter of the 1 1/2" PVC cap FIPT allowing you to rotate the pano pole/monopod in place and still be able to tilt it when on uneven ground.

If you’re shooting exteriors (e.g., when you’re on a hike, or whatever) when the above “foot” is impracticle then get a 2nd 1 1/2" PVC cap FIPT and a 1/4" 20 x 1" screw, nut and lock washer. Drill a 1/4" hole in the center of the PCV cap and put the screw, lock washer and nut in it. Use a small file to round off the sharp edges of the screw to prevent it from marring whatever you’re resting it on and to get it to spin in the same place.

When you want to use the pano pole/monopod horizontally (e.g., out a window, over a bridge, etc.) you’ll need to use some 2" cloth tape (e.g., duct tape to the rescue!) to prevent the horizontal arm from rotating on the rotator base as you rotate the pano pole/monpod. The unit can also be used vertically but to be sure you don’t lose the camera crank down on the lockdown friction collar (don’t do it so tight you break it) and then use some 2" cloth tape at that connection point to keep the inner aluminum shaft from sliding out if the lockdown friction collar fails.

Obviously this can be used as a normal 6’ monopod if the center shaft is retracted all of the way into the unit. When you use it extended you’ll be in the nadir looking up (because you didn’t move, you just rotated the pano pole) and that’s an easy fix but it you use it retracted you’ll need to move or you’ll have a major problem trying to remove yourself (unless, of course, you want ot be in the shot). In this case you’ll pan the pano pole 60° to the left (by looking one of the PVC plug’s flat faces that’s just above your eye level). Shoot, rotate 60°, shoot and rotate another 60° and shoot again. This is all done with your left wrist (unless you’re a righty) in just a couple of seconds. Then quickly step the the opposite side of the pano pole (leaving it on the floor/ground) and repeat the 3-shot 60°-rotation process you just did. It’s easy to step to the opposite side with good accuracy if you first look at whatever is opposite you (from the pano pole and camera) and then put your back to that point in space.

Congratulations! You’ve not only made it this far but you’ve got a great piece of equipment that was inexpensive and fun to build and will allow you to shoot panos that you normally couldn’t shoot. You can also build one of these onsite if you fly to a vacation location (because it's too long to go in your luggage and will cost an arm and a leg to ship seperately). You can do this anywhere on the planet with the exception of Antarctica (because there aren't any Home Depots or Lowe's there).

Now go out and shoot some pole panos!