For those who haven't read the other post, PAP is pole aerial photography. Stick your camera to the end of a pole, hold it up on the air and take pictures of listings. It just gives you a different look from the typical front photo of a house.
I started off by attaching my little Sony DSC-P71 to the end of three bull float handles. Bull float handles are aluminum poles which are six feet long with a male thread in one end and a female thread in the other. This allows you to screw together as many as you need. With three I had 18 feet of height, but it was very unmanigable and really needed two people to get it up and positioned in time before the timer went off. In addition, I would take a photo, then review it to see which way I needed to turn or tilt the pole to get the shot I needed. I would say it took six to ten shots to get the one I wanted.
I later realized that if I just had two handles (12 ft), I could manage it by myself plus, it's so light that I could hold the whole thing above my head. This means the base is six feet off the ground giving the original 18 feet I had in the first place. Then I added a pocket TV at the base so I could see what the camera sees. This meant I got the shot I wanted the first time.
The nice thing about the bull float handles is that they are very light and once screwed together are very ridged. Each pole (handle) is six feet long, so you will need the space in your car to carry them. I kept them under the seats of my Caravan and no one ever know they were there.
The mount I was using for the camera was disabled, so I built another mount out of a paint roller. See photo below. The base is a peice of aluminum cut to length. I drilled one hole for the 1/4 20 bolt to hold the camera and two holes for the nylon straps that go around the roller wire. Originally I had mounted some turn buckles to the plate to allow me to adjust the tilt by pulling strings. It turns out that there is enough friction on the straps that the camera will stay in whatever position you put it in and tilting the pole was all the minor adjustment I needed to get the shot. I'm learning that adding complexity is not a good thing unless great benefit is derived.
Here's a picture of the monitor mount at the bottom of the pole. I use a pocket TV and those rubber bracelets that are so popular to hold it to the mount. Like the camera mount, all hardware was purchased at a home supply store.
To be honest, I never really used the home-made paint roller camera mount. My new 30' telescoping pole came in at that time and I focused my attention there.
Below is my current system. The pole is a Hastings Hotstick which telescopes up to 30 feet. The two things I like about it are the push button locks make it quick to deploy and it's fiberglass so it doesn't conduct electricity. The camera mount on this one is also home-made (okay, that's not true). I had a friend make it for me in his shop. But really it's just a peice of angle aluminum with two holes drilled in it. I got the thumb screw and big wing nut from a hardware store. That's what we used to have before the home supply stores ran them out of town.
Below the mount is a strap with three links of chain so I can attach the strain clip for the cable and guy wires for night shots. The monitor mount is an old car phone mount I cut the ear piece off and glued it to the back of the TV. So the monitor has the cool quick release that I never use, but I digress. I put the whole thing with camera, cable, monitor and all on the scale and it came to exactly 15 pounds. The total height collapsed is less than six feet. I can extend the pole to 30' and back down in about 15 seconds. From parking to taking pictures takes less than two minutes. The system is simple, versatile and does exactly what I need.
I have spoken to guys who have 50' PAP systems. They tell me how great they are, but any height above 30' requires some sort of mount. A stationary mount means you need a pan/tilt unit at the top of the pole. In turn this means more weight, more complexity and more time for setup and take down. The 50' systems are great for certain applications, but for what I do, this simple system I have works well.
With everything including camera, remote shutter release with zoom control, monitor, cables and pole, I have about $1,000 in the whole thing. For less cost and complexity, I would go with a painter's pole or two bull float handles (about $22 each) and a portable DVD player as a monitor. As long as the pole is short enough to raise and position in ten seconds, use the timer method. Longer poles will need a remote shutter release. I use the DigiSnap 2000 from Harbortronics.
Margaret Hokkanen says she uses two painter's poles joined for greater height and a six foot step ladder for extra height. I think that's very smart. Just be careful. The whole reason for PAP is so I don't have to get off the ground. Not that I mind, it just adds to the risk. I'm a pilot and have even jumped from a balcony because I got locked out of a vacant home during a showing, but that's another story.
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