VE6AB Technical

Snowpeg Monopod Photography

So as you know I shoot a lot of photographs, and its not unusual for that to happen on a daily bases while tramping around in the great outdoors.

Now on a lot of those days, I do not want to be burdened by my normal camera carry, my DSLR and assorted support equipment.
This is definitely true when I'm carrying my longbow with assorted paraphernalia that goes with the sport.
So over time I devised various ways to shoot photographs with my pocket camera where I wish to put myself in the photographs for scale.
If you have explored my technical gallery before, I have developed various lightweight options for supporting my pocket camera in the field.
In the photo shown here, you can see what has become my favorite way of supporting my camera, and that is a snow-peg for anchoring expedition tents set up in snow-fields.

With the necessary modifications made in my workshop, this arrangement worked reasonably well, however I kept running in to situations where the camera was mounted to low to the ground, and I kept meaning to do something to fix the problem.

Well recently I took the time to make an extension as seen screwed in place on the modified snow-peg that is proving to work quite well.
With a length of anodized aluminum arrow shafting cut duplicating the length of the snow-peg, I made Delrin end-plates to mount at either end, allowing this new lightweight assembly to become part of the snow-peg monopod, the complete assembly supporting my pocket camera quite nicely as seen in this photo.
I now have the extra height that I was looking for, making it much simpler to find a spot that allows my pocket camera to stand at attention.
To level off the camera, I have a tiny bubble level mounted in the hot-shoe on the top body plate, that makes leveling off the camera on its snow-peg monopod a snap.
It should also be noted that the snow-peg monopod works equally well summer or winter.
I recently added a small ballhead to the mix as seen here to be able to shoot vertical photographs when required.
BTW, the snowpeg itself measures 12" in length, giving you an idea as to the amount of snow that feel in the past 24 hours.

One last thing.....the snow-peg monopod disassembles to a length that allows it to fit nicely in my haversack where it waits for its next assignment.

Expand the photo for a closer look......

This link photo was shot with this setup on this day......
http://www.jerryclement.ca/Outdoor-Pursuits/SoutheasternAlberta/i-NPc6qv9

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