Any recommendations on one of these boompole holders? I think all would work fine but the K-Tek says its for use with a C-Stand so I wonder if it would work fine with just a regular stand. I'm trying to get something for use with an Avenger stand. Something to just hold the boom pole over a lengthy interview, but I want it to go high enough to come over and down on the person without tipping over.

BoomMate Boompole Holder
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=WishList.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=469811&is=REG

K-Tek K-BC Boom Pole Cradle Support
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=WishList.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=292924&is=REG

General Brand Boompole Holder
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/469810-REG/General_Brand__Boompole_Holder_and_Grip.html

Any recommendations on one of these boompole holders? I think all would work fine but the K-Tek says its for use with a C-Stand so I wonder if it would work fine with just a regular stand. I'm trying to get something for use with an Avenger stand. Something to just hold the boom pole over a lengthy interview, but I want it to go high enough to come over and down on the person without tipping over.

BoomMate Boompole Holder
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=WishList.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=469811&is=REG

K-Tek K-BC Boom Pole Cradle Support
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=WishList.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=292924&is=REG

General Brand Boompole Holder
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/469810-REG/General_Brand__Boompole_Holder_and_Grip.html

Oliver

I am going to save you some serious bucks here. Go to your local WalMart or fishing store. By a steel rubber coated fishing pole holder for ten bucks. Same thing as any of these and heck of lot cheaper. Actually, the one I bought for $9.00 is identical to the General one. The same damn thing.

I love buying gear that is designed for other purposes and adapting it to production, I have a lot of these types of products like my Contico plastic toolboxes that I bought at Home Depot ten years ago. They have flown all over the world with my lights and accessories in them and have worked great. I think I paid maybe $20.00 ea. for them back in the day.

Dan

I hate spending money unless I have to.

I bought the ATS Ram and love it though. I put it in a C-Stand and the audio guy only has to monitor the audio instead of concentrating on holding the boom. It is highly adjustable so I rarely have to do much other than raise or lower the C-Stand.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/329191-REG/ATS_Ram_BPC_BOOMPOLE_CRADLE_Boompole.html

Dan, how do you mount the fishing pole holder? The ones I saw wouldn't fit on a stand I know of.

I bought the ATS Ram and love it though.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/329191-REG/ATS_Ram_BPC_BOOMPOLE_CRADLE_Boompole.html


So this will work on any lightstand then? What keeps the lightstand from tipping forward when you have the boompole extended out really far?

Also, is it a quality product, I have never of of this brand.

Best thing I ever bought was at a flea market in Pennsylvania - the guy was selling it as a fishing pole holder.... All I could see was a boom pole holder for a C-Stand! It was all metal and looked a lot like the $100 model on B&H. It cost me $5 plus some foam I added to the metal to protect the carbon fiber.

Some times you just have to think outside of the box...

-Joe

So this will work on any lightstand then? What keeps the lightstand from tipping forward when you have the boompole extended out really far?

Also, is it a quality product, I have never of of this brand.

It works on the lightstand we are using, I can't recall the brand right now but it is a typical tripod stand.

The boompole that I have is a carbon fiber so isn't very heavy in the first place so I haven't had a problem with tipping over but if you really need to, counterweight the stand with sandbags on the legs or tape it down to the floor with gaff tape.

B&H was showing the ATS Ram in their booth at NAB last year, it looked very rugged and after looking it over for a while I ordered one. It's not pretty by any means, but it does the job very well. It has a double ball joint so is very adjustable. It's also less expensive than the K-Tek and BoomMate but I just noticed that B&H doesn't have it in stock.

[QUOTE=Oliver Darden;855922]Any recommendations on one of these boompole holders? I think all would work fine but the K-Tek says its for use with a C-Stand so I wonder if it would work fine with just a regular stand. I'm trying to get something for use with an Avenger stand. Something to just hold the boom pole over a lengthy interview, but I want it to go high enough to come over and down on the person without tipping over.

/Volumes/tyreeford/Public/Video/Ty's Boom.mov

Try this. If it shows. I never have been able to upload a video clip successfully.

Ty Ford

So this will work on any lightstand then? What keeps the lightstand from tipping forward when you have the boompole extended out really far?

Also, is it a quality product, I have never of of this brand.

Hi:

My sound mixers usually use one of my C-stands with a grip head. The small stake at the bottom goes into the same hole that would hold a flag in the grip head. You could affix a grip head to a light stand I suppose but since I have a dozen C-stands and only about eight light stands, I like to use a C-stand.

You would counterbalance with a sandbag on one of the opposing legs.

I am serious, I think anything over $10.00 for a boom pole holder is a waste of money. The one that I bought at WalMart is IDENTICAL to the cheaper $58.00 one on the B&H website link above. It is rubber coated to protect the boom pole.

Or another alternative is to just bend some re-bar, if you have it laying around, then out some shrink tube rubber over the end bends to rest the boom pole on, we did two of them before we had this fishing pole holder. Or you can use a Mafer on a C-stand arm since I have tons of Mafers laying around as well. There are a lot of cheap ways to skin this cat.

Good luck,

Dan

thanks for the replys everyone.

I cannot use my C-stand because it it too large and too heavy for me to use on my interviews that are out of town. I am flying to Florida soon and I have to use a regular lightstand, and I don't want the boom guy to have to hold the mic over the head of the interviewee for hours.

Try the ATS RAM mount. http://atscomms.com/Sales/Products/Grip/ATS_RAM/index.html

This fits on a normal light stand.

Wayne

Thats what I will probably end up getting Wayne. And I will check the fishing pole thing out Dan. Thanks guys.

A lot of stuff is out of stock on B&H right now...=(

Thats what I will probably end up getting Wayne. And I will check the fishing pole thing out Dan. Thanks guys.

A lot of stuff is out of stock on B&H right now...=(

If you don't have a C-stand available, then the stuff Wayne recommends is nice, I looked at it at FilmTools the other day. You could buy a grip head with a 5/8" mount for a light stand for about $30.00 but it wouldn't the cool ball head to swivel like the Ram does.

Good luck!

D

Try the ATS RAM mount. http://atscomms.com/Sales/Products/Grip/ATS_RAM/index.html

This fits on a normal light stand.

Wayne

Do I need a Grip Head, 5/8" Stud, or anything to make it to be able to mount of the stand?

Do I need a Grip Head, 5/8" Stud, or anything to make it to be able to mount of the stand?

No, the ATS Ram has a socket mount that fits right on the 5/8" spigot of the stand itself (if I'm not mistaken most if not all light stands have 5/8" spigots). There is a tension screw on the ATS Ram that can be tightened to secure the ATS Ram.

No, the ATS Ram has a socket mount that fits right on the 5/8" spigot of the stand itself (if I'm not mistaken most if not all light stands have 5/8" spigots). There is a tension screw on the ATS Ram that can be tightened to secure the ATS Ram.

Hi Doug:

Most small kit stands and smaller separate stands like a Matthews Beefy Baby have a 5/8" spud.

The larger stands like Hi Rollers and Steel three risers do NOT have a 5/8" spud, they may have a larger receptacle for larger lights that usually have the corresponding larger spud on their yoke. A lot of it too is basic gripology. If you are LA, a trip to MoleTown or FilmTools is mandatory for all grip newbies so you can learn about all of these different tools, how they work and fit together. Or better yet, go and work as a grip on a few indie project shoots, you'll learn all of this stuff really quickly when the key is yelling at you to get your rear in gear and bring him a Cardellini ;-) http://www.cardelliniclamp.com/products.htm

Best,

Dan

I was only referring to light stands that most people in video land would know. Sorry, I didn't realize you're a film guy!

I've lived in Los Angeles for a while working as a VFX & DI Producer and I'd drive past Mole-Richardson all the time on La Brea. I only went in once or twice looking for specific things. I've been on only two indie film sets as a VFX consultant so I really didn't concern myself with the grip department. Next time maybe I will check them out if I have time. As you can tell I'm mainly a post monkey and producer now but occasionally I do get involved with production once in a while and still remember a few things in my old age!

Take care,
Doug

I was only referring to light stands that most people in video land would know. Sorry, I didn't realize you're a film guy!

I've lived in Los Angeles for a while working as a VFX & DI Producer and I'd drive past Mole-Richardson all the time on La Brea. I only went in once or twice looking for specific things. I've been on only two indie film sets as a VFX consultant so I really didn't concern myself with the grip department. Next time maybe I will check them out if I have time. As you can tell I'm mainly a post monkey and producer now but occasionally I do get involved with production once in a while and still remember a few things in my old age!

Take care,
Doug

I am not a working grip per se, but I own a three ton grip and lighting package and I shoot BTS on a lot of features and television so you learn a lot from the grips. Gripping is a highly underrated job, people in production take them for granted but the good keys are mechanical geniuses. I love grip gear, it's what lets you do all of the cool things in production.

Dan

thanks everyone for the help, I decided to get the ATS-RAM when it comes in stock.

Tonight I was looking for something else and picked up an Attwood Sure Grip Wire Form Rod Holder, 5 degree Rod Holder, 4 inch stem from Wal Mart. Package says the mounting post and wing nut are stainless steel.

It comes with a wing nut and aluminum mounting bracket to screw to the side of your boat... that part is triangular with 3 mounting holes about 1 19/32" inches apart. You probably won't need those, but the end will fit in the c-stand clamp.

At a cost of $12.45, it looks extremely close to but not exactly the same as most $29.95 boom pole holders I see on ENG or filmmaking sites.

This site may be of interest.

BOOM-BUDDY (http://www.boom-buddy.com/)

I've got a Boom Buddy but I actually don't think it's that good. Mine cost me about £50-55.

When used on top of a Manfrotto light stand and with my Rode boom pole you have to tighten it really hard and balance the weight (hanging something off the back end of the boom pole, extending it quite a way backwards) or the pole just slowly lowers itself, even with a light NTG-3 on the end.

Sure it beats holding the pole/having someone have to do that for sit down interviews etc. but there must be a better way! (yes I use Senny G2 radio mics as well)

Hi:

...
I am serious, I think anything over $10.00 for a boom pole holder is a waste of money. The one that I bought at WalMart is IDENTICAL to the cheaper $58.00 one on the B&H website link above. It is rubber coated to protect the boom pole.

...
Dan

Looking at the BH listing, I'm sure that $45 of that $58 is for the grip head that's included.

For Andy:

I know the guy who makes Boom Buddies, Keith Hicks at Fleetwood Films, and I've told him about your experience. Can you email him via the Boom Buddy website and he'll see you right. Must say I've had no problems..perhaps you've got a rogue one.

Nick.

I use an avenger stand on wheels, a grip head and the famous fishing pole holder bolted on to a small piece of plywood. The plywood slides into the grip head and is tightened down. works great.
Bruce yarock
Yarock Video & Photography (http://www.yarock.com)

To Nick, Thanks!

OK, found some time to play around with this some more without the heat of the moment stuff going on.

My Boom Buddy will lock up pretty tight and seems to be OK... as long as the boom pole is reasonably balanced weight wise....it seems I was just was not using the sort of force needed before (I was too careful with new gear maybe?).

It also fits well on top of my Manfrotto lighting tripods nice and firmly, as long as it's pushed down as far as it will go so the larger diameter part of the stand spigot fills the bottom of the Boom Buddy tube - and then you tightened with the thumb screw onto the narrower part.

So I'm good to go and can sack the boom pole guy that I never had! :-)