My wife bought me a “selfie-stick” (sometimes called Wand of Narcissus), which is ironic since I so rarely actually take selfies. But, once I took a look at its simplicity of design, I couldn’t leave well enough alone and decided to create the “Super Selfie-Stick.” At first I tried attaching a camera mount on the end of a golf ball retriever. But with the shorter ball retrievers, it turns out that the flimsy aluminum that they’re made of tends to make them kind of wobbly and could lead to motion blur in the shot. A longer golf ball retriever, however, may provide a little more stability.
I finally decided to use a telescoping pole from a retractable trade show banner (a broken trade show banner that I rescued):
The telescoping pole is made of thicker aluminum and sturdier, it has thumb screws so it can be adjusted to any length and tightened, and it has two slots in the top to hang the banner on. Erector set strips fit snugly in these slots.
I removed the camera mount from a small tripod (found at a dollar store):
Next I used Erector set parts to attach the camera mount the telescoping pole
Parts needed:
Camera mount
2 Strips, 1 1/2”, 3 hole
2 Right angle brackets
2 Small bolts
2 Nuts
1 Medium screw
1 Flat Plate 3 hole by 3 hole
1 Spanner
1 Hex wrench
Insert the Erector set strips into the slots at the top of the telescoping pole.
Once the camera mount is securely attached to the telescoping pole, remove the mobile phone mount from the selfie stick and attach it to the camera mount on the telescoping pole. (NOTE: the erector set strips hold the camera mount to the telescoping pole fairly securely using tension, but duck tape can be used to more securely attach them to the pole).
The advantage of a selfie stick is that you can fit yourself and several people in the frame of your selfie since you can hold the camera farther away from you. The advantage of the “super selfie stick” is that you can also fit yourself and several people in the frame or you can fit more of the background in the frame than you could with a standard selfie stick--that is, with something interesting in the background, say, for example taking a selfie with the Grand Canyon in the background.
The super selfie stick can also be used as a poor man’s camera jib. In the following video, "Flying Camera" I used the super selfie stick. Keep in mind that it is intended as demo footage only. It is very dangerous. Do not try this at home or anywhere at any time.
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