Review: Cameragrip K7 Camerapole Jib

Long time readers and subscribers will remember I have a namesake company in the UK that makes camera / camcorder mounts, jibs, cranes and so on. This company, Hague Camera Supports (and is definitely no relation I promise) trades under the website www.cameragrip.com, and recently released a new unit called the K7 Campole. The company was kind enough to send me a unit to review.

Designed for action cams, small camcorders, compact cameras and smartphones, is brilliant at achieving high and low action shots and also has a tilt control giving you superb positional control.

It is ready to be used straight out of the box and is simple to operate by holding the pole with one hand to control and counterbalance the jib and use your other hand to control the tilt facility.

 The jib’s tilt control lets you smoothly tilt the camera allowing you to have the camera pointing directly up, down, or even through 360 degrees and in this way, shots can be created that would otherwise be difficult to attain. You can use the cameras screen to monitor your shot or better, have the camera paired to a smartphone or tablet letting it act as a monitor.

To create tracking type shots, moving with the Campole can give the camera a floating effect by panning the jib arm from side to side or from a low shot to a high shot. This also which makes it easy to see over people in say a crowd scene, or to reveal a scene over a fence, through windows, under or over tables and over water.

With a bit of practice and imagination it is quite amazing the variety of shots that can be achieved with such a simple device.

I used a GoPro 9 on the Campole with it paired to my Samsung A71 smartphone. Due to bright sunlight, which is always an issue, monitoring wasn’t as successful as I’d like, but I did get some nice shots around the house as you can see.

(One day smartphone makers will realise this is a major problem for all sorts of reasons including drone flying. If anyone knows of a smartphone / tablet that can be seen in sunlight, please enlighten me!),

There is no doubt that the K7 Campole is going to get a lot of use alongside my SM1 car suction mount that I used to film driving through Europe back in 2011, and the CHM headset mount I have had in the Monaro for almost 12 years nowhttps://www.cameragrip.com/hague-chm-camera-headrest-mount-for-cars/

Specifications

• Length: 115cm
• Width: 14cm at camera plate and handle
• Material: Aluminium
• Colour: Black

Cost

At £30.00 (approx AUD$55) plus freight (the K7 Campole weighs 500g and with packaging this comes to say 750g so freight is around AUD$15 according to the UK Royal Mail web site.

Available From: www.cameragrip.com