Polecam Rig Blazes on Back of Snowmobile

Wiesbaden-based Martin Mueller, a Polecam owner/operator since 1998, has taken Polecam to new extremes with a Polecam mounted on a small tripod at the back of a snowmobile. He and his rig reached 60 kilometers per hour on downhill runs. “We took the pictures at the Italian ski resort of Toblach to show television viewers how cross-country skiing works,” says Mueller. “The resultant sequences were shown on Germany’s second television network, ZDF, during the FIS Nordic World Ski Championship in Liberec, Czech Republic.”

Polecam founder and Managing Director Steffan Hewitt says Mueller’s achievement is further proof that Polecam can be used in applications that would be completely impossible for other camera jibs.

“Polecam is also used regularly on ski-jumping and downhill events at the start gates,” he says. “In terms of speed, I think I still hold the record for Fastest-Man-Under-a-Polecam, operating at 140 km/h from the back of a Wrangler Jeep for the May 2003 Ironman Triathlon in Lanzarotte.”

The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships have been held since 1925. Championship events include cross-country skiing, ski-jumping, and a combination of the two. From 1924 to 1939, the World Championships were held every year. They continued in even-numbered years from 1948 to 1982. Since 1985, the World Championships have been held in odd-numbered years.

Polecam was established in 1998 by extreme sports cameraman/director Steffan Hewitt. While directing a series of windsurfing kit commercials in Hawaii, he needed to obtain close wide-angle front shots of a windsurfer in action, shot from a tracking boat or jet ski. Steffan improvised a rig comprising a miniature camera on a carbon-fibre windsurfing mast. Returning to Britain, he developed a lightweight go-anywhere rig with a remote joystick-controlling a high precision pan and tilt head. Polecam is now supplied in HD and SD versions with range of additional options including underwater and 3D pan/tilt heads.