# Smatree SmaPole S2C Carbon Fibre Extendable Pole Review.



## philw (8 mo ago)

I always find those too short - I need about 130cm to get the framing I like. That's partly to avoid inadvertent crops, but also for a broader perspective. 

Carbon fibre's definitely the way to go for weight reasons. I

I'm currently using a Rode "micro" boom which is the lightest and simplest thing I could find. The disadvantage is the collapsed size is 70cm so it's annoying when not in use.


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## thecadgod (Nov 2, 2010)

Killer review, like all your reviews. I recently got an Insta360 camera the stick it came with is amazing.


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## Craig64 (Jul 16, 2015)

Finally now got my Go-Pro Hero 11 Black accessory set up transitioned fully across from the previous Hero 7 Black I was riding with for 4 years.










I've been running for a number of years with the super high quality B&W 1000 hard shell storage carry case fitted with the customised Go-Pro inlay.











Grabbed the customised Telesin Hero 11 Black silicone protection sleeve (always a big favourite and use all the time whilst riding), hardshell protection skin similar to what the Hero 7 was in (not sure if I'll use it), Telesin "Allin Box" triple charger (So so nice), clear protection cases for Gopro "Enduro" batteries (really good) and just modified my Hero 7 "Windslayer" to fit the 11 Black.










Contemplated between either the expensive Go-Pro, Telesin or Yoctop remotes and after going through all the user reviews ended with up with the later.











The Yoctop remote is backlit, pairs immediately to Hero 11 once set up, can rotate through and change camera functions (Video/Picture/Time Warp) with a single push of mode button, LED screen rotates to orientation, 80 metre BT range, water resistant and turns the Hero 11 into standby when recording stops.










The LED lights alternate with function, Green showing recording in progress, Red not recording, Orange charging, Blue searching for BT pairing connection. Further information on the screen show mode recording type (Video), individual session recording time (2.09min/sec in this session), with the top window showing the actual Go-Pro battery life % and remaining running time in hours/min.











Fitted the Yoctop remote into the S2C remote control housing.










Grabbed a few small extension arms. Now have 2x varying straight heights and 1x curved to give them a tryout. Noticed the curved mount gives a little bit of fatigue stress on the wrist as you have to hold it actually a bit firmer to prevent it rotating out off axis position. Seems like the mount cuts the S2C carbon shaft out off frame a bit more which is a positive. Not sure however if I'll use it that much as I've noticed that it's nicer to keep the pole more forwardly elevated above the head when riding but arm/wrist fatigue through the day often see's it unduly dropping to chest height which tends to crop the frame a little too much for my liking.


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## thecadgod (Nov 2, 2010)

Any reason you didnt go 3D camera? Like a GP Max or Insta360?


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## Craig64 (Jul 16, 2015)

thecadgod said:


> Any reason you didnt go 3D camera? Like a GP Max or Insta360?


Not really a big expert on cameras but from what I've seen with 3D Cameras on YT channels, I'm not really a fan of the fishbowl perspective. You may be able to edit this out, not sure? I'm only using the Go-Pro to record snowboard footage and create reviews here on SBF so the Hero 3+/5/7/11 I've had through the years have suited me really well. 

I did a bit a research with 3D options, DJ Osmo Action 3 and Hero 11 before buying and from the reviews ended up selecting the Hero 11 black. Grabbed it from GoPro as you get a really good discount from them. So after selling my Hero 7 black it only cost me $Au300 ($US198) to upgrade to the Hero 11 black with 3 Enduro batteries and all the accessories.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

If I had one complaint about 360 cameras, it's that you can't get any better than 1080p output when you're trying to produce output for YT. But you can frame it any way you want--wide, narrow, fish-eye, flat, etc.

If you want the really clean YT videos, you have to load your video into a third-party editor then output it in 4K.


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## philw (8 mo ago)

I switched to 360 with the Rylo, but just bought an Insta360 x3. The resolution's still 5.7k/30fps, so when cropped into you're looking at much less than 4k. The most obvious upgrades since 2018 between these two cameras is the file formats and post production software.

Here's a frame grab from the Rylo. The guy in the middle distance is using a GoPro 360 camera, but the quality's similar from what I remember. If you watch Rylo footage and then GoPro 4k footage, there's no contest - the GoPro 4k is massively better. Not that most people would notice on a phone, mind.








The Insta will be better (ProRes codec, bigger sensor, much higher bit rate files etc), but this is clearly much weaker than any 4K GoPro, and I expect the Insta to be closer to the Rylo than to 4K GoPros. _However_... you can run the Insta in single-lens mode at 4k/30fps, as a traditional action camera... so perhaps you can have the best of both words. I shall try it this season.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

360 cameras do the invisible selfie stick thing, which regular GoPros do not. With 360 cameras, you don't have to worry about framing up your video until afterwards. But if you are in a situation where the framing is naturally done (like a chest mount), then a regular GoPro is a better bet.


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## Craig64 (Jul 16, 2015)

Donutz said:


> 360 cameras do the invisible selfie stick thing, which regular GoPros do not. With 360 cameras, you don't have to worry about framing up your video until afterwards. But if you are in a situation where the framing is naturally done (like a chest mount), then a regular GoPro is a better bet.


Donutz in editing can you rotate around to desired perspective then eliminate the fishbowl effect created by 3D cameras.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

Craig64 said:


> Donutz in editing can you rotate around to desired perspective then eliminate the fishbowl effect created by 3D cameras.


Yes. If you pinch in, it zooms in until you have the "tiny planet" effect. If you pinch out, it zooms out until it's flat. And you can pick your zoom level.

With the GoPro MAX editing through QUIK, you basically set "anchors" where the direction, rotation, and zoom are just what you want, then anchor that spot in the video. The software will smoothly transition from anchor to anchor when generating the video output. It can be a lot of work, but gives you exactly the output you want.


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## Craig64 (Jul 16, 2015)

Donutz said:


> Yes. If you pinch in, it zooms in until you have the "tiny planet" effect. If you pinch out, it zooms out until it's flat. And you can pick your zoom level.
> 
> With the GoPro MAX editing through QUIK, you basically set "anchors" where the direction, rotation, and zoom are just what you want, then anchor that spot in the video. The software will smoothly transition from anchor to anchor when generating the video output. It can be a lot of work, but gives you exactly the output you want.


It sounds like just getting familiar with it. 

With the Hero 7/11 Black it's just easy for me to get the video up, find where you roughly want a still and you can fine tune frame by frame until you select the desired one. It does look better without the pole obstructing the shot.


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