That wasn't what I meant...
When I said, "Take that camera and stick it!"
Mobile World Congress is often as interesting for the silly gadgets as it is for the mainstream announcements. Bluetooth Gew-gaws abound at mwc This (right) is the Selfie Stick, an extendable pole with a Bluetooth control for your phone. The Selfie comes in two versions: a general one and one for Samsung phones where you …
Surely as a photographer you should love the term?
It makes it very clear that the image was simply taken on the spur of the moment for a laugh, and quite possibly while doing something they'll later regret.
The very antithesis of a paid-for photograph.
than the tripod the bit came from and the shutter release cable and the stick that I've been using for years - not dangerously in public of course. I have photos of down my chimney taken using a 24 foot saw pole.
Never occurred to me people might be amazed by it.
Should make it easier to acquire cameras tho...
Scuba divers have had a pole for Go-pro underwater video cameras for some time. As opposed to taking photo's of themselves though, it helps get the camera closer to marine life without disturbing them or allows you to pop the camera into a cave entrance/wreck etc without the need to venture in.
I have to say the go-pro stick has even been used for "selfie" video to good affect, giving some interesting angles on snow-boarders and the like. The best bit is under all that snow-boarder apparel you can't see them duck face.
p.s here's a song about selfies http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdemFfbS5H0 :)
Wrote :- "Scuba divers have had a pole for .. underwater video cameras for some time"
Why scuba divers specially? Above water they are called monopods, quite common in conventional photography :-
http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/06/19/best-monopod-for-dslr-photography-6-top-models-tested-and-rated/
Never heard of them being used for a selfie, but no problem, set the camera on a 5 second time delay and get your pole out. I suppose your phone won't have a monopod/tripod boss though, but duck tape is your friend.
"Never heard of them being used for a selfie, but no problem, set the camera on a 5 second time delay and get your pole out. I suppose your phone won't have a monopod/tripod boss though, but duck tape is your friend."
I saw a Japanese/Korean (they were wearing a Hello Kitty backpack and a lot of Pink) tourist wandering around Paris with something similar last year posing in front of the Louvre Pyramid, so it's not new. What may be new is the integration of shutter release rather than a pole with an iphone mount - guess they had it on a timer.
Struck me at the time as a very easy way to acquire a new phone. All the skill in pickpocketing is rendered obsolete in this newfangled age of consumers offering you their electronics at arms length :(
Agree completely. I've had one for years for my Go-Pro, and I've used it for kite surfing, snorkelling and snowboarding. Like you say it's good for directing your camera into nooks and crannies, and if I've been guilty of snapping the odd pic/video of myself (which I've been doing since long before it was called a "selfie" therefore I refuse to call it one) when I'm in a happy place with a big smile on my face then so bloody what - it cheers me up to look at those pictures during the many times when I'm in a less happy place. Miserable sods, now I can never use my camera on a stick again as people like you lot will judge me "self obsessed" or something!
Indeed. Fortunately, I feel confident that these will flop or be confiscated at the door.
It maybe a sign that I should consider the purchase of a flat cap, pipe and slippers, but I find the sea of phones recording at concerts a pity. Not long ago, people went to concerts to enjoying the experience while they were there and be part of something. I feel that people who are stood still, blankly fixated on their phone while trying to get a good video are overtly not taking part and detract from the atmosphere.
When a slow song is played, a sea of lit cigarette lighters or candles makes quiet a spectacle which phone screens just don't replicate. Just had an idea for a crApp: video recording app that displays a candle on the screen!
Coat icon because this old fart is obviously not cool any more.
> Totally lacking in key nutrition groups (e.g. gristle) for humans and associated species.
I dunno. Let's see here:
Gristle - Does the hand-salsa gunge that collects in the corners and seams of the battery cover/phone body, the exposed ports, and the corners of the case count?
Crunchy Black Bits - Is your phone black? If so, dropping it from a non-trivial height (>15 cm) should do the trick.
Grease - Simply squeegee your screen periodically after using it on a hot, sweaty day.
See? All nutritional requirements met.
It's hardly a new product, these have been around for quite some time. What's extra is the bluetooth button which is a nice refinement.
While in theory they are good, in practice they suck balls because it's even harder to a) not shake the camera and b) point the camera in the right direction.
What usually makes "selfies" suck balls is that very few people know how to compose a selfie or to pose for it. Still, they are fun and there is nothing wrong with that.
Minolta had this idea back in the 1980s. It launched a compact disc camera (remember those?). It came with a screw-on telescopic arm. In those pre-digital, pre-screen days, to help you compose the shot, there was a small mirror mounted on the front of the camera. This was tinted slightly pink because that makes ladies feel better about how they look (allegedly).
In 1984 you could buy (non digital I might add) compact cameras with a convex mirrored lens and a thing that looked for all the world like a socket set ratchet driver in a kit.
You fastened the camera on the round bit (where the socket would snap on the ratchet driver) pointing back down the handle, extended the telescopic shaft, posed yourself in the mirror and took your "selfie".
The box showed an elderly grandfather posed in a snowbank with his granddaughter after some skiing fun. No doubt such a device would be decried as a paedo enabler these days.
I guess do-overs is NOT just a Hollywood meme.
is a full belt to anchor the pole (leaving your camera ever-at-the-ready), but particularly so that you can take pictures of yourself where both your hands are visible in the shot, creating the impression that someone else was with your sorry self -- to take the photo -- at that moment in the relatively un-storied arc of your miniscule journey through an insignificant part of the indifferent cosmos.