Shot taken with a ground pod made from an old frying pan.

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pimnauta

pimnauta

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This shot was taken earlier this year from a ground pod made from an old frying pan.
The advantage you get is you get at eye level with most birds at the edge of the water.
One thing you must not be afraid of and that is getting dirty, it is really great fun lying on the ground and your camera and lens attached on the ground pod
taking photos of the birds around you.

This mallard just walked out of the water and is looking around.

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Here I've used the AF-S 400mm f/2.8 G ED VR II but the photo of the mallard was taken with the AF-S 300mm f/2.8 G ED VR II.

The 400mm has been sold and I bought a 600mm just for birding and used it on this ground pod, it works but you can't move the ground pod around as easy as when the 300mm is mounted on the ground pod.
The ground pod with the 300mm mounted is really great fun taking photos of birds on the ground, the hight is perfect compared with the 600mm mounted on the ground pod.
This has to do with the height of the ground pod itself and the foot attached to both the lenses, the 600mm has a lower foot attached than the 300mm and give a cramp in the neck when staying too long in the same position.
 
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Rassie said:
Neat! Care to show a picture of the pod?
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Hi Rassie, Thanks for your reaction and I intended to post a pic or two of the ground pod but it didn't work as I intended, I'll do my best to find one or two pics that can be posted along with my original post above.
Hoping to succeed, keep an eye on this post.

Posted a couple of pics of the ground pod as I intended to do in the original post.
 
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Love your dinner duck! Actually, quite a clever idea, using a pan! I had two al panning plates and a rectangular MS base for my long lenses. In some hides, the setup shown cannot work as you do not have the space to accommodate the setup, then a flat plate can still work where you can pan horiz. This works better than a beanbag in many instances. I would drill a hole for a large key-ring to accommodate carrying, I remember carrying two bodies, two lenses, a wimberley head, the al plates, beanbags, the works into hides! :mad:
 
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Like water off a duck's beak :) Good shot. Love the DIY solution. Nice. Have you created one that floats? I've got a Platypod which (because I'm useless) I have a friend crafting a floating platform onto which I can screw the platypod so I can get low on the water.
 
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Callie said:
Love your dinner duck! Actually, quite a clever idea, using a pan! I had two al panning plates and a rectangular MS base for my long lenses. In some hides, the setup shown cannot work as you do not have the space to accommodate the setup, then a flat plate can still work where you can pan horiz. This works better than a beanbag in many instances. I would drill a hole for a large key-ring to accommodate carrying, I remember carrying two bodies, two lenses, a wimberley head, the al plates, beanbags, the works into hides! :mad:
Click to expand...
This setup is not made for a hide, it’s specific made to get low (eye level) with birds in my case.
 
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ssheipel said:
Like water off a duck's beak :) Good shot. Love the DIY solution. Nice. Have you created one that floats? I've got a Platypod which (because I'm useless) I have a friend crafting a floating platform onto which I can screw the platypod so I can get low on the water.
Click to expand...
Thanks, no I haven’t made a floating pod and don’t think I’ ll ever make one.
 
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Love the duck...great eye level shot. I have a similar set up for taking ground level pictures. Can use for ground level photos as well as can rest the setup on a bean bag to take wildlife pictures in Safari Jeep.


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Yezdi said:
Love the duck...great eye level shot. I have a similar set up for taking ground level pictures. Can use for ground level photos as well as can rest the setup on a bean bag to take wildlife pictures in Safari Jeep.


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Looks easy to use and to take along with you.
My ground pod is big and takes space in my bag.
Hé but it cost me nothing and delivers me what I need.....
Thanks for sharing.
 
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pimnauta said:
This shot was taken earlier this year from a ground pod made from an old frying pan.
The advantage you get is you get at eye level with most birds at the edge of the water.
One thing you must not be afraid of and that is getting dirty, it is really great fun lying on the ground and your camera and lens attached on the ground pod
taking photos of the birds around you.
Click to expand...

This is fantastic !! Exactly what I was thinking of getting for a while now. I was looking at the Skimmer Ground Pod (I haven't ever tried one of these ,BTW) so any thing you can tell me (besides the 600mm being too heavy to move around easily) that I should be aware of, will be a huge help.
 
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