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Boom Poles....cabled/uncabled? Coiled/Straight? What are your preferences?


MT Groove

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Eric, the max on mine is around 9ft and made out of graphite carbon. I'm not sure if that's the same thing as carbon fiber. But The length of mine is fine for what I do.

Carbon fibre is about as light as you can go for a given length. If you want a lighter pole you'll have to go shorter.

Eric

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Carbon fibre is about as light as you can go for a given length. If you want a lighter pole you'll have to go shorter.

There's always the frogpole. I don't think anything is as light as a frogpole. But it does have issues with the clutch fittings at the joints. No problem if you are using a Schoeps with the head fitted to a Colette cable or, maybe a Sennheiser 8000 series mike. But no good with a short shotgun.

David

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That is a nice touch there on the end of that k-tek.

I used to often boom for a mixer that had a long ktek (internally coil cabled, side exit) that was really nice. If I remember it costs extra to get that pole length with internal coil cable.

I almost got that one but I decided to get an internally cabled loon. I got the longest one that they make with internal cable.

I like it but it is a wider pole than most but it doesnt bow like a vdb and not as stiff as an ambient.

 

  The one thing I had to get used to with the loon is the protruding wing  at the end.

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  • 2 weeks later...

this thread is great as I 've been wanting to upgrade my cheapo Rode pole to a proper one. at the moment I am between Ambient and Vdb. Any recommendations on which one to prefer? I think I am going for cabled as so far the uncabled Rode has causing me a lot of noise troubles. On the other hand I would like to be able to switch between my MSH10 stereo mic with a mono mic, which would mean a different cable would be neccessary. Any thoughts on how to go about that issue?

thanks

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I chose to buy an uncabeled pole because of the frequent breakage I see in cabled poles, as well as noise issues. It just seemed easier and  cheaper to go uncabled. Yeah, cable management is kind of a pain in the ass, but you learn to work with it and it isn't. The pony-holders work fine, though I like to stick a Bongo tie on top to prevent pulling. And as Jan mentioned, knowing where you were when you have to collapse the pole quick is pretty handy.

That said, sooner or later I'm going to pick up one of the  VBDs with the easily removable cables. I'm still not excited about periodically replacing a more expensive XLR, but I figure I might as well have options.

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I have  (4) Ktek Poles:

(2) K-Tek KE-79 7’Internally Cabled bottom exit:

This pole is the smallest and has the most issues since it is so small. It is bottom exit and cable often gets hung up inside of it However usually removing the bottom connector and letting untangle itself usually fixes it. But it is my go to pole for reality tv gigs and jobs with not very much boom work as it is easy to travel with ( Both fit in Pelican 1510 Case) and easy to carry around. Also at a price of $170.00 it is cheap. The Ktek support is great I have sent these poles both back after 16 episodes of reality tv abuse and for about $50.00 each they come back like new. I always carry (2) so when one starts acting up I have a back up

(1) K-Tek KE-110 9.5’Internally Cabled bottom exit

I have had this pole for 7 years and it is my go to pole for reality docs and news where I will be booming alot. Also works fine for film work that I need a smaller pole for  It is easy to operate and for $225.00 a good value. In 7 years of rugged use cable has never broken. I did send it back to Ktek to fix a section that was damaged in shipping so I had to re cabled while it was there. The pole was better than new when it came back

(1) K-Tek KE-152CCR 12.5’Internally Cabled Side Exit

This is my favorite pole for commercials and film work. It is carbon fiber with the side exit. It is smooth as silk and has never given me an issue in 10 years of ownership. It is just too big expensive ($680.00) and too nice to use on a reality show or doc. But if your doing film work or commercials this is the pole to get. Just my two cents. If you take care of the pole it won't give you problems at all.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/292880-REG/K_Tek_K_152CCR_K_152CCR_5_Section_Klassic_Series.html

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Hoping not to hijack the thread... I have the K-102CCR internally cabled pole with the side-exit XLR. Does anyone know  if one of the K-TEK extensions will work with this pole. It seems to me that I could  remove the bottom bumper portion & the extender would fit without having to worry about the internal cable. I realize that the extensions are a bit spendy, but it would still be less than picking up a new pole.

John Moore

(I'm also emailing this request to the manufacturer, in case anyone is concerned that I'm being lazy!)

UPDATE: I got this from K-Tek, in case anyone else is interested...   

The extensions will work but you  will have the XLR coming out the side where it sits now and then you would need  to wrap a cable from that point down the extension.All the Best,Karen Daley  K-TEK

I'll probably go ahead & pick up an extension, rather than having to buy a new longer pole.

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There really is no easy fix for the issue of switching between stereo and mono mics. I usually run with a Loon internally cabled pole that I love because the sections lock well and handling noise is really very modest. I've been on a very long wildlife shoot that's been going on for almost a year now where we are tracking animals in different seasons. I find myself wandering into the bush with 3 mics - a mono Sanken CS3e, the stereo Sanken CSS5, and the Sanken WMS5 surround sound mic. I find I have to pack another boom pole (in my case a VDb) and a mic stand I sometimes use in the wild into my backpack that I use externally cabled for the 5 pin XLR stereo cable and the 12 pin surround sound cable.  As the latter 2 are more specialty mics that don't get used as frequently I haven't seen the point of getting them individual dedicated internally coiled poles. In the case of the WMS5 I don't think an internally cabled pole would really work as the cable too thick.

Margus Jukkum

this thread is great as I 've been wanting to upgrade my cheapo Rode pole to a proper one. at the moment I am between Ambient and Vdb. Any recommendations on which one to prefer? I think I am going for cabled as so far the uncabled Rode has causing me a lot of noise troubles. On the other hand I would like to be able to switch between my MSH10 stereo mic with a mono mic, which would mean a different cable would be neccessary. Any thoughts on how to go about that issue?

thanks

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  • 5 years later...

OK so after years of being skeptical about internal coiled cables while hating to deal with cable on single man jobs, I finally went and got myself an Ambient QX565 and its internal coiled cable kit.

I just installed it and realised how much noise it makes when you wiggle, move, turn. 

Is this normal or did I do something wrong? Is this the compromise for not having to roll up cables every two minutes or is there a way to make it silent? 

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What Robert says, internal boom cable is pretty much the standard in the US. For example, I built my first boom pole in 1971 with an internal cable and I have not used any fishpole with external cable in the last 44 years. There are two types of internal cables: straight and coiled. Each has its own characteristics but neither in the hands of a skilled and experienced boom operator will ever be a problem. I can't remember ever hearing ANY cable noise (or any noise for that matter) from any of the fishpoles Don Coufal uses on our movies.

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Does anyone have a picture of an Ambient QX pole with an internal coiled cable with their side exit clamp system? I've never seen one and I'm curious. I see u can also get an Ambient QX coiled cable with a bottom exit now too. Tom Viser maybe?

Never mind, they have a new picture that illustrates this... QAPL_inAction-S-300x125.jpg

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On Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 7:19 AM, Ian Thomson said:

East coast Australia

 

16ft panamic. (uncabled)

 

pretty heavy; but very little flex, awesome locking knuckels, just feels "solid"

 

on my last few jobs we've been wireless boom, and it's actually been pretty good with the tx and power-supply at the mic end' (audio ltd powering cable thingy, and audio ltd 2040)

 

my Std operating procedure is external cable, mostly because I love my panamic, but also for the lack of cable-slap.

 

as always, different horses for different courses.

 

cheers

Ian

What is This Cable slap you Speak of?

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I haven't used Ambient booms with built-in cables, but I've used a K-Tek KE-152CCR with an internal coiled cabled and side exit, for the last five years or so - and I've never experienced any real problems. On rare occasions, when being fully extended a couple of times in a row, the internal cable can tangle up a little bit, blocking the last section from being fully retracted at the end of the day. It's fixed by unscrewing the bottom end and then let the cable untwist - takes two minutes to do.

I've never had any problems with cable noise. Like already suggested, it's using the proper technique. But I also think it's using the right boom.

 

Cheers

Fred

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