Dennis Buettner's "Quick Fist" Monopod Mod

Yesterday I received an email from a viewer who wanted to share a neat gadget he'd come up with in order to help anyone who does monopod shooting (see his video above). An avid monopodder, Dennis shares a frustration that many of us who use a monopod worry about: where to safely set your rig on site when not shooting.

Dennis has a pretty great solution that will only run you about five bucks (well, ten since you have to buy two). He's taken a "Quick Fist" tool holder (made to attach large tools to the outside of your vehicle), lashed it to a quick release plate for his tripod (using cable ties) and whammo! Now he can easily place his monopod rig into the Quick Fist, which has no chance of falling over.

Another perk of this setup (as Dennis illustrates in his video) is that now you can take advantage of all the benefits of a tripod, now that your monopod is securely fastened to it. Smooth panning and tilting can easily be done and when you need to return to monopod shooting, your rig is only a large rubber band away.

I love ideas such as this, where off the shelf products can be re-purposed for DIY filmmaking tasks. The build quality is already there, you just need to make it serve a higher purpose. Thanks Dennis!