Forget the selfie stick, it’s all about the SOLOCAM: Pole attached to microphone lets you film TV broadcasts on your phone
- New gadget is a selfie stick with telescoping pole and a microphone at the end that lets you record your own TV-style broadcast
- It also has a green screen function and a teleprompter so you can write your broadcast before you go ‘on air’
If you have had enough of the selfie stick, prepare yourself for the sequel.
The SoloCam is a selfie stick with telescoping pole and a microphone at the end that lets you do your own TV-style broadcast.
It also has a green screen function and a teleprompter so you can write your broadcast before you go ‘on air’.
The gadget has been created by Israeli engineer Benny Goldstein who hopes it will create a new generation of DIY TV reporters.
But it risks being even more annoying than the selfie stick as users could do take after take for minutes on end to get their ‘report’ right.
The basic version of the SoloCam is being sold through Mr Goldstein’s Indiegogo for $49.
There is also a premium edition for $499 which comes with an ultra HD microphone and a laser engraved mic flag with your personal logo.
On his website Mr Goldstein said that he created the SoloCam after building a prototype out of a selfie stick and a microphone stuck together with black electrical tape.
He writes: ‘Where would self-photography be without selfie sticks?
‘We believe that after experiencing the comfort and functionality of the SoloCam, you will ask yourself how you were able to make videos prior to its existence.’
Unlike a selfie stick the SoloCam has a large handle at the end of the stick so that one or two people can hold it while they speak into the microphone.
All versions come with a Bluetooth connector to link the phone and the microphone so that there are no cables.
The app which comes with the gadget lets you add in text on the screen, green screen functions and audio and video effects.
Among the other other features is one which lets you switch cameras on your smartphone, so you can flip between filming yourself and what is in front of you.
In addition to the basic and premium versions there will also be two in between for $99 and $149.
Mr Goldstein hopes to have them in production by December and says that it could be used with GoPro cameras as well as smartphones.
But by the time the SoloCam is released it might face a backlash, just as selfie sticks have.
Major galleries in London, Paris and New York have banned selfie sticks because they say the gadget is distracting patrons from the exhibits.
Institutions like the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Gallery in London are also fearful that the stick could lead to people damaging paintings.
Curators have watched dozens of near misses as visitors shove the stick out in front of them, narrowly missing priceless works of art.
In the UK Tottenham Hotspur was the first Premiership football club to outlaw the gadget because it could be used as an ‘offensive weapon’, and Arsenal followed soon after.
