As I've recently started to create YouTube recipe videos and shorts (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram Reels, etc.) I found that I needed to do some overhead shots of the various ingredients. SnakeClamp to the rescue! Most product photographers will already have a tripod or two as do I. This makes a very sturdy stand for mounting your camera overhead. The part of your tripod that goes up and down is known as the "center column." And we have the perfect mount for attaching to that - our Megaclamp: The Megaclamp includes a rubber "v-block" for attaching to round surfaces such as pipes, rods or railings (and your tripod center column). To this I added two pieces of our 12" Rigid Arm and our Camera Ball Head to the end: The Camera Ball Head allows you to tilt and rotate your camera up to 90 degrees. Shown in the picture above is my Canon EOS Rebel T4i with a 30mm Sigma lens; the combination weights in at 2-1/4 lbs. Due to the rubber Megaclamp connection at the tripod center column the camera did sag slightly but I corrected this by simply shortening one of the tripod legs. The Camera Ball Head is rated at 6 lbs. Overall this setup works great. The height of the camera is easily adjustable using the tripod center column and since you are using your existing tripod this is also more affordable that purchasing an entire overhead rig system. You can build your own overhead camera rig using SnakeClamp components as show above by visiting our Camera Collection.
