Just got my hands on the new Polaroid remote controlled 360° panorama pan head and it’s an exciting accessory for the price. If you want to add interest to your videos, you’d be hard pressed to find a better value.

Polaroid Panorama Pan Head

Panning and zooming are the two most common motions in video, and while every video camera can handle zooming quite smoothly, none offer any assistance with panning. For that, you need a good fluid head for your tripod…until now.

With the Polaroid panorama pan head, you can flip open its three clever “feet” and sit it on any horizontal surface, or screw it to any tripod, slider or selfie stick with the ¼”x20 screw hole at the bottom.

Work with most all lightweight cameras

The pan head will hold any smartphone or small tablet with a unique and easy to attach screw mount. It also comes with a GoPro tripod mount.

Without any accessories, it will hold your video camcorder or small digital camera. Under just the right conditions, it might even hold your small DSLR (assuming the tripod mounting hole is centrally located.)

The pan head charges with a micro USB connection, but, does not have a “ready light” to let you know it’s completed its charge. Figure eight hours for a full charge.  I just plug it in the night before a shoot and it’ll then last up to three hours in continuous use, or five hours in standby-mode.

Remote control

The small remote that comes with it works extremely well.  I’ve been able to trigger it repeatedly from 40+ feet away.  The controls let me rotate my camera either clockwise or counterclockwise at five different speeds.  The fastest speed takes approximately 15 seconds for a complete revolution while the slowest speed takes just over 25 seconds.

It also has two specialty modes: Triangle and 10 Second.  In the triangle mode, the head pans back and forth repeatedly in a 75°-degree arc.  In 10 second mode, it rotates approximately 5° once every 10 seconds, then pauses 10 seconds and rotates another 5°.   This mode is great for parties or events where you want to be able to focus on all areas of the room for extended periods of time.

Bluetooth control

If you are using the native camera app on your smartphone, connect it to the pan head via Bluetooth, and you’ll be able to start and stop your video or take stills with the camera button in the center of the remote. No need to load any special app.

There are so many features packed into this little unit that it’s amazing the price is as low as it is.  Head on over to Amazon where it’s available now for just $49.99.