High Ceiling Backdrop System...

Hello All,

I'm looking for some advice from you folks... so in my current place i was lucky in that we had wood beams that were 13' tall, i just got some rings, tied them into the beams, put a bar on there and called it a day, it held my backdrops up flawlessly.

Well now i have a different problem. I now have concrete walls and ceiling and the ceiling height is 16' . I know, i know it's a nice problem to have, but it's really not.

I have no idea what i'm going to do. I don't want to use stands, i need to keep the floor clear. And sure, i could drill into concrete, i'd really rather not though. And i checked autopoles, they don't go that high.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, here's a pic of the wall/ceiling, just above the red/white chairs on the right:

i agree go with the autopole extension. I use the autopole/expan system and feel it is the cleanest option I could find

I actually ended up with the manfrotto wall brackets. I had to do some drilling but it worked out.

I drilled 2 small half-inch holes into my 12' concrete ceiling and made a rolling pulley system for my backgrounds.....
To each his own, but IMHO, that Auto Pole System SUX!!!

Yeah i never used it before, but i can't image 16' autopoles being extremely stable. Personally speaking.

George b wrote in post #11794580
The original question was not asking for your opinion but rather what options where available for high ceilings.

Not wanting to drill holes or use stands does not leave one with many options. When properly tensioned the Autopoles work fine even at that length. Anyways, the point is moot considering holes were drilled.

I agree about AutoPoles working fine when they are tensioned correctly. I've never used mine at that length or with the extenders, but I do know that lighting people for TV , etc. use them a lot. They are meant to be temporary, but they are sturdy.

In a dedicated studio space, I think the OP made the right move - find a perminent solution. For me where I sometimes have to take down the studio - not to do location shooting, but to "clean up" the place (as my wife calls it...:mad - AutoPoles are great since they are sturdy but easy to take down and stow away.

George b wrote in post #11794580
The original question was not asking for your opinion but rather what options where available for high ceilings.

Not wanting to drill holes or use stands does not leave one with many options. When properly tensioned the Autopoles work fine even at that length. Anyways, the point is moot considering holes were drilled.

Asking for options, in a way, opens for opinions.....
And the OP had no problems with my options and/or opinions..... so why do you?
And he never said that he "didn't" want to drill holes..... he asked for options, drilling holes "is an option". Whether the options are popular with "you" or not has no bearing on any and all options given by individuals on this forum.

The Loft Studios wrote in post #11796828
Asking for options, in a way, opens for opinions.....
And the OP had no problems with my options and/or opinions..... so why do you?
And he never said that he "didn't" want to drill holes..... he asked for options, drilling holes "is an option". Whether the options are popular with "you" or not has no bearing on any and all options given by individuals on this forum.

If you read the original post, it does say that he knows he can drill in the wall but would rather not. So I think that drilling was NOT one of the options or suggestions he was asking for, even if he did end up drilling anyway.

Another option to drilling into concrete is to use a powder actuated tool. The one I have is made by Remington, and it uses .22cal blanks to drive special hardened nails into concrete. Believe me, this method of fastening is strong. Just for kicks when I got it, we were sitting there looking at a piece of 1/4" thick cold rolled plate steel. So being the guys we are, we wanted to see if it would drive a nail through it. It not only drove the nail through the steel, but firmly attached it to the piece of 2x4 that was laying under it.

For an application like the OP was talking about, you could easily use this device to attach steel channel sections to the wall or ceiling and then hang your lighting or backdrop equipment from it.

PacAce wrote in post #11796887
If you read the original post, it does say that he knows he can drill in the wall but would rather not. So I think that drilling was NOT one of the options or suggestions he was asking for, even if he did end up drilling anyway.

Then I stand corrected and I APOLOGIZE to Mr. George b.....
I did notice that he said "concrete walls" but missed the part about the ceilings.