Patent ID: 6994436

Claim:
A remote camera positioning system for use and support by a sole operator, comprising: a camera; a camera positioner having a distal camera mount for supporting said camera, said camera positioner having a proximal operator interface to enable an operator to support said camera positioner and spatially maneuver said camera through said camera positioner; and said positioner including at least one elongated beam module, said beam module being positioned distally of the operator interface and proximally of the camera mount; wherein said distal camera mount is a front end module for moveably mounting the camera to the distal beam module, said front end module including a pan/tilt assembly and a pan/tilt support assembly, said pan/tilt support assembly connecting to the distal beam module and supporting the pan/tilt assembly, said pan/tilt assembly supporting said camera and permitting the optical axis of the camera to pan and tilt relative to the longitudinal axis of the distal beam module, wherein the pan/tilt support assembly includes: a pan drive platform connected to and extending substantially longitudinally from a distal-most end of the beam module; a pan bearing head connected to the distal end of said pan drive platform, said pan tilt assembly rotatably depending from said pan bearing head transverse to the longitudinal axis of the beam module; and one or more support legs connected to and extending from the beam module and connecting to the pan drive platform substantially adjacent to the pan bearing head, whereby the pan/tilt support assembly tapers from the beam module to a supporting junction with the pan/tilt assembly to minimize obstruction of the camera field of view.