Tag Archives: mini crane

16 Comments

Looks like ProCinemaTools.com already has a short video review of that Portable Telescoping Aluminum Mini Jib / Crane posted on this blog a few days ago.

Results in the video look pretty good, and besides not including enough weights to support a Canon 5D Mark III at full extension, it's seems like a decent jib for the price.

You can find the jib on Amazon (link here)

Portable DSLR Video Jib Mini Crane
find-price-button Amazon - Portable Telescoping Mini Aluminum Video Crane Jib

You can also find this same version on eBay (found here).

Portable DSLR Video Jib Mini Crane
find-price-button eBay - Portable Telescoping Mini Aluminum Video Crane Jib

45 Comments

Sometimes I have the craziest ideas, and they don't always pan out very well. Here's one i'm quite excited about, but i'm not sure how others would feel. For the past few months i've had the idea of working on a 'DIY Crane Kit'. I went through the process of building a few Jibs myself and found that while you can save quite a bit of money, the hardest part to tackle is the mounting brackets.

Cheesycam-DIY-Jib-Kit

So after a few designs, I've been working on a cost effective way to have special Jib brackets made that will allow you to make your own cranes / jibs. These brackets will be made from solid steel (very strong and durable), and will be perfectly aligned for smooth crane operation and modular so you can build your cranes to various lengths.

It will be so easy to assemble that today you could have a very small 4ft crane for an indoor shoot, and tomorrow you could have and 8ft., 9ft.,12ft. crane. There's also stuff i've been working on to show you guys how to make telescoping cranes with all off the shelf parts. Who knows what configurations people will have, and once you see these brackets, it will make more sense. I'm not going to go too much into details, but what you see in the box (above) will be pretty much all you'll need to get your DIY Jib started along with a set of instructions (and a video to follow). Oh and of course it will look very professional. Let me know what you guys think? Good idea or not?

18 Comments

Ok, so another 4 is available online just today. These things have been moving very very quickly. I just received mine and wow this thing is very well made indeed. At all pivots they use nylon washers to reduce friction, but in between the frames there are actual little 'bearings' for extremely smooth movement. This is the only little jib I know doing this.

The unit has a nice flat black finish, assembly and weld points are clean, and this thing is super duper light. Traveling with this is a breeze and using it indoors even in tight space is even easier. I'm using one of my standard Fancier tripods to support the crane. With a Canon 5D Mark II and 24-70mm lens, it would require about 12lbs of weight in the back. I'm going to post a video up soon with a look around, but if you can't wait, there's a few online as we speak...

Screen shot 2011-06-03 at 10.48.55 AM
find-price-button Short 4ft Video Camera Crane Jib