No place to rent them near here. Fargo, ND. Nearest real place would be Minneapolis MN - 5 hr. drive, or shipping all the time.

It's hard to know what you're really getting without looking. I'd recomend that you look for an opportunity to try one out at least once, preferebly in a real shooting situation. Consider planning a field trip some time. I'd think Chicago would be the best place for you. Call some vendors as well as a rental house or two and ask if you can come look at equipment. Of course, trade shows are best for this but a decent rental house can be very, very informative. And if you go far enough they may not see your desire to buy your own as competition.

Over the years I've worked with a handfull of good professional jibs. Some carried riders, some were truck mounted, some had remote camera controls (mechanical and electrical), and some were quite small and simple. My favorite small jibs are those rented by the JL Fischer company-very stiff and sturdy, and very light for that level of jib.

The promax jibs are near the bottom of the scale and rarely used when something better can be had. In my own experience they were brought along to use "if we had some extra time". I think that was more a reflection on the level of production organization than the jib but given the low cost of these that's where they fit in-disorganized "free form" shoots.

All jibs are essentially balance beams like a teeter-totter. You load the camera onto the longer front end and then load counterweights on the back. The ratio of front to back length gives you an idea of the ratio of payload weight to counterweight. The longer the arm extends in the front compared to the back the more weight you need in back. And you always need some weight just to balance the unladen jib to begin with.

You need to use a heavier tripod for these little jibs (for the big ones you need a very sturdy dolly or base). You should make sure your tripod is on wheels as well because once the jib is loaded it'll be hard to move.

When putting the jib onto the tripod or dolly make sure it's base is level. If not, the jib will tend to drift around to point at the low end. This makes it a little harder to come to a smooth and subtle stop since the jib may tend to drift from the stop mark. It's also dangerous if you leave it unattended as it may drift around unexpectedly.

You would think that pan and tilt locks would help but they're a double edged sword. Trying to do a jib movement when it's firmly locked means that you may tip the base instead of moving the jib. Rather than a "Lock", you want a drag setting that is enough to stop a balanced jib but not enough to stop a jib that you just removed the camera from by mistake. If it's out of balance it should swing.

A well designed jib should be stiff. It shouldn't flex or twist when you pan or tilt the camera. It should allow full movement of the camera and there should be accessories available to extend the arm and to undersling the camera-small jibs like this are great for tabletop product shots.

The jib should be safe as well. The weight bucket or similar weight carring mechanism should never point down, allowing weights to spill out. Similarly, removable or adjustable parts shouldn't be able to slide out with gravity. Gravity should always keep the unit together if all the locks and dogs are loose. This is generally a real weak point of these small jibs. In contrast, Arriflex's CineJib was excelent in this way because it would hold together without anything being fastened or tightened.

So, what do you need with any small jib?
-the jib and counterweights
-A sturdy base on wheels (tripod or other dolly that can be leveled)
-Longer cables (it's a good practice to run the cables to the jib's pivot point and then out to your monitor, boom operator, power sources, etc. If you don't have any cables running out then life is easy)
-Some sort of stand or apple box to land the nose of the jib on before unloading it (You always land the jib and then unload counterweights before removing the camera-or you can add sandbags to the front before pulling off the camera)
-A RELIABLE ASSISTANT-to build the jib and load the weights while you set up camera, talk to clients, etc. The assistant also acts as a spotter to keep you from killing someone as you swing the jib around. You can't watch all ends of the jib and you'll be focused on the shot. (For a children's show a few years ago I put a bicycle bell on the jib to ring when moving between shots. It was a friendly sound to warn the kids that my 3000 pound crane was on the move.)

Good Luck!

Rob Mack

Thanks for all the great info. This is basically being purchased for one major job, but I expect it to come in handy later. Unfortunately I am on a very tight budget right now, and am hoping to make it with this one for a while. We are actually using this for a live prduction where they have a set of cameras in place and a VT 2 to switch live. There was a camera at the back of the auditorium but it was on a stationary tripod. The position has a lot of potential but doesn't seem to be utilized. I decided that small crane could be mounted on the balcony and then run from there. It's a State wide youth convention for the AG churchs in ND, and I know that people figure that churches don't need much but, I feel that any job I do I'm gonna give it my best. (Not that my best is so great, but I havn't had any complaints so far :-)

Thanks again for the advice.

My two cents. I bought a pretty cheap Glidecam jib a couple years ago and its served me well. There is no doubt that its paid for itself and added a nice element to many of my projects. For me it was a simple matter of economics combined with my desire to have another tool in my collection. The biggest benefit that I see of owning as opposed to renting : I use it, all the time. It breaks down fairly easily and I bring it to 90% of my shoots just in case. With all that goes into renting I can say with almost certainty that as much as I loving having a jib/crane, I more often than not would not go through the hassle if I had to make an extra trip and pay the extra money ( or convince a client to ).

The bottom line is that I always have the option on hand and if I needed something a bit more robust I could always rent it then.

- Ray

www.undergroundplanet.com

Haven't got the book, so don't know how good these rigs are. Check out this link...
http://www.dvcamerarigs.com/killercontents.html

DV Moves makes a great crane that has an extension that allows you to control the pan & tilt of the camera while it's in flight. It's VERY well built, and I've used it several times both stationary and in conjuntion with my dolly rig. Not an every-day tool, but makes a difference when you want to go the extra mile.