Looking for some insight on a crane system to be used with a DSLR, and it is a requirement that I can have a motorized head with it that I can control remotely.

Budget is in the range of 2000-2500 for one, 2500 being the absolute limit, but anything in between being fine.

It will be used with automotive work, and will eventually be rigged up on a truck bed for rolling shots, but the first concern is to get it working in tripod mounted form! Are there any motorized heads I should watch out for that won't be conducive to mounting a DSLR?

I see proaim has a package for 1500 dollars on ebay, but I am wary of the build and tripod/mount quality for the price but it does offer a motorized head. Where else could I be looking? A lot of the options on B&H go above 2500 without a motorized head, but this is a requirement of the project. A kessler crane head would be great, but at 1900 bucks, its taking a large chunk out of the budget fast... Any insight is appreciated...

Instead of buying you could rent one, I am in Montreal, I have a great 10-12 feet jib and recently I lended it to a crew that put a 60D on it. Give me a shout by email if your are interested

phil at production24fps.com

Well, it would be inconvenient to keep renting it over and over again as I will have to take it with me on long trips in the US for months at a time when I go around shooting during the summer. Thanks for offering though - if it comes down to a one time use situation I will let you know.

I have found that a Kessler crane trimmed out the way I need (12/8 with extended weight back + control center for the head controls and monitor mount) plus the ProAim Jr head with a monitor comes out to be around ~2800 dollars... unfortunately thats a bit high and I am looking to bring it down a little more

fro DSLR size senna works well and should fit your budget;
One Minute Crane by Senna.mp4 - YouTube

I use a Kessler rig with the oracle and revolution. It's fantastic but not cheap. Even though the DSLR is relatively light, don't skimp on the robustness of the crane and tripod. Every shake and bump will show up! The Kessler is butter smooth and weighs enough to not move in a breeze!

But here's my question. Just curious how you will keep things in focus with the DSLR needing manual adjustment. A remote follow focus is extremely expensive and would add another person to the crew. Other than that you could use a closed up aperture to increase DOF but that's not the look everyone covets. I use an XF300 on my crane and glidecam for the rock solid face detection and auto focus. I have tracked an actor walking through a parking lot while having the camera move from 18' in the air down to eye level.
If you have another suggestion I'd love to hear it.

Well, the idea for most of it would be to stick an UWA on it, and stop it down to f/8. I will have the ability to set up my shots, and it won't be as intricate as following an actor around at f/2 through a crowd.

I do have a small chip camcorder I can use, but this will mainly be DSLR useage. Im not a die hard DOF fanatic and use it when necessary, but I understand that when using a jib, im going to need to be a bit selective. This will be set up to shoot stationary cars so even if I was shooting at f/2.8, I could use it as needed such as pulling the in focus area across surfaces by moving the crane instead of focus pulling since there will be no tracking involved.

I see proaim has a package for 1500 dollars on ebay, but I am wary of the build and tripod/mount quality for the price but it does offer a motorized head. Where else could I be looking? A lot of the options on B&H go above 2500 without a motorized head, but this is a requirement of the project. A kessler crane head would be great, but at 1900 bucks, its taking a large chunk out of the budget fast... Any insight is appreciated...

If you've ever taken advice from anyone on the internet, take it now.

DO NOT BUY ANY GEAR FROM INDIA.

Proaim Jib Crane review DSLR and Video Gear Reviews From The Battlefield (http://filmgeartorture.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/52/)

Those jibs are junk. The remote heads are worse that junk. Absolute terrible quality. DO NOT BUY.

Rent one if you have to, at least it'll last all the way through your shoot. How many days are you going to use it anyway?

Camera Turret makes some low cost stuff. Proaim ripped them off. It ain't great, but its lightyears better than Proaim.

After doing a lot of searching, I am definitely not going with the proaim jib, but it will be the Kessler KC12/8.

Unfortunately, the only way to keep it within budget is to get the proaim head - the PT20 head is much too expensive. I guess I am going to have to see if I can get a bigger budget...

Justin... Pretend I am grabbing you by your ears and screaming into your face...

!!!DO NOT BUY THE PROAIM REMOTE HEAD!!!

Indian electronics are not world renowned for their quality... there's a reason why.

If you need a remote head, rent one. Trust me on this.

Alright! I'll still have to lobby for a bigger budget since the boss wishes to own and use this for quite a while (well, me use it for him obviously). It would make more sense to own since I would be renting this about 10-12 times a year and Im sure that would bring us close to the price of a PT20 anyway.

I won't be getting the proaim, no worries haha

Well, the idea for most of it would be to stick an UWA on it, and stop it down to f/8. I will have the ability to set up my shots, and it won't be as intricate as following an actor around at f/2 through a crowd.

I do have a small chip camcorder I can use, but this will mainly be DSLR useage. Im not a die hard DOF fanatic and use it when necessary, but I understand that when using a jib, im going to need to be a bit selective. This will be set up to shoot stationary cars so even if I was shooting at f/2.8, I could use it as needed such as pulling the in focus area across surfaces by moving the crane instead of focus pulling since there will be no tracking involved.

That's kinda what I figured. Until I invent the affordable remote follow focus unit! HaHA!

fro DSLR size senna works well and should fit your budget;
One Minute Crane by Senna.mp4 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5qtaLOFZuA)

Looks like a Merlin telescope mount on it?

Looks like a Merlin telescope mount on it?
oh my man, why didn't you tell me this earlier?
thank you!

Hello Justin,

Bob Jones here from SKYCRANE.

The link below you can view a "Bescor Pan / Tilt head on the Skycrane... Scrool down to view the set-up.
A very inexpensive set-up.

?WHAT OWNERS SAY? (http://web.me.com/skycrane/Camera_Support_Systems/TESTIMONIALS.html)

Bescor Pan / Tilt head around $120.00... I believe it will support cameras up to four or five pounds...
Hope this helps.

Best Regards...
Bob Jones

I've used many, many remote heads over the years, from the top-of-the-line gyro stabilized ones down to completely kludgy homebuilds (the most memorable used hydraulic fluid to transmit pan and tilt; I had to push and pull separate levers to operate--totally baffling and hilarious). If you are looking to set a locked off frame up in the air, many inexpensive heads will do the job of positioning the camera like a security camera. If you want to make creative and controlled moves, it is imperative to get a head that is responsive to variable pressure, i.e. full joystick control. Backpanning a camera through the swing of a jib is not the easiest skill but a great deal depends on the refinement and response of the controls. Prices keep dropping as technology improves, so there may well be something out there at this point that will work in your pricepoint--I'd be curious to see what else is recommended for you. Remember though: it's not a deal if it stops working mid-shot.

I'd be curious to see what else is recommended for you.
yeah, me too, even though telescope head, or bescor most likely will work for me, i'm curious if there any other solutions that can be adopted for the crane/light camera setup;

I used a Camera Turret head a while back, which wasn't too bad. I felt a little compromised by the fact that there was only one speed control - I'm really used to being able to adjust the tilt and pan speeds independently (I was trained on, and somewhat regularly use a really beautiful Jimmy Jib... but I think that's a little outside your price range!). It's a little touch, but it makes a difference when trying to do really precise diagonal moves. It did the job, however, and the DP and director were both pleased with the results. Perhaps one of their lighter units might fit the bill for what you need to do?

this one is pretty low budget
PT785-S Pan & Tilt System (http://www.servocity.com/html/pt785-s_pan___tilt_system.html)

Well, after a quick phone call to servo city, they informed me that the PT785-S is closed loop and will only hold an angle, and return to center after you let the joystick go.... unfortunately, I need an open loop system since I'll be getting creative with the angles.

Looks like its spend the bucks to get it done right...

Well, just to update this thread - I actually grabbed a PT20 from Brian Murphy up here in Montreal and the Kessler KC12/8 studio shipped today! I will let you guys know how the setup fares with DSLR useage, but Im sure it will be great.

Im actually really excited to get this together and get to practicing. I was able to afford the PT20 and the kessler because I ended up splitting cost with my employer (I bought the head out of pocket as an investment).

There have also been talks about rigging the crane onto the roof of a sprinter van while moving for rolling rig shots... I bought the 100mm stationary high hat that is going to bolt onto a series of rails that will support the crane and my seat. This should be really interesting as we have in house fabricators to make this happen. Ill keep you guys in the loop...

P.S. Just to clarify, I shoot automotive promotional/marketing material, mainly VW/Audi/Porsche.

Share some photos please!!

I have the Kessler 12/8 crane and head. I use a set of bogen sticks I found on ebay and I rent it out for $150/Day gear(you have to have been on a set with it at least three times and sat through my 2 hour long jib set-up and safety course) $250/Day Gear with set-up and break-down, $400/Day Gear, Set-up/break-down, and operator for a 10 hour day.

I've pay for the jib four times with this pricing and I've never had any issues with the Kessler products and their customer service is top notch.

So Ive been awol for a while, but I've been putting some miles on this thing in the meantime! Ignore the watermark, its a FB picture...

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/546723_10150714783527826_111388812825_9317647_1855559910_n.jpg

I really like the setup, but using a DSLR without a monitor is interesting... I really havent missed any shots because of it, but thats because all my stuff is stationary and we are moving around it. Unfortunately, I have had multiple things fail on the remote control head, but all is well again. Exposed wires, a fubared connector that needed resoldering, an axis not working on the control unit, but nothing a soldering iron couldn't fix - Camera turret has great support. As you can see, I use an external battery pack used to jump cars to power the remote control unit, and I will be finding a way to split that power to run an HDMI monitor I will be buying here next paycheck... That will really be the final piece of the puzzle.

My only quip is that I can no longer use the audio on the DSLR as a backup since the servos are too loud... Then again, the shots are beautiful and asking for silent servos is a bit of a stretch. I have been using my Tokina 11-16 stopped down in the f/4.5-5.6 range outdoors (depending on ND/polarizers) and it has been great. A little vignetting at the corners when I stack filters but nothing that doesn't look the part when I add a vignette in post anyway.

Justin,
what tripod did you use? i broke my first tripod (came in with the KC8) or the tripod cannot take the weight, they go down and slide.

or anyone have a good recommendation on tripods that can hold the weights on both sides, (25lbs weight and 25lbs on camera and tilt head?)

I am using the Kessler KPod and it is a dream to work with. The head and legs will easily hold the weight with the full 12 footer, remote head, camera, and 60lbs of counterweight without problems when balanced correctly.

P.S. My originally mentioned budget never happened, I am in the $3300+ range but the investment has been worth every penny. I shot a behind the scenes automotive shoot yesterday and should have it edited by the end of the day and it looks great. Unfortunately, I cannot post it here yet, but I will update with some samples so people can see what 2 days of using a remote control head for the first time looks like. By 2 days I mean I have only had it out in the wild twice.