Mobile Arm
 

I do a lot of car shows and airshows that require overhead and creative shots of parked cars and airplanes. I mounted a 12' EZ-FX jib with a Varizoom MC100 remote pan/tilt head to a modified boat trailer. It tows behind any vehicle (I remove the camera and pan/tilt head for highway travel, of course) and everything on board is powered by an onboard car battery and inverter. I added leveling jacks to the corners, but I rarely have to use them.

It's really nice to be able to get some good shots, then drive to a new location in a field full of cars and set up for another crane shot in about 1 minute.

That's a nice setup, Buck! I bought an EZ FX as well, but with the manual camera arm. So far, it's working out very nicely. Just like everyone says, using these tools requires practice!

Just added my pan/tilt...
 

Finally. Made from various metal brackets bolted together on the floor of the local hardware store, we were able to go up to the counter with a mostly complete head at the counter (to many odd looks). It's cable controlled and works really well for <$50 :)

Here are some pics of my new Kessler 8' crane with the K-Pod tripod & Hercules head. I have my Sachtler FSB-6 head mounted on a ball joint extension at the end of the crane. My Sony V1U is mounted on that. A Manhattan 8.9" HD monitor attached also.

I have pics of it configured both to run from the rear and the front of the crane. When running from the rear I have extension cables run for the LANC control, monitor, and headphone.

Funny I started this thread 2 years ago and am just now getting a picture up..

Ok so the attached picture is of my jib. It is still in rough form and is not yet on the tripod. I have to fabricate a system that allows the arm to move on a bering. The arm is completely fabricated from designs taken from various jibs. There is to be a weight bar attached to the back. The bering system revolves around a wheel bering I found at a junk yard. The tripod is a simple transit tripod I found on ebay.

I went back and read some of my old posts. I started building this thing in 2007 and am just now getting down to the final parts. Some of my posts say "i'll have pictures soon bla bla" haha and now I post this picture of the arm itself. The person building my crane just gave up in the middle and I couldn't get him to work on it anymore so I finally just went over there and took it. The dolly I have to have him cut and weld together. That shouldn't be easy, i'll just persuade him with some beers.

Any whoo. Here is a picture of my crane on the transit tripod. It is just sitting there and is not actually attached to the tripod. The weights I have on the back are just sitting there in place by the eye hole bolts I have for a support cable. The control arm needs to be adjusted. As you can see, the camera is sort of facing upwards when the platform on the tripod is facing forward. I will be using 1/2" tie rod ends to fasten to each end so that there is not metal to metal rubbing against each other. I have yet to weld the weight bar on the back. So far its alittle rusty but soon it will look amazing.

My Kessler in Barbados
 

Here are a couple of shots of my Kessler and PT20 at Fustik House in Barbados. This is the second time I have taken it to Barbados, this time it went via Air Canada Cargo and in a new shipping case from Kessler Cranes. We found the weights at the producers friend's house out in the back yard, rusty but they work.

Brian - Very nice rig you have. I would love to get a turret motar for for my crane. I checked out the site and the PT20 is $1600. That is actually reasonable. Is that a battery charger you have it hooked to?

I'll trade you weights.. mine are black and yours are rust colored. My crane is rust colored and yours is black..haha. Maybe just painting our crane and weights would be cheaper since you are in Barbados.

Cheers,
Terry.

Hey Terry! I love the PT20 it is super smooth and the control is a dream. It is powered by a battery pack that you use to jump start a car. It has a 12volt lighter outlet and I just opened it up and removed the heavy clamps and 12 volt jumper cables. It powered the head all day and would probably have powered it for two or three days if needed.
Thanks for the offer of your weights, but these ones stay in Barbados and I have some nice painted ones for Canada. How did your crane get rusty? Shooting in the rain?
Best
Brian

Since buying my ride-on, i've kinda gone nuts with gear... When the ride-on as seen early in this thread is too heavy to haul, i also have the advantajib. Here are a few links to mine being used:

pic: http://www.regina.co.nz/advantajib.jpg

"behind the scenes" on that same video:
YouTube - Behind the Scenes of Sleeping Dogs music video

and the finished video:
YouTube - Climbers - music video by Sleeping Dogs


And here's a behind the scenes where you see my ride-on:
YouTube - Hayley Westenra TV Inteview Christchurch, New Zealand

Hooray for cranes!

What type of ride-on crane do you have and may I ask approx what it cost? I assume it takes custom weights etc.
Thanks
Brian

I use this beast - A Vinten Dolphin. Even the lead weights come in their own flightcase. Take two people to get it into the van. It is quite old now, I got this one from Anglia TV a few years ago. It's weight and construction means you can simply lock it off and use like a tripod. The head swivels around the end of the arm, and it is amazingly stable. The weight makes it difficult to manage, but it lives on the HD tripod and rolling skid

My DIY made "Unversal Wonder Dolly Crane" ;-)

Frank

Mine is a variation on the panther foxy crane, except built from box steel. She weighs a bit and I had to tweak my grip truck a bit to carry her around, but she's amazingly smooth to fly. It has a weight basket that i load up with tractor weights... or, in a pinch, whatever is on set and heavy.

I paid around us$2k used in a package with a matthews dolly, so it depends on how you value the dolly as to what the crane cost.

Cheers!

Paul, that dolphin looks awesome!

Hey Brian,

No my fabricator left it sitting for a couple weeks while he worked on his rat rod. He was doing it for free so what could I say. I am going to primer and paint it as soon as we make some final adjustments.

You've got me interested in the PT20 now! After I built my crane is was so happy that I could hoist my camera way up in the air and create fluid motions etc.. But all my crane does, like the Kessler is tilt and no pivot.

Does the PT20 make any noise?


Cheers,
Terry.