We are looking to invest in one for a small studio.
Question : Do I have to use my tripod AND fluid head on the crane (head at the top and pod at the other end) ?

We are looking to mount a Z1U....if we do need a good pod/fluid rig can someone recommend one for this camera ?


Thanks a million

Jeff,
We've been using the Hague Multijib (made in UK) with our Z1. The jib fits onto a set of Manfrotto legs (525) and the 503 fluid head mounts at the end of the jib to support the camera. This combo has been fine for us. The beauty of this jib arm is that it will fit on either a 75mm or 100mm bowl, so you can virtually use any tripod as your base...


Robin

Thanks Robin--I am having some trouble finding a reseller for the Hague. DO you have any recommendations, or a price range ?

Try here and scroll down:
http://www.b-hague.co.uk/camera%20supports%20systems.htm

Hello Jeff,

Bob Jones here from Nightshift Enterprises, Manufacturer of the Skycrane.

Jeff, just a word of caution. Using any jib that requires the use of a video fluid head is really a bad idea. The best bet is to find a jib that can be mounted directly to your tripod thus omitting the fluid head.

The small video fluid heads that are capable of supporting most of the pro-sumer cameras are not designed to support the kinds of weight that they would be subjected to with the combined weight of camera, jib and counterweights.

Hope this information helps.

Regards…
Bob Jones

Hello Jeff,

Jeff, just a word of caution. Using any jib that requires the use of a video fluid head is really a bad idea. The best bet is to find a jib that can be mounted directly to your tripod thus omitting the fluid head.


Hi Bob
Just to clear up some confusion - I have a Hague jib and the jib arm mounts onto the tripod and the fluid head fits into a bowl on the end of the jib arm. the camera is then mounted onto the fluid head.

I agree that I'd be nervous getting the head itself to support the combined weight of the arm and camera!

Hope this helps

Hello Graham,

My mistake Graham, thought I was giving the right advice?

We've also constructed numerous jibs that support a fluid head and camera on the camera platform.

Because all Skycrane jibs are of the cantilever type the support arm for the camera platform has to be deeper to compensate for the overall height of the fluid head and camera.

This works great for folks that want to control the camera and jib from the front end.

The Best...
Bob Jones

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate the advice from others who are experienced.

Thanks !

Hiya,

I've posted what I hope are very detailed threads on the Hague MultiJib here:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=81093
and here http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=51965

And the only place on the net where you'll find detail shots of the Varizoom MC100 too.. Loads of pictures here: http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/4563494

Duncan.