DIY Jib.
 

I've just completed my first camera jib recently. It had it's first official job a couple of weeks ago with a live band at a corporate gig. The overhead shots while the drummer did his solo were amazing versus what I could've done hand-held or on sticks.
I made this jib for approx $300 New Zealand dollars.
I decided to use freestyle BMX forks and head and front axle for the main pivotal area. The stand is a 40kg rated speaker stand. I used nylon washers on all moving parts and put metal bushes on the moving load carrying bolts that are going through the alluminium as the metal threads on the bolts would eat the alluminium.
It breaks down quickly into three parts... jib arm, stand and BMX head.
I'm just using a cheap 7" LCD monitor and rechargable 12 volt battery. It isn't high resolution but is adequate for framing.
The parallelogram is adjustable with the little side brace thingy.
I want to develop my jib further with a head that rotates left to right. I will do this using two bike cables.

Hey Dennis, I just built one a month or so back for my HV20 using a aluminum tubing and a caster for the pivot. I hand looked at bicycle forks before. Cool to see that idea in use..

Go to this post to see one I made:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...848#post708848

Cool. It's amazing how effective a simple thing like a jib is. Those shots from above/underneath etc with the smoothness add a fantastic dimension to the filming process. I didn't realise how dramatic it would be.