Basic question about cranes/jibs
 

i don't know much about jibs except what i've read on the websites that sell them. i was wondering:

when you are getting a crane shot how do you actually see what you are filming if the camera is on the other end of the crane?

do they come with some kind of monitor?

what is a remote used for with the cranes?

sorry if this is an ametuer question...

You use a monitor to see what you are filming, unless the jib is quite short and you can see the camera's LCD. They don't usually come with monitors but you can usually attach an LCD quite easily, the resellers can probably recommend one thats suitable. Remotes can either refer to remote heads, where you can control the pan/tilt of the jib head from your operator position, either by means of some motors and electronics or by using cables, depending on the jib. Or, remote could refer to remote controlling the camera focus, zoom, record etc. More sophisticated jibs will have both functions but tend to be expensive

thanx Paul.

I am looking at getting the 12 ft Kessler crane.

Any idea what kind of tripod i need to get that works best for that?

i have about $600 for a tripod will that get me something with a fluid head and strong enough to hold the crane and an HVX200 (5 or 6 lbs)?

I use loudspeaker tripod, it is ligth and cheap (about 60$) and can be set up at different level. the crane i use is home made (18 feet).
my next step is to build a dolly for it.

You don't need a fluid head to mount the jib on, the base of the jib will mount on top of the tripod. Depending on what tripod you have looks like Kessler gives you some choices: 75mm, 100mm bowl, Mitchell, 3/8" flat(probably for a bogen.

You'll have to figure out what the total weight of the jib, head, camera, jib weights and any accesories will be, to determine what legs to buy. Kessler can probably help you figure it out. You always want to err on the heavier side and get tripod with a payload capacity above the wieght of the fully rigged jib. Metal is better than carbon fiber in this case. It really sucks when the jib falls over and lands on the talent because your sticks were too weak.

Also take into account if you want to add extensions, or buy a longer/larger jib, or use a heavier camera in the future.

I have a Seven Jib that gives me about six feet of movement, about five feet of reach and up to sixty pounds of payload. I have Ronford Baker Heavy Duty legs which can hold a couple hundred pounds, probably more. One with a Mitchell Mount, one with a 150mm bowl. One babyegs with a Mitchell mount.

"I use loudspeaker tripod, it is ligth and cheap (about 60$) and can be set up at different level. the crane i use is home made (18 feet).
my next step is to build a dolly for it."
Holee Molee, how much counterweight do you need? I went the speaker stand route but even with 10 feet found it couldn't stop on a quarter let alone a dime, without jigglin'. Finally ended up with a Quickset Gibraltar for about 200 bucks then landed a dolly 3 months later for $35 SCORE. A word of advice to the young buc. Fluid head tripods are not meant to deal with the weight nor the torsional loads created by camera cranes. Do some research and find a heavy duty solution. A 600 dollar tripod is going to get destroyed by even a 6 foot crane. Good Hunting, Chuck.

no so, Charlie!
 

Our 12ft Kessler does very nicely with a heavy Bogen 100mm ball tripod and old fluid head! Even with a old, heavy JVC Dv-500 and Trimpac on it, it survived just fine. The Kessler bowed a little though. I liked the idea of the speaker tripod, but that's just one more piece of equipment we'd have to add to all the mess when we're on the road.

With our smaller Sony's (V1 and A1), it's a piece of cake! Just don't try a 12 ft crane-on-dolly shot unless you go reeeeeaaaallllll sloooo and hold the cam...

Hi James,

I made my own Kessler crane, they're not very complicated to make or to figure out, of course you have to be a handy person to do one but if you have zero budget projects like me... it's the logical option! ha ha! but seriously i bought a bogen tripod and 501 fluid head and it works really well(very precise), also i bought a 99$ portable DVD player from best buy, it has a 7" monitor and it needs the "input" option to plug the camera. Hey i've even mounted the crane on my home made dolly for really professional shots.