When I was looking for a jib arm, I saw quite a few – the only one that really impressed me was an American one, the EZFX. Most of the others were either very lightweight, flexing quite a bit, frankly, too long. I was looking for one that could be extended, as most people here are. The trouble was in most cases, the extra length meant compromises. The thing I found difficult was that they all on first use, seemed really stable and good quality. Some had proper bearings, others seemed to have simple bolts with neoprene sheathing. With the weight and momentum they both seemed to work fine. The thing I did notice was that when you went up quickly and hit the end stops, some coped better – I tried a couple of budget ones and they jit the stop, kept going, then bounced back.Others hit and really jerked. I came to the conclusion that the extra height from jibs with the extensions wasn’t really needed for the work I was doing, and the assembly time would be a pain as they can’t travel assembled unless you have a large vehicle. Some were great with PD170 size camcorders, but were poor with heavier cameras, despite mechanically being able to cope with them. The EZFX I had for just a couple of hours seemed to manage all these things fairly well, although it didn’t have all the gadgets they show on their web site.
My choice led me to a make qentis – advertised on ebay – chinese, I guess, but the company selling them appeared to go bust leaving people losing money on products that didn’t arrive. My choice was difficult, until I was offered a second hand Vinten Dolphin – ridiculously heavy, but over engineered – still expensive, but made to last. It may be a few years old, but I’m really happy. Main snag with it, is simply weight really needs two people, no delete that, definately needs two people!
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