Camera Crane Systems

[dnathan]

Is there anyone who has found a crane system useful in weddings, and is it worth the purchase?

[RB]

Just ordered a monopod, that’s going to be my poor mans crane. I’ll just hold it up in the air for those shots from a few feet overhead. Not the same as a crane, but what the heck. Can’t have everything all at once.

[paulears]

One thing I’ve used for years is a sound mans boom (fish pole). You can mount a simple consumer DV on it and get it up and over, as long as the angle is set correctly – obviously, it doesn’t maintain a shooting angle. Sticking the camera on it with the boom collapsed also makes a kind of poor mans steadycam once you find the balance point. Damn handy in panic situations.

[ThomasTyndan]

Good question! I hope we get several replies on this. As for my experience, I bought a crane on eBay. I forget the price, but it was cheap enough – under three hundred, for sure.

compusolver, Is the above mentioned ebay crane something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Camera-Crane-Jib-Boom-made-for-Canon-XL1-s-XL1s-XL2_W0QQitemZ180046904894QQihZ008QQcategoryZ3319QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If it is what is your candid review of this item. I am at a toss up as to whether to get this crane, and it be a waste of money or go ahead and buy a kessler crane, for nearly 2x as much. If this crane good enoguh to hold a lot of weight, or would it probably to be better to go ahead and get the kessler? Money really isn;t an issue my crane budget is about the price of a kessler.[/quote]

[ThomasTyndan]

Yeah, when I think about mthe important thing when it comes to vidoe equipment: Get what you know to be good, get what can changed to suite your needs. The kessler cranes have so many accessories, that I can go with the basic 8 foot system and then increase the size to a 12 foot, and also buy neat things like remote tilt heads. Seems that it would be worht the extra $100 to have that kind of expandability.

[paulears]

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!

[Endeavor]

I have plans to get one of these as soon as the budget has room for it:

http://serv01.clev12.com/%7Ekesslerc/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=15&Itemid=29

With the extender of course. I have no problem using one of these at a wedding and can’t wait to see what it can do!

[ThomasTyndan]

yeah, thats the kessler I was talking about. I am going to buy the 8foot and upgrade it later, when and if I need to.

[ThomasTyndan]

All this talk of camera cranes made me want one real bad so I bought one from http://www.kesslercrane.com

I got the 8 foot version, with a bunch of trimmings, I cannot wait to get it!

[Endeavor]

Sweet! Let me know how it does! And yes, I’ll be by sometime this week 😀

[ThomasTyndan]

I just recieved shipment notification this morning, It will be at my house by Thursday at the latest. I will mess around with it a good bit on the weekend adn report back to you guys.

[ThomasTyndan]

Woohoo! I just recieved my crane I’m going to mess with it over the weekend and write a review, I’ll let you know when I post it!

[Endeavor]

Can’t say that I blame him. X-D

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