Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

[Fox]

Okay, so I have recently been branching out for new techniques to improve my videos, and in my search I came across the idea of using a jib!
Sadly I do not own one, and honestly I have no intention to buy one, so I thought to myself that it couldn't be too big of a deal to make one.

So starting of right now, I'm gonna begin a little project, and I'm gonna create my very own jib! And the best parts is that I'm gonna share the entire process with you guys!

Starting off, you may wonder what on earth a "camera jib" is.
It's simply a crane, used to shoot video with. I bet you have all seen some jib-footage, if you're just watching a tiny bit of television. You know those shots you see in shows like American Idol, where the camera is suddenly flying over the heads of the audience? That's a jib shot.

A basic jib looks like this


And that's what my ending product should hopefully look like too!


For the frame, I went out and bought a football goal. I bought it used, because I could get it for a good price.
The thing I really like about using a frame from a small goal, is that you can collapse all the poles, and make the jib easy to transport. The bar for this football goal, even came with some smart 'springloaded-button-locks', where you simply press down the button, slide it into the next pole, and guide it to the small hole. It's very handy, but I think I'm gonna have to cement some of the pieces together, and make just one place where I can take them apart in the middle, secured by a nut and a screw.. They are simply too wobbly, and putting a $1500 camera at the end of it would not be something I dared...

Anyway, I just picked up my parcel today, and this is what I received - it was even brand new!


These are the bars/poles that is used for the frame. I selected all of the thicker/sturdy ones, because I was afraid the jib would bend or break if I used the short ones.
All the poles that are gonna be used are unwrapped, the other ones are still in bubble-wrap.


When I connected all of the pieces I was gonna use, the pole came in at a whopping 3,48 meters (137 inches)!


And if that wasn't even enough, I have the option to add a connector and another L-bar at the opposite end.
I don't think I'm gonna add this though, but it would be nice to have if I needed some really high shots.
Adding these pieces takes the entire pole all the way up to 4,8 meters (189 inches)!!


This is how far I am right now. I have ordered some pulleys that are gonna be used for tilting, and then I'm off to get a base for it. I was tempted to just use my regular camera tripod, but I think I might have to invest in something a bit more sturdy. A speaker stand would be ideal for this, and I'm off to see if I can find something at my local music school.

That's it guys! I hope you'll follow my progression, as I move towards the goal of making a jib from a... goal!

[boredjedi]

Re: Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

That's seems like a lot of work and material for a selfie stick :)

[LazyPooky]

Re: Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

I hope does are strong enough to carry a camera. You could use heating pipes instead.

[SollaMega]

Re: Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

I have seen this camera and what's more i have seen it on weddings.

[Fox]

Re: Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

That's seems like a lot of work and material for a selfie stick :)

Might be, but it'll be the best selfie stick in town ;)

I hope does are strong enough to carry a camera. You could use heating pipes instead.

Don't let the looks deceive you, these are actually some pretty tough steel pipes. I know the pictures show it all wobbly and bendy, but once I have gotten the epoxy to connect them, it should be straight and even.
But of course, I will not let my DSLR go on right away. It needs to carry about 2kg on the end, and I'm gonna test that with some weights before starting to shoot with it.

Right now I'm waiting for my pulleys to come home. I should get them tomorrow, and then I'm off to buy some L-plates and nuts and screws.

[Glanni's Girl]

Re: Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

How fun, good luck to you Fox :)

I bet you have all seen some jib-footage, if you're just watching a tiny bit of television. You know those shots you see in shows like American Idol, where the camera is suddenly flying over the heads of the audience? That's a jib shot.

I go to several tv show recordings a year, and I'm always convinced that very thing is going to smack me in the head.
Being 5ft 9 I always get the urge to duck, which is obviously dumb as the Camera operator would lose their job if they dented anyone's head, lol.

[Fox]

Re: Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

Today I went out and got the mount and cement needed for the jib. I also cemented the poles together using some special metal epoxy.

These are the plates the camera is gonna be attached to at the end. I bought two different, because I wasn't sure which was best, and they cost less than a buck each.


And here's the epoxy I used. Notice that this will turn into pure metal when hardened. That should keep those pesky poles together nice and steady.


This is how the camera will be attached to the jib. Also a nice time to introduce the star of the show - Canon 70D.


Mixing the epoxy..


Poles all sealed up and resting for 5 minutes. I know that this could have been done prettier, but my plan is to spraypaint the entire jib black for professionalism in the end. Should I, however, decide to keep the yellow colour, I just need to run some pieces of duct tape around all of these connections.


And voilá! Now you get yourself 2 steady poles, instead of 4!



____________________________________________________

Things still needed:
Pulleys - Should be arriving tomorrow
Nuts, bolts, and washers - Bought when I know the size of my pulleys
Some kind of tripod to carry this thing

[Fox]

Re: Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

I was super excited when I got a call from the DIY store this morning. They said the pulley had arrived, and I went to pick it up after school.

But the smile pretty quickly faded from my face, when I realised that they had only ordered ONE pulley, and not two as I needed.. Sight..
Anyway, I ordered another one, and now I have to wait 'til Tuesday to get the last part of my build.
Because......!
I finally found the missing piece to my jib - the perfect tripod!

I was browsing through the camera stands we have at my academy, when suddenly I fell over this one. It's an old Manfrotto (almost antique one), with a great, but severely bruised head to it. The thing that made this one stand out was this exact head, but I'll get into that in a later post. It's also very sturdy, which is great when it's going to carry aprox 5-7kg of weight.

Here are the pics for today!

My new pulley. Even comes with ball bearings - a thing I did not even expect. Now I'm just waiting for the other one.


The new tripod head. I'll be getting back to why it's nothing less than PERFECT for this jib!


And of course a picture of my tripod and the one I now have from my school.

[Fox]

Re: Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

I missed my post on the project yesterdays, but that doesn't really matter too much, as I finally got the pole onto the tripod today!

Yesterday I made a hole to connect the two bars. I needed them to be separable, because of the need to transport them.
Had to drill new holes, because the ones that were already there were too small, and also didn't align it all the way. So this is how that looked


Next up, I drilled a hole into the short one of the two. I needed it to be big enough to get a big screw into.
Oh, and you remember the part I talked about, with the tripod being almost too good? Well, it turns out that it had already some threaded holes underneath the quick release plate! This way I can tilt the head 90 degrees forward, and have the perfect angle for my jib to be sitting.


So I did that, connected the hefty screw, and this is the result.


I know it looks like something taken directly out of LazyTown, but I seriously could not have made it any less bendy.
Never the less, the bendiness of this will not have an effect in the final end, as all it needs to do is raise the camera up and down. I also have to option to fix anything in post production.
Aaaaaaand, as I said earlier - nothing is going onto this, before I test it with some weights first. ;)


Now I'm just waiting for the last pulley, and then it will be complete!

[Fox]

Re: Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

Now I'm just waiting for the last pulley, and then it will be complete!

Soo, I hadn't heard anything about the pulley I ordered, and because of my projects at school, I didn't have time to do anything about it. But today I went into Harald Nyborg (the building store), and asked them what the heck was up. They said it was indeed ordered, and that they even were in stock at the main warehouse. They couldn't do anything about it, but the clerk promised me that he would take contact tomorrow, and hopefully get something fixed.

On a side note, I actually got some new equipment! I ordered a steadicam from China, and would you believe it, it came before the freaking pulley.. So right now I'm practising using the steadicam. I'll provide some examples when I get my pulley done.

[boredjedi]

Re: Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6185[/ATTACH]

Looks rather like a projector ceiling mount device

[Fox]

Re: Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

Looks rather like a projector ceiling mount device

lel
Trust me when I say it isn't You just gotta have all of your equipment added, before it actually looks like something to do with photography ;)

http://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v4/725...Stabilizer.jpg

[Fox]

Re: Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

Yaaaaay!

Today was the day all of my hard work finally payed off!
After school, I went into the DIY store to finally pick up my other pulley. I can't believe they were almost a month just to get it, but that totally doesn't matter now.

I drilled the hole for the second pulley at the end of the pole, and I then mounted my L-plate to that pulley. Then it was just about connecting all of the fittings, placing in some washers, and then running the line to steer the pulley system.
I decided to use another camera though. My plan from the beginning was to use the Canon one, but because of safety measures, I decided to settle for the GoPro Hero 4 Black instead. It's a couple of kilos lighter, and it will not be damaged should anything happen. I'm sure it wont though, as the construction is actually rather solid.

Anyway, so right now I actually have a working jib standing in my garage! I wanted to take some pictures of it, and provide a small example for you, but sadly it had already turned dark by the time I was finished.
Don't worry, cause the first thing on my list is to shoot something with it tomorrow!

[Fox]

Re: Homemade Camera Jib/Crane

Blah...

Okay, I think it's time to wrap this project up. I did indeed shoot some video the 3rd, sadly I have been so extremely busy with my exam in school, that I didn't have time to post much on here, let alone keep you updated on this project.

But yesterday I made my mind up, and decided to finally throw a video of my jib together.
It shows the jib working, the assembly of it, and then finally some test footage I shot with it. Sadly I did not have a huge archive to choose from, as I have actually only used it one day after I finished it. Never the less, I think the result came out pretty good.

Things I have learned:
- Don't cement your things together, until you are totally sure that they'll fit in your transportation device.
- If you cement things, you need to keep them in press for a long time. Sadly my connections came out a bit crocked.
- Plastic pulleys probably weren't the best idea, as the L-plate started to sag a bit, resulting in all of my shots not being horizontally straight.

All in all, it has been a pretty fun project. It was a blast to start out with nothing more than a football goalie, and to actually end up with something useful.
Thank you for following this project of mine! :)

[StingX]

You didn't use Step By Step as the music for the video. Project ruined.