Hey everybody. I'm a new user here but I've been watching for a while. I'm really impressed by the knowledge and talent on this site. So for my first post, I've got a question: A friend of mine has a crane from Promax that has a cable pulling system that controls the movement of the camera, but I've also seen cranes that have handles or controls that allows you to move the camera manually? The difference is a manual and automatic crane. I was wondering if anybody had experience with both and could recommend one or the other. A manual crane seems easier for one person to control but I don't know. Any advice or crane recommendations would be great. My budget is 500-1000. Thanks.
Advice on a crane
- Thread starter Hurley
- Start date
Thanks Hendrix. Thats funny b/c I was just looking at the Kessler site and I thought I'd give them a try. I found their products on ebay but I'll probably buy it direct from their site. It looked like it could do some things the Promax crane couldn't. So, I'm sure I'll try them. Thanks again.
KingVidiot
Well-known member
Here's another vote for Kessler. Nice guy, good product, quick turnaround...
Get the extended one if you can, it's very cool.
However, make sure you get a very sturdy tripod/head, especially the head. I mount a Canon XL2, the crane, the crane weights, LCD monitor, etc. and the whole sucker weighs almost 30 lbs!
The highest weight rating on an affordable tripod is less than 20 lbs for the Bogen/Manfrotto 3246 or whatever legs and at least a 516 (~$800) or 519 (~$1000) head. There is a 300 series head that is around $2k that will hold it, but who can afford it? My poor 503 head looked like it was going to shear off after a while.
Just remember that a crane incurs more cost than you initially know. They are very fun, though.
Get the extended one if you can, it's very cool.
However, make sure you get a very sturdy tripod/head, especially the head. I mount a Canon XL2, the crane, the crane weights, LCD monitor, etc. and the whole sucker weighs almost 30 lbs!
The highest weight rating on an affordable tripod is less than 20 lbs for the Bogen/Manfrotto 3246 or whatever legs and at least a 516 (~$800) or 519 (~$1000) head. There is a 300 series head that is around $2k that will hold it, but who can afford it? My poor 503 head looked like it was going to shear off after a while.
Just remember that a crane incurs more cost than you initially know. They are very fun, though.