Killer camera rigs

My thoughts on this. I can't wait to start building. I got the cd a few days ago. I would not mind paying the $5 to ship if I could get the book version. For the weight the book you could ship it media mail for $2. The extra $3 on the shipping would make up the cost of printing it (mass printing). Now I have to go to the printshop for the added cost of $20. Oh well, the money I will save on the first build will more than pay for itself.
 
Made the dark passage dolly

Made the dark passage dolly

Here is the dolly I made from this book:

http://www.ijabafilms.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23

It was so easy. The wheels in the photo don't have the spacers because I had to use a different bolt for the wheels but when I'm ready to use the dolly, I will put washers there to make the wheels sit on the track better.

I didn't build the car mount because I saw the sticky pod was only $70 so I just bought that.

I actually built the crane made out of plumbing pipe and it only took about 15 minutes but I'm not so into have the crane on that dolly. I'm hoping to make the big combo crane next.

This is a wonderful book though and the writer is nice as well.
 
hey jason, I think in addition to having all the plans in one place, another great feature of the book -- since it uses many hardware parts in a sort of improvised fashion -- is that he has photos and specifics on all those parts, like using a metric brass nipple to go into a standard measurement PVC pipe to connect them ... no experimenting with what size nipple for what size pipe etc. In other words the DETAILS of these plans and the level of figuring stuff out on your own for such Macguyvered solutions is cut down a lot.
 
Here are pictures of one of the cranes mounted to a dolly. Both rigs I made directly from this book and took less than 45 minutes to make both of them.

http://www.ijabafilms.com/DIYRigs/

**Site modified to show rigs with less detail **

It's a wonderful book and each rig has all the parts listed with the photo and a checkbox so when you take the book to the hardware store, you can check off the part as you put it in the cart.

Then there are detailed directions for putting everything together, again with images as well.

Good Luck. I will post some video using these rigs as soon as I start using them.
 
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I've made that crane, too. I need to get it out of the garage and see if I can use it with a Brevis attached. Might be too much weight. But it does work well with the DVX by itself.
 
crane

crane

The only problem with this crane is that it is exceedingly hard to move the dolly and move the crane up and down at the same time. Because of the weight of the crane and design of the wheels, our dolly kept on coming off the track and messing up the shot. You really need to weight the dolly down with some sandbags and have some one in charge of just moving the dolly while you concentrate on the movement of the crane.
 
how does this crane move up and down? i can see how it could swivel, but not tilt up and down, unless you actually raise the stim which would be really jerky I'd think.

Jason
 
Jason it's smooth as silk. It moves up and down by those elbow joints in the front and the t-connector attaching it to the base pole. They are loose. goes up and down, left and right smoothly.

As for using it, it works without a problem. I used a heavy, sturdy birch plywood for the base of the dolly. And just added thin strips of wood under the tracks with those little cable holders you nail into the wall to hold cables against the wall nailed on each side of the pvc pipe and when using the dolly, it never comes off the track (I also added more washers inbetween the wheels to they sit on the track more). The crane itself acts as a handle and I find the whole movement to be easy and natural.

Perhapse you can add a washer or two between your dolly wheels so they sit on the track better. If you add some pictures of your setup, we can check it out and see where the problem may be because this thing works wonderfully for us just as you see it in the pictures.

We added a bigger camera platform than what's in the book because we need to use a rail support system with our 35mmm adapter as well as a motorized pan/tilt head.
 
This is what it looks like when you are getting ready to move it up and down or left and right, or whatever.

** Sorry guys, had to remove the photo, per designers request. I understand where he's coming from though.
 
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That looks pretty cool, how do those pivot points move? is it thread or just sliding smoothly?

jimmy
 
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