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Question:

Where can I buy a camera jib/crane in Arizona?

Iv done some research and I cant seem to find a place that might sell jibs locally here in Phoenix. Iv been considering the ProAm DVC 200 crane but I would also like to see others in like a store. If anyone has any info it would be appreciated!

Answer:

I went down that path last year in the SF Bay Area in California. I could not find a store that carried any cranes or jibs - so I just started asking around. Stay away from any that use cables to keep the stage steady - we used one at a shoot - setting up is an interesting challenge. I thought I wanted the same unit you are looking at - and decided I needed to trust the crane a bit more with my HDR-FX1... I had to wait longer to save more $, but I really like the crane and tripod kit I ended up with... from Kessler Crane... I never got to see it before I bought it and I was, um... nervous... but I am glad I made the investment - and Eric Kessler is REALLY helpful and great to work with. One of the other cranes I looked at uses a heavy duty PA speaker stand as its tripod base. After watching light trees and PA speakers fall over because of leg failure, I could not bring myself to trust them to hold my camcorder. I can STAND or JUMP on the Kessler tripod and it does not budge. It is rock-steady and really strong. The Hercules head is silk-smooth and the crane-arm and camera stage are steady and easy to manipulate. After a little practice, it now takes me about 10-15 minutes from the time I start unpacking until I am ready to start shooting. That includes mounting the camcorder, setting the counterweights, mounting a portable DVD player with AV-in as the monitor mounted to the tripod-head so I can see what the camcorder is shooting and running the AV, headphone and LANC cables and making the whole thing pretty with velcro strips.

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