3 DIY Camera Jibs and Cranes
Give your video productions sweeping crane shots without dropping a ton of dough. Give one of these do-it-yourself options a try!
Professional camera jibs and cranes can be prohibitively expensive. For the full-time videographer or filmmaker it might be a worthwhile investment. However, if you don’t anticipate using a crane or jib often (or simply want to save some dough) these DIY projects are an excellent alternative to commercial models.
Looking for more cool DIY video production projects? See our previous posts on DIY boom poles and camera sliders.
DIY Mini Jib
This is a very simple jib that can be built quickly and for less than $25. Great for small video shoots, it’ll setup quick and give you up to a 5 feet range of motion. The construction of this DIY video jib is made of light aluminum tubing, so it’s ideal for lighter weight cameras. See OliviaTech’s site for written instructions on building this cool mini jib.
UPDATE: Post has been removed by creator.
Frugal Crane 2.0
Premiumbeat favorite “The Frugal Filmmaker” recently updated a previous tutorial he did on creating a DIY video crane. The new and improved crane (showcased in the following video) makes a few improvements, one of which is to include compatibility with popular DSLR cameras. You can build this cool rig by using supplies from your local hardware store (including a garage door pulley).
Note, this is a full-on crane with a video monitor at its base to see what you’re shooting. Its a bit technical, but if you’re up for the challenge its a very cool tool to give your video productions sweeping crane shots.
Note: You may want to give the initial Frugal Crane 1.0 video a watch as well, as it goes into great details the basic construction.
Light Camera Crane
Although it’s a DIY project, this impressive camera crane is certainly on par with many commercial models. This is a beautifully designed rig, but to make a similar one yourself you’ll need to be quite handy in the workshop (and have access to a range of power tools). Although the video documents each step of creating this DIY camera crane, it doesn’t lay out every step in detail. A beautifully shot tutorial!
