DRONE ALTERNAT I VES | GEAR
Designed to accommodate Ronin and Movi gimbals, the Scissor jib reaches up to 13ft and telescopes down to just over three, keeping the platform level for gimbals that don’t have that fourth axis. Proaim has a vast range, from more conventional cranes and Airwave isolators for vehicle mounts, all the way down to equipment carts; as with several of the manufacturers we’ve discussed, the company’s output could fill an article this size several times over. JL Fisher’s Model 9 and 10 dollies are hardly a rarity on film sets, and the company’s Model 23 crane, compatible with either dolly, is a convenient addition in situations where the hydraulic lift doesn’t go quite far enough. The Model 23, made in exactly the same glorious precision satin “The latest Technocranes offer hydraulic self-levelling, and a column that can push the fulcrum more than 6ft in the air”
LEFT Stanton offers a range of Jimmy Jib cranes that are compact, versatile and come in a variety of lengths
to reach out over the largest concert stages. If not the moon, then at least geostationary orbit. Stanton’s latest innovation is the Triangle Pro, with improvements for speedier assembly and an upgrade option for existing owners of the Triangle range. Reflecting the wide variety of uses for Jimmy Jibs, Stanton offers numerous accessories, including control systems compatible with both broadcast and cinema lenses. MAKING THE CUT In the broadest possible sense, there are only so many feasible innovations for putting a camera on the top end of a long pole. But hats off to Proaim’s Scissor jib, which craftily adapts the sort of mechanism used to punch Wile E. Coyote with a boxing glove in a Road Runner cartoon. Nobody’s going to create a 90ft Akela-beater with this technology (probably), but it does make for a cost-effective telescoping crane, which quickly becomes a very compact package.
air, the largest Technocrane – the SuperTechno 75 – ably pursues the mighty Akela, with the ability to put the lens up to 80ft in the air, and the head in an overslung configuration. Unlike the Akela, it can also gracefully slide the camera down in a straight line until it starts to disturb blades of grass. The latest Technocranes offer hydraulic self- levelling, and a column that can push the fulcrum more than 6ft into the air, with a telescopic range of over 62ft. If we don’t need to simulate the view from the moon, particularly thinking broadcast work, Stanton’s Jimmy Jib range springs to mind. In fact, Jimmy Jibs – often working with a single crew member and packing down into the back of a small van – frequently appear on a variety of productions, where an audience member might assume shots are being achieved with bigger, heavier, slower, spendier options. They’re also flexible in terms of length, from getting high angles in a TV studio, to soaring, 40ft options
CABLE CAM SLINGSHOT
Time-lapse photography makes possibly the sternest demands on the smoothness of any camera technique. Manufacturer Syrp has been serving this need since 2016, when the Genie motion control system became available. As a pan and tilt head on a slider, it might seem fairly everyday, although time-lapse is notoriously likely to reveal even the tiniest disturbance in a shot. As such, you certainly can’t shoot time- lapses from a drone; even if the batteries lasted long enough, the accuracy when relying on GPS is, generally, nowhere near good enough. Now, Syrp’s Slingshot cable system lets time-lapse specialists set up a cable run of up to 100m from a kit the company describes as fitting a backpack. Cable cam systems in general allow for some fairly spectacular tricks, most of which involve going quickly. Syrp is certainly a specialist in going slowly.
JULY 202 1 | DEF I N I T ION 39
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