Review of the ProAm 250 Camera Jib

I just purchased the ProAm 250 Camera jib.  I've used it for two days on a studio shoot using the 8ft length. 

It's a great little jib for small cameras, extremely easy to assemble and operate. 

The kit came with the standard 8ft arm, plus the 4ft extension for a total possible length of 12ft.

It also came with a tripod stand, 7 in monitor, cabling for camera controls, and mounting gear. 

I had to add my own weights for counterbalance, which was fairly simple to do.

I used it in the 8ft. configuration, and needed about 18 lbs of counterweights to balance my Panasonic DVX100B camera, cabling, and accessories.

To fine tune the balance I improvised with 5-6 AA batteries taped to the back end of the boom. These had just enough weight to really get an accurate balance.

The jib worked very well for the shots we needed to get. It's a little awkward (probably a learning curve for me) to use the camera tilt function, it works well, but is not the smoothest thing. I'll likely purchase a motorized head for better camera movement controls in the future.

Overall, I'm thrilled to be able to add it to my gear list, and look forward to using it more in the future. 

Conrad 

back into blogging mode

I'm back...really. It's been far too long since I regularly wrote something for this blog.

OK, I never was very regular, but I want to. 

So, over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to TRY writing something every day.

This will mostly be related to video production: tips, ideas, reviews; etc. Occasionally I may diverge into a rant, if something's really worked into my craw...

I'm not sure what a craw is, but I think you understand.

So, for today's video production tip:  

Always set up your white balance every time: use that handy little toggle switch on your camera if you're working in two different lighting environments.  Yeah you can always "fix it in post." But do yourself a favor and save yourself the editing time - Lord knows editing is time-consuming enough - taking a little more time in production will lessen the frustration of fixing it in the editing bay. 

That's it for today... until next time, keep rolling tape, or collecting pixels if you're all digital.  

Conrad

Watchmetry

Check out my new web presence athttp://watchmetry.magnify.net/
It's a site linking you to hundreds of extreme sports video clips...
Pass it along!

June 14 Ride - 31 miles

Friday, June 13 Morning Bike Ride

Morning Ride

Here's a map of my ride this morning: 12.5 miles. Rolling Hills. Nice early morning ride.

Riding

Took a 12.25 mile bike ride this morning, through the mountains.  Uggghhh...

That's the second time this week. Saturday was the first time.

I'm really wanting to get out at least every other day to ride. I feel so much more alive and ready to challenge the world when I do this.

Plus it's just simply good for the ol' ticker. The mountains are always a challenge... 

Check out the Map My Ride link: 

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/md/emmitsburg/632968857656