Jimmy Jib Rentals - Sony FX9 Rentals NYC..... How are rentals priced??

Whether it be Jimmy Jib Rentals in NYC, Sony FX9 rentals in DC, or “Jimmy Jib Rentals” Nationally it’s very tough to explain how rental rates are decided and valued. For example, PRG will rent camera bodies for quite a higher price than B4 lenses, but the lenses cost more than the cameras. How does that make sense? To be honest, I don’t have the perfect answer to that! Different parts of the country have different “economy” strengths. The NYC market always fetches a stronger dollar figure than even the Philly area. NYC and ATL rates are exponentially different! I try to have a consistent value on equipment so if a client had me as a “Jib Op NYC” and wants “Jimmy Jib Rentals in Boston”, the only variable is the travel expenses. But how do I come up with my numbers? To be honest, some of it is simply what you can get away with. An example such as that is spider pods. The alternative to spider pods is production companies packing many stage decks in a tuck, having labor to set them up, and then striking it all. While I am not the type to take advantage of situations, there’s money to be made because of the fact that you are offering clients a solution that enormously simplifies an element of their job. To many, that is priceless (or at least worth a fair “premium”).

But why does an entire jib rental cost similar to a camera package? The jib takes up a whole van where as the camera kit can be one or two cases. Cameras have historically fetched a higher rate b/c they are always being replaced. Every few years (or 6months…) there’s a new camera, something game changing! The same isn’t true with jibs, lenses, or some kinds of lighting gear. Those pieces of gear tend to have more of a relevant generation. How I come up with rates for the camera kits is market research - what do rental houses charge, how can I offer a more turn key kit, and does me showing up with all the gear make life easier for the client? Clients can always go rent all that gear themselves…..but then they have to actually do it. We all know that means sourcing the gear, doing prep time with it, ensuring its accounted for when the job is done, and getting it back. Those are all worries clients don’t have when they just hire a team who will show up with everything they need!

Jib Op NYC - Jib Operator Washington DC: A tale of traffic

This last weekend this NYC Jib op was hanging out in DC for a few days. I thought traffic in NYC was bad, my goodness it was insane in DC! Last Sunday there were two arena games going on while the obsession with the cherry blossoms was on high. It took an hour to drive some gear nearly 2 miles. While the traffic in DC was dense, I noticed the intersections didn’t get grid-locked like Manhattan. It was rather mature of those DC drivers to avoid that and I was quite impressed. Depending on the area in Manhattan, there’s either some traffic officers to help direct the movement of cars to avoid the grid lock OR to pop out and give you a blocking the box ticket… The immediate reaction of why DC traffic moves so slow is a combination of volume and the complicated intersections. There’s so many 5, 6, and even 7 way intersections which means a lot of traffic lights. You spend a lot of time waiting for your green light. Even late at night, a 2 mile drive took quite a while b/c there’s so many long traffic lights! Despite the hopeless nature of DC traffic, people seemed pretty chill about it. I applaud all of the people getting around on bikes and e scooters - that’s the move if you don’t have more than you can carry.

Jib Op NYC - Jimmy Jib Rentals! But don't forget, we do gimbals too!

So while of course we do jib rentals NYC, camera cranes all over Boston, cine jibs in Philly, and more jibs all over as this of course is a jib company…..we do a lot of gimbal work too! To us the gimbal is the human jib, but let’s not confuse that term with Mike Brown’s company. Mike is a cool dude and we’ve been friendly for years! When I say human jib, I refer to the ability to deliver jib shots in an entirely mobile fashion. Of course we can’t get a camera 30’ in the air, but putting a gimbal on a mono pod really extends the amount of vertical movement you can offer. Gimbals are great tools for shoots where you need mobile motion, so please enjoy this short reel featuring BTS clips from a recent shoot on the streets of midtown east.

NYC JIB Op, Philly Jib Op, Boston Jib Op - We are all over the place this spring!

Our Jimmy Jib Rentals are slated to be all over the northeast this spring! Events are booking up from Boston to DC and beyond! Do I prefer providing Jimmy Jib Rentals in Washington DC or being a Boston Jib Op?? The honest truth is when it comes to the warmer months I’m a big fan of working in New England! It’s a little bit cooler in weather, the golf courses in Maine, MA, and Northern CT are so much fun with the hills/mountains, and the scenery is beautiful. I surprisingly get a number of jib jobs in Philly and the casinos in eastern PA. While that is a hike, it’s an hour and change of a drive which is basically like driving to Queens! Western, NJ/Eastern, PA is quite nice tho. There is a golf course called Architects close to the PA/NJ border which I love. Every hole is designed in honor of a legendary golf architect and the views of the rolling hills are beautiful. So as the warmer months come, bring on the jib travel!

Jib Op Washington DC vs Jib Op NYC - A Tale of Two Cities

These are two cities which I have worked in many times over the years! Offering Jimmy Jib Rentals in Washington DC is much different than Jimmy Jib Rentals in NYC…. Let’s compare two different famous theaters. The Opera House at the Kennedy Center vs The Beacon Theater in NYC. The joy of the Kennedy Center is that you just drive up onto the promenade and enormous doors load you in right on the stage. K.C. is right off the highway and many hotels are a 5min walk, including the Watergate Hotel which plays into their historic scandal subtly in their modern decor. Parking is easy as there’s an enormous garage right under the venue! The venue has awesome stage hands who are super helpful with anything you might need. The Beacon Theater is right in the middle of a Manhattan neighborhood!! The venue has to get police ordered no parking all around its perimeter for trucks to load in and stay as there isn’t really a loading dock. They have large loading doors that fork lifts can get in and out of that go right on stage. You also can load gear thru the stage doors but space is a premium back stage. It’s tight and windy like many places in NYC! Tho The Beacon Theater may be just a little more chaotic to arrive to and get gear inside, you have a ton of help on the way. It’s an IATSE Local 1 venue so once they know you’re there, an army of very professional stage hands will get all stuff inside right where it needs to go. So there you have it, two examples of working in similar types of spaces in VERY different cities!

Jib Operator NYC Drops a New Jib Reel!

Every year it’s such a journey being a part of the projects I’m involved in. I don’t just do Jimmy Jib Rentals, I actually operate the rigs, and I save all my favorite clips to periodically make fun sizzles and release single shots on Instagram. From Jib Op Washington DC to Jimmy Jib Rentals Boston, there’s probably about 4TB of footage of the best shots! Yes, that’s 4TB JUST of the jibs shots I’ve wanted to save after combing thru the footage. I typically wait for a stack of a few shows worth before combing thru it all. I try not to save more than 5-10min worth of quality shots from an event that’s several hours. Why so selective??

1. hard drives don’t grow on trees

2. it’s just more content to have to sift thru again when I make reels

3. This is a footage to help sell Camera Jib Rentals NJ, NYC, DC…..not a stock footage library so it’s completely unnecessary to have 10 variations of a single shot for it to sit perfectly in a reel.

So Check it out! It’s short and sweet. Enjoy!

Tech Upgrades in our Camera Crane Rentals NYC!

Over the last two years there’s been an explosion in new product accessories for Jimmy Jib rigs. We have all been dreaming of a number of new features for years and finally we are getting them. With our Jimmy Jib Rentals, our NYC Jib Operators have a number of improvement gizmos that make life so much easier. All of our products have been made by John Huffman ( Myelectronicsguy.com) and he’s been so awesome with customer support. I have the following tech upgrades:

  • Upgraded Pan/tilt toggle: replacement electronics for the Jimmy Jib Pan Handle that makes the motor head enormously smoother at long focal lengths

  • Digital focus converter: Allows using the stock Jimmy Jib focus control knob with the digital servo on newer TV and Cine lenses.

  • Tally System: It just works…..the original JJ tally system seemed to never function correctly.

  • Model 4D+ Control Board: This is a replacement circuit board for the control box. It’s made all the electronics much smoother, far more accurate, and enhanced the speed of the P/T motors. It’s all digital, can receive firmware updates, and is packed with great features. A huge upgrade is the system calibrates to the controllers when booting up. In the old control box, you’d have two off-set potentiometers for pan/tilt that would need to be zero’d out when changing the PSU or controllers. It was an annoying process of turning ramp off, motors speed up, zooming in on a lens, watching for motions, and adjusting the offset with an eye glass screwing till there was no motion. What a pain! That process happens automatically when it boots up! Another huge feature is the ability to switch between sock Jimmy Jib Lens controls, Jimmy Jib Zoom + Tilta Nucleus Focus/Iris, and Titlta FIZ. There is a little box placed at the motor head that converts the Jimmy Jib Fiz controls to work with the Tilta Motors. The Tilta Nucleus-M motors are cheap and VERY good. Let’s not compare them to a high end FF system like an arri. All we need to do is spin the barrel, have some stops options, auto calibrate stops, and have it be super smooth. Tilta checks all the boxes!

So if you see us out there jibbing, know that we have an unfair advantage —- much better electronics than The Stock Jimmy Jib!!

Sony FX9 Rentals NYC

While we focus on jibbing, we offer much more! Productions like us as a jib service b/c in addition to “Jimmy Jib Rentals” or “Jib Ops NYC”, we have lots of other add on equipment. We’ve got Sony FX9 Rentals NYC, Canon Cine Servo 17-120 and 25-250 (Canon Cine Rentals NYC), up to 6 “Spider pod rentals nyc” and DC, other Sony HD cameras, lighting equipment, and more. So we often fill in some blanks in a client’s equipment load which saves them a trip to a rental house! Any time you save a client from an errand or task (even if it’s just coordinating with someone else to bring gear) you are making their lives that much easier : )

Part 3: Music to "Jimmy Jib Rentals" and "DP NYC"

The journey continues! Every ounce of my experience and education in this business comes from on the job opportunities. Learning how to be great in this business comes from watching what true professional do and working in their network. A great live camera director will teach you so much about how to be a solid camera op without ever explaining how anything works. They call shots putting pieces of the puzzle together based on shot size, scale, length, etc. When you see how it comes together on your return feed, what you’re doing makes a lot of sense and it trains you to serve the director better. While I would never go as far as to say you don’t need a formal bachelors program to learn great skills, after all I did do one in music, I would say that there are so many ways to learn where YOU get paid. I’ve surrounded myself with a number of great mentors that have showed me esthetic, etiquette, strategy, and more without ever opening a book. This journey is how I went from a guy with just a few microphones to offering “Jimmy Jib Rentals”, “spider pod rentals”, “spider pod rentals NYC”, “jib operator services”, lighting, and much more!

Part 2 - Pro Musician to "Jimmy Jib Rentals" and "Sony FX9 rentals NYC"

Welcome back! We left off on how I was inspired to get into camera after seeing the ops arrive later/get paid more. I mostly was learning to cam op in live switch environments. Having a director in your ear telling you exactly what to do is a great way to dive in learning the trade. It was actually in this environment where I first got my hands on a jib. The first time working with a jib was purely an accident! The production company was not doing any thing crazy with “Spider pod rentals” or “Jib operator in NYC” or “fx9 rentals nyc”, they just owned a small jib. The operator had to cancel on short notice and I had figured out how to put it together! That day I got promoted to jib op…..what a mess it was! However, I was able to take that rig home with me and I practiced and practice!! My “jib op nyc” energy was born!

How this "jib op nyc" offering "Jimmy Jib Rentals" got in this biz

Being a “jib operator” and offering “camera crane rentals NYC” is 100% not what a little kid thinks they wil be doing when they grow up. Many see me having a large source of equipment, “sony FX9 rentals nyc”, “jimmy Jib rentals”, “lighting rentals nyc”, lensrentals north east, and having likely gone to film school,,,but I Wasn’t always in this business. I grew up very musically inclined, made the all region ensembles in high school for north jersey, and eventually went on to get a bachelors of music from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers. Back then I was determined to be a pro musician and that was what I did for a while. This was long before I offered “spider pod rentals in NYC” or even knew what a “jimmy jib” was. What I did know was that music wasn’t paying the bills so i filled in the blanks doing something a lot of musicians turn to…..the production world. I had no idea I was building a new career when I started playing around with microphones, recording my own music, roadie work for wedding bands, and eventually doing live sound at a venue at Rutgers. Eventually, my audio skills led me to get connected with a company live streaming combat sports. This was still several years before even knowing what a “jimmy jib” was or even knowing what depth of field meant, I quickly noticed that the camera ops got there later, got paid more, and left earlier. So I did whatever I could to get them to train me on camera! “Jib rentals NYC” were not in the picture yet, but it wouldn’t be long before I started to pick up jib skills. I’ll continue that on the next post!

" Jimmy Jib" and "Jimmy Jib Rentals" in long distance shoots.

Heavy equipment such as “Jimmy Jib Rentals”, “Spider Pod Rentals”, “Sony FX9 Rentals NYC”, and others have very different transportation needs for long distance jobs. Depending on the jib, it’s easy to just drive a Jimmy Jib rig 8hrs if it’s a multi day project. However, getting “jib rentals nyc” over to the west coast is a much larger project. That’s where companies such as SOS Global come in. SOS is a logistics company with a niche in transporting production equipment. They can send a van to my home base in Jersey City, pick up a jib rig, get it in either one of their long hauler trucks or on a plane, and bring it to a venue this “jib op nyc” is working at. For smaller heavy items such as “spider pods nyc” or “spider pod rentals” in general, there’s a bunch of options. Locally around NYC, Uber Package is a fantastic way to shuffle some gear around. The rates are often a bit cheaper than if they were driving people around and it saves clients a higher delivery charge. If the spider pods have to go a longer distance, they can be sent via UPS or Fedex in a sturdy box. They are made of solid steel so they will transport just fine in the soft cases. Other equipment like “Sony FX9 Rentals NYC” can be shipped in pelican cases if a long distance is required or also shipped via SOS.

Cold Weather Jib Work - Jimmy Jib Rentals in The Winter! Jib op NYC - Winter Talk

How does this NYC Jib op handle the cold weather?? When you book Jimmy Jib Rentals, Spider Pod Rentals NYC, or other camera crane systems from DC to Boston, sometimes you’re going to wind up on an event outdoors. It’s not the temperature that gets you, it’s the wind! I personally embrace the seasons and am quite tolerate of temperature extremes. Outside of production, I’m an avid golfer and you’ll see me out there when it’s 35 degrees out and 105 degrees out. However, standing there with a jib when its 20 degrees and windy gets to your core pretty fast. The first life saver I have is a heated vest. It’s powered off a USB power bank and keeps my core toasty warm for hours. Thick gloves and the jib controls do not mix at all! I wear several layers of nitrile exam gloves. they keep just enough heat in while still allowing me to use touch screen monitors and have full tactile control of the jib. I also have rain covers for the handle controls with electronic hand warmers inside them which helps keep the temperature up. In dull moments during a show i can get my hands on a hard warmer too!

"Jimmy Jib Rentals" or "jib operator NYC" vs The Gimbal

When is a “Jimmy Jib Rental” or “NYC Jib Operator” better than a gimbal? Gimbals are an amazing tool to create the smaller scale motion of a jib shot, tracking shots, and much more. There is a lot of cross over with what a jib and gimbal can do! When it comes to live events, jibs are much more helpful in capturing the size and scale as the jib arm can physically move the camera from a few feet off the ground to 30’ in the air! However, a gimbal can do fun tracking shots such as flying down the length of an isle. These are both fantastic options! However, in live events people don’t enjoy staring at the operator’s back for too long. Gimbals tend to need to be right in the action which means they are parked right in front of people trying to see! With a jib flying from above, the base set up from further away, and arm constantly moving, the sight lines of the people attending a show are much better preserved. The jib also gets a much more grand perspective of a space since it can fly higher!

NYC Jib Op - Take on Congestion Pricing

Let’s dive right into this! There’s a lot of uncertainty on how congestion pricing is going to effect the economy below 60th st, how traffic/parking will work in boroughs close to bridge/tunnels, and if the results of less traffic will be maintained. Being a “Jib Op NYC” and offering “Jimmy Jib Rentals NYC” and keeping the shop in Jersey City, I’m right in the cross hairs of this extra toll. To be honest, it’s just another $6 at worst and it’s just the cost of doing business. I have to get my gear from A to B! However, I’ve noticed a huge reduction in traffic in all of my NYC travels and a nice reduction of traffic locally in Jersey City and Hoboken. In driving in NYC if you have to decide between saving 45min and saving $8-9 b/c you want to skip a toll tunnel or bridge, you aren’t thinking how time is $$. If this congestion pricing plan tones down traffic where my previous 90min trips to Queens just take 45min, it is well worth $6. I might even save that $$ not burning gas stuck in traffic! That being said, I only drive when I can’t carry what I have in a backpack. Obviously I can’t take “Jimmy Jib Rentals” or “Spider Pod Rentals NYC” on the train. But when I’m free to exist with a backpack, I get around Jersey City mostly on an E-scooter and take the PATH/Subway to where I need to go. One person in a car clogging up all those roads with just a back pack is crazy!

Jimmy Jib Rentals - Jib Op NYC

As we get closer to Super Bowl Sunday we enter a time of year of jib shortages! There are so many jibs in transit directly to the event, to pop up events around the country, and tied up shooting pre roll projects ahead of the event. It always amazes me how the frequency of local work picks up during the super bowl and the olympics simply bc so much equipment is gone! Google Jib Op NYC or jimmy jib rentals and I’m sure you’ll find a lot of people are booked. It’s always a great time to meet new clients, get new connections, and enjoy being busy without the intensity of working a major event.

Jimmy Jib Rental - Cine Camera Package ! Jib op NYC Talk

Earlier this year I made the call to move on from my Cabrio 19-90 as the main cine lens for the jib camera package. The picture results of the cabrio and fx9 combo were absolutely stunning, especially since the image circle covers 5k crop. However, I always wanted just a little more range from the lens and the opportunity to flip the 19-90 into a Canon 17-120 came last summer! The Canon lens is absolutely beautiful, just a little wider, and more tele. It still covers 5k crop yielding a wonderful width equivalent of just about 20-21mm. That is perfectly wide without getting into a slight fish eye distortion. I find DPs and directors for live broadcasts like that super wide distortion on TV lenses which is about the equivalent of 16mm. However, when it comes to cine projects, directors tend to avoid that look and 20mm gets you plenty wide without getting that grandiose super wide look…..but still very grand, if that makes sense : ). SO for the world to know, the main NYC FX9 Rental for cine kits is now features a Canon 17-120!

Jimmy Jib Rentals NYC - The Truth

The truth about Jib Rentals in NYC or Jimmy Jib Rentals in Boston is that these are tough cities to work in. Loading is difficult, a lot of buildings were never designed for large scale productions, and certain venues don’t even have loading docks,. Part of the grind of working with larger equipment is simply getting it in and out of the door without getting a parking ticket! At the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ you just pull up a vehicle right to a truck loading bay and often smaller vehicles are allowed to park in the dock area. You are loaded and parked in 10min! In Manhattan around 5th ave/midtown, you can have load ins that spiral thru a building, use multiple elevators, garage parking eats up a half hour, and it takes the better part of an hour just to get back to the stuff to start building! On smaller film sets, productions will have hire overnight parking fixers that are putting out fake cones or caution signs in parking spots as spaces free up! What other city works like that?! It’s tough being a jib operator in NYC!

Spider Pod Rentals NYC - Spider Pod NJ

New for 2025!! We aren’t just offering Jimmy Jib Rentals in NYC! We of course can crew full teams for cine or ENG capture styles of events. To help facilitate crewing and set up efforts, we offer up to (6) Spider Pods in NJ, NYC, Boston, or Washington DC. The spider pod is a great camera riser system that is much more compact than dual 4x4 stage decking. Weighing just about 45lbs, each unit folds up into a soft or hard case making transportation easy and possible in a minivan. Twelve 4x4 decks (two sets for six operators) would require far more set up space, a truck to deliver, crew for assembly, etc. Spider Pod Rentals in NYC or NJ are easily added on to jib rentals in NYC OR available for stand alone rentals.

Your production awaits.