The perfect jib vehicle for being a NYC JIB operator

Jib Operators around the country have it so easy compared to here in NYC! Being jib op in NYC is a little cut throat with loading. Forget the paralyzing traffic, most venues are super old and were never designed for modern load ins. Loading docks are very small and sometimes you can only street load into a stage door. THEN, what do you do with vehicle?? I honestly have no idea what people do with their box trucks OR trailered vehicles! For me it’s super simple, I can fit a 30’ JJ Triangle, many cameras, tripods, and lighting right into a Toyota Sienna minivan. Productions that have reserved street parking love it b/c they think you’re coming with a truck and that means you take up way less space! Parking garages never turn you away and you can street park a whole lot easier than a sprinter van!

When this jib op takes a camera crane rig down to newer buildings in the DC area, I’m always amazed at how intelligent venues are set up! NOT the case in NYC!!

NYC NJ Jib Op now with a Fujinon Cabrio 19-90

Long time and no text! Sorry google! This NYC based jib operator has been busy busy busy thru the pandemic times. Fortunately business has gone well and I’ve been able to do a few equipment upgrades including two Sony PXW-FX9s and a Fujinon Cabrio 19-90 T2.9. The Cabrio lens is absolutely beautiful and covers the FX9 in 5k Full Frame. That allows a little bit more width on the lens which is wonderful on a jib.

The first use of the FX9/Cabrio 19-90 Combo came a few weeks ago. I turned into a Phiadelphia Jib Op for a day (or perhaps just a Bucks County one) and worked on a project at The Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA. The results were stunning! The image is magical and the servo functions like a dream come true. I honestly think I like this lens more than the Canon 17-120.

New Hope, PA was beautiful and sad it only lasted a day. I was back home by 7PM in Jersey City, NJ where Universal Jibs is based. In the coming weeks I may be turning into a Washington D.C. jib op or a Boston Jib op - we’ll where the bids take me!

Sony PXW-FX9 with Fujinon Cabrio 19-90 T2.9

Jibbing at the Bucks County Playhouse

Why jib ops love wide angle lenses?

Why are always asking for super wide lenses when we get a say in lens choice? This tends to apply most to events, cool spaces, or epic scenes. The jib has a role of establishing the space BUT also taking you into it. You don’t need much zoom to achieve this b/c the tight camera angles will capture those details. I have two polar opposite situations where wide angle lenses are super useful to me. The first one is MMA and the second is orchestras! In MMA, you want to position the end of the jib so it comes just over the cage bar. With a solid 2/3” 14x4.3 or a 4.5x13, you can usually fit the entire cage in your shot when flying around it. When it’s time to take viewer into the cage, you can boom out from the crowd, go super high over the cage, and then drift down INTO it for quite an experience if you’re watching it on a big TV at home. For orchestras, a lot of clients love the jib right on the stage to get the perspective of flying over the musicians. A super wide zoom lets you get the entire stage in the shot and zoom right into close ups of fingers on instruments or bows moving on violins! On top of that, you can start doing jib moves zoomed in while booming in the opposite direction to create a pretty trippy effect!

New Gear for Universal Jibs - NYC Jib Operator at work!

Universal Jibs is excited to announce adding a SmallHD 1303 HDR monitor to the equipment roster! This monitor is amazing and has been something I’ve been wanting to punch on for a while. Being a jib operator in New York City (NYC) means we can be outside in all kinds of weather, including the sweltering heat and humidity you’d think was only reserved Florida. The SmallHD1303 has a brightness of 1500 nit which makes seeing the monitor with the sun right over your shoulder easy as can be. Prior to acquiring this unit, I used a combo of a Marshall MDVLCD9 and SmallHD702 Bright for outdoors. The Marshall monitor is an early model daybright, but no where near the screen power as SmallHD. It was however, a bigger screen size so it was easier on the eyes and I could just have the SmallHD unit set to the side incase the sun really started to obstruct my view for pulling focus or framing. As luck would have it, I was on a job where the 3 Phase power was set up incorrectly for the whole production, which was a live dinner event for about 5,000 people. The event literally kept going in to darkness over and over again while they tried to figure this out!! My Marshall became a victim of circumstance so I was suddenly in the market again for a monitor. I was torn between Boland and SmallHD Daybrights but ultimately I was just on set filming a few days for the PBS Series “Breakthroughs” and the directors monitor was a smallHD 1703. I was blown away by EVERYTHING on it…..2 weeks later I finally got enough guts to punch it : )

Rain Gear - Protect the Jib

I’m probably way to excited about this subject, but having proper rain gear has really saved me from having to replace parts on the Jimmy Jibs. Being a NYC based jib rental operation in the summer months means it can be sunny one minute and pouring rain the next. I found wrapping electronic components with garbage backs to do well except for certain potentiometers on the zoom/focus handles would die and occasionally there’d be trouble inside the control box. Shooter Slicker makes amazing rain covers for Jimmy Jibs and can customize anything for your particular needs. https://www.shooterslicker.com Since investing in these easy to use covers, I haven’t had to do a single repair following a gig in a monsoon. They have a great control box cover which I have modified to seal around an israeli arm mount for my monitor. Being a jib operator in New York City also means shooting in the freezing weather! The control handle covers come in handy in the winter as well b/c you can put pocket heaters in there to help keep your hands warm on a cold day! I’m still in search of warm gloves that give you full function on touch screens and tactile touch on controls. For now I layer up latex gloves with pocket heaters in the control covers.