On the subject of how to find a good camera jib or camera crane rental in NYC, it can be quite a process. Jib Rentals in NYC have variable rates, operators have different equipment, and policies. Larger NYC and Washington DC jib companies often will bill labor from the minute the equipment begins transporting to the shoot location! When accessing jib rentals in cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, DC, or NYC it’s best to try to identify a company that displays quality work online but also showcases great communication. As with any service you may ever need, someone communicating to address your needs and make you feel you are being taken care of is the first step! A lot of people are guilty of minimally responding to inquiries of any kind. How many times have you send a text to friend that had a few points to be address? For example, say you text your friend who is coming to your BBQ and you are double checking that he or shit is bringing ice, some extra burger buns, and chips? How many people do you know that are likely to just say “yea I got the chips”…..nothing more. Now how many people do you know that respond to emails like that in a world environment?? It’s staggeringly a lot! Thorough communication is something you should be looking for with any service as it builds trust and confidence!
Jibs vs Drones Part 3: Practicality
Another installment of jibs vs drones! This time, let chat about the practicality of both. Say you want to do live sweeping shots a parade and be connected to a live switch. That seems like it’s a slam dunk for a jib right right? However, it’s surprising the number of people that are trying to turn to drones for this. Of course, the drone can soar far about the parade lending views a jib could never do! But is this practical? First of all, let’s forget the legality issues with doing that as it’s sort of obvious there would be loads of them. Let’s focus on work flows. A drone needs frequent battery changes, is not as weather proof, and only get you a handful of shots. Jibs can run off AC and don’t burn thru battery power nearly as fast, so that lets us provide much more sustained coverage. With proper rain gear, jib rigs are impervious to torrential rain that would make a drone crash almost instantly. The drone would be locked into some kind of blimp camera angle. That’s an amazing shot, but it’s not nearly as versatile as a jib would be. When I’m jibbing a parade for example, I position the end of my arm to come within a few feet of the floats. This lets me very high and wide but still maintain an eye angle to the people on the ground. It also lets me zoom right into close ups of people on the float and give the effect of flight within that space. Doing this with a drone would certainly be an amazing skill set, but those propellors can slice a person up very easily so it’s just too risky. Even the smallest contact with a tiny branch can knock an sUAS out of the sky. For now and years to come, it’s simply not technologically feasible to do this kind of camera work with a drone. This doesn’t mean a drone shouldn’t be considered for some grandiose high and wide shots, they will look amazing!