Used Digital Juice Rocket Jib for Mobile Filmmakers

2016-12-15T12:26:58

Just unboxed and put together my Rocket Jib. Haven't used it to record yet, but assembled and did some dry runs.I didn't expect miracles here and this should work for many situations where portability trumps perfection. However, it has some flaws that could easily have been avoided by the designers. The camera doesn't attach to the mounting plate properly. I have a popular Nikon DSLR and the plate screw was too long to seat and keep the cam tightly secured. Many screw/plates have a second rotating ring to snug up any unused part of the mount screw, but this system doesn't. I had to scrounge up two washers that will compensate. But the bigger problem is that the mount screw is nearly inaccessible for adult fingers to operate, located between two vertical plates with less than 1.5 inches between them. The mount screw does have a pivoting ring to help provide leverage but there just isn't enough clearance to operate it. They tout a "toolless" design, but I had to get a special screw driver with a 90 degree bend in it to be able to tighten the screw. I am astonished that any company would build something with such a glaring problem. You will not be able to quickly mount or dismount a camera without tools unless you spend money to modify this system. Another issue is the counterweight bag. It is much smaller than I expected and an odd design. There are two pockets, but they each have a double zipper to access the interior. With the thickness of the fabric, stiffness of 2 zipper systems and small size, it is a challenge to load the ballast. If you expect to fill this counterweight bag on location with dirt as ballast, it simply will not be heavy enough for a DSLR. I happen to have some lead weights, a very dense material, and they nearly filled the pouches and still weren't heavy enough. They're shaped like a hockey puck, about 4"x1" and weigh 4.25 pounds each. I added 4 giant steel washers (half pound each) to get enough counterweight effect. There was no more room in the pouches, so if I use a lens heavier than the 24-120 zoom I set this up with, I'll again need to rig up a custom solution. And finally, because the dangling weight bag swings freely as it hangs from it's mount, every swing it makes translates to unwanted motion of the camera. It will be very hard to do a swinging movement that ends with a still position, because when you stop moving the camera, inertia will carry the bag forward and then it will jerk back. They should have a system that allows attaching weight to the bar directly.

KEVIN M.