February 04, 2014

"After messing around with it for five minutes I was convinced."

Video production team, Rank Productions, recently wrote a gear review for the Feather Camera Crane. Check it out here, or click on the link below.

"First up on the Demo table is the Lite Pro Gear's, Feather Crane this is a ten foot jib that's extremely portable and quick to set up and use on the go. I met with designer Canyon Florey before picking up a Feather Crane of my own. After messing around with it for five minutes I was convinced. The set up is easy and takes a few minutes.

What I like about this product is that the team at Lite Pro Gear didn't cheap out on any of the materials. The Feather Crane is very well built. The boom is made out of 3K carbon fiber and all the components are made of lightweight anodized aluminum. If carbon fiber and the well machined aluminum doesn't get you stoked surely the Boa technology self leveling head will. If your shot isn't framed up how you like a simple twist of the knob and you can raise or lower your camera's field of view.

My favorite feature of this crane is that is attaches to your tripods' base plate, which makes the portability even easier. With my experience from working with other jibs that have their own legs, it's nearly impossible to travel in the backcountry with them unless you have a very dedicated PA. Another awesome feature is the length of the arm is easy to change in fact it's a tool-less design. You can shorten the arms by just flipping up a few clamps and adjusting your boa system to get more of a slider or dolly effect. Another portability plus is that the bag that holds all the components also doubles as a weight sack. I just throw some rocks and logs in it and it's easy to counter balance. It's a nice bonus because you won't be hauling weights around everywhere you shoot.

The crane is very easy to rig up and add components to the extension plate that the camera mounts to. There's plenty of room to add other accessories on it to help add production value to your shot. My favorite thing to do is throw a emotivo on it. I love the ability to move that camera on the remote. I reckon a Genie would work too on a smooth timed panning shot.

One limitation to the jib is that you can't control the camera's tilt motion once it's set there's no tilting up or down during the shot. After using it a bunch you can figure out ways to get around this issue I found that practice makes perfect on this bad boy and you'll figure it out. Also when you put a heavier camera on, the boa needs assistance to raise sometimes and can be difficult to do when you're solo. Also always make sure your tripod head is secured and tight, I've almost sent an FS700 into a lake.

I use this jib all the time whether I'm going on a day hike or using it on set. I recommend this jib over all the other portable jibs out there. It's truly amazing how compact it is and how well it performs. It can handle around 10 pounds I've used a Sony FS700 with 24-70mm L MkII on it and there were no problems handling the weight. Two things I recommend are one, a monitor, and if your planning on using a DSLR on it I recommend getting a ball head to help you easily set your shot."

https://rankproductions.squarespace.com/reviews/2014/1/9/liteprogear