A fun day shooting at the Auckland Zoo – for series 12 of ‘The Zoo’.  Spider Monkeys, Elephants, Zebras, Rhinocerous – and the general public!  Negotiating a 9m/30ft Jimmy Jib along some of the pathways at the zoo is a bit of a challenge and a bit of foliage was collected along the way.  Shooting on XDCam HD.

Currently shooting the Heineken Open at Stanley Street in Auckland – Live on Sky Sport.

It’s our 10th anniversary of owning and operating Jimmy Jibs in New Zealand (and occasionally other parts of the world too)!  And we’re still going strong!

The first jib arrived in January 2002 and has seen plenty of jib shoots over the last 10 years.  In fact its still the favourite – and usually the first one out the door.

Jib 2 followed in 2004 and gave greater capability to handle an increasing workload for jib shoots – as well as the logistical advantages when it came to shipping gear around the countryside.

Then in 2006 number 3 arrived further enhancing the ability to provide jib services – and a backup for the existing jibs.

Along the way we’ve added numerous accessories, upgraded support gear (monitors, cabling etc), increased the spares inventory – and through Image NZ Ltd, increased the options for cameras available with the jib package.

We’ve also done some pretty cool shoots over the years too – from corporates to the annual ‘Christmas in the Park, along with a couple of overseas shoots (‘The Crunch’ in China and ‘Endurance’ in Fiji).

The Rugby World Cup 2011 was one of the major events in New Zealand’s sporting calendar for 2011 – with the ‘All Blacks’ taking out the final in a nail-biting game against France to become the RWC champions.

Jimmy Jib Camera Cranes were there – for all the Eden Park games bar one – and at the new stadium in Dunedin.  We pulled out ‘the big one’ for the RWC – the 12m.  The extra reach of the 12m jib took us further into the crowd – and over the field for the ‘lineout’ and ‘try’ action.

A last minute call saw Jimmy Jib Camera Cranes providing a Jimmy Jib and operator for ‘The Renovator’ – a TVC/Advertorial produced by ‘Brand Developers Ltd’.

Shot at Central Studios ( Ponsonby Rd, Auckland), the production used a 3.6m Jib on tracks and recorded on the Sony PDW-700 XDCam format.

Image NZ have just added a Sony PMW350 to the camera line-up. So now that’s available to Jimmy Jib Camera Cranes as well. Here are some specs for the PMW350:

• Impressive Body Design
• Three 2/3-inch-type Exmor Full-HD CMOS Sensors
• Low Power Consumption
• Unique Focus Operation – Professional Manual Focus and Auto Focus
• AF (Auto Focus) Assist Function
• MF (Manual Focus) Assist Function
• Focus Magnification
• Selectable Peaking Color
• ALAC (Automatic Lens Aberration Compensation) (with compatible lenses)
• Optical ND Filters and Electrical CC Filters
• 23.98p Native Recording
• Slow & Quick Motion Function
• Slow Shutter Function
• Selectable Gamma Curves
• Interval Recording Function
• Frame Recording Function
• Shutter Angle Settings
• ATW (Auto Tracing White Balance) & Hold
• Image Inverter
• Turbo Gain
• DVCAM Recording and Playback with Optional Hardware Key, CBK-DV01
• Picture Cache Recording
• Four-channel Audio
• Total Level Control System (TLCS)
• Scene File System
• Viewfinder with 3.5-inch (viewable area measured diagonally) Color LCD
• Wide Choice of Optional Microphones
• Assignable Buttons for Quick Access to Desired Functions
• HDMI
• Camera Remote Control
• Adjustable Shoulder Pad

The PMW350 is available as part of a jib and camera package – please enquire for more details.

Links:

Sony PMW350 – Sony site

Sony PMW350 360° view

Features of the Pro Jib:

• Portable and lightweight: Designed for single operator set-up, weighs only 11.4kg (25lb), packs down to 1.2m (48″) and supports cameras up to 25kg (50lb).
• Smooth Diagonal Tracking: The silk-smooth diagonal tracking shots of the Pro Jib add a third dimension to traditional camera pan & tilt movements.
• Versatile Height Range: A 2m (6′) swing, plus the height range of tripod mounting lets you shoot from ground level to over 2 metres.
• The Pro Jib is supplied with a Miller Heavy Duty single stage aluminium tripod.

A studio tracking dolly and Miller Arrow HD Pan & Tilt Head are also available.

January 2009

Jimmy Jib Camera Cranes can now provide a Sony PDW-700 XDCam HD camera and HD lenses – courtesy of parent company Image New Zealand Ltd.

The Sony PDW-700′s impressive feature set includes:

• Three 2/3-inch type CCDs
• High-quality four-channel audio recording
• Compact and lightweight at 9 lb 4 oz
• Dual HD/SD-SDI outputs and composite/HD-Y output
• Pool-feed input (HD/SD-SDI and composite) option
• Ethernet interface
• i.LINK interface
• HD422:1080: 59.94i, 50i
• HD422 50Mbps
• DL & SL Disc Recording
• HD422: 1080: 29.97p, 25p, and 720: 59.94p, 50p
• HD420: 1080 & 720
• MPEG IMX & DVCAM

The PDW-700 kit is available with a Fujinon HA13x4.5 BERD W/A lens or Fujinon HA23x7.6 BERD standard lens.

Links:

Sony PDW-700

January 2009

Jimmy Jib Camera Cranes now have 2 Sony PMW-EX3 Kits available, courtesy of parent company Image New Zealand Ltd.

Features of the Sony PMW-EX3 include:

- HD Recording 1920×1080

- Selectable bit rates

- 1/2-inch CMOS sensors

- Interchangeable lenses

- Solid State recording media

- Large colour viewfinder

- Genlock and Timecode

Accessories available:

- 2/3″ lens adaptor (ACM-21)

- 60gb Hard Drive (200 mins)

- extra batteries and SXS cards

Links:

Sony PMW-EX3