This is my first attempt at building a jib. It was actually constructed mostly from scrap material without having a previously thought-out design.

The head is a gravity-actuated, self-leveling type, and it also provides a degree of freedom allowing the camera to pan. The camera can tilt up and down if its direction is parallel to the boom. The axle of the boom is a 1" diameter wood peg or dowel. The base is only 5/8" thick MDF with no stabilizing beams, so it's not as sturdy as it could be. It has two fixed casters and two swiveling casters for mobility. The counter-balance end of the boom can be weighted with sandbags to make it easy to raise, lower and steady the camera without an assistant.

More pictures will follow. I have to scan several production photos from the shoot for "The Snack." This image is obviously a screen capture from when I ran out the last few feet of film in the other camera I was using. Additional photos and full-sized versions of these photos are here in my gallery.

Click here to watch the film that was made using this jib.