3D Print A Miniature Camera Crane For Your Desk

In this eight-minute video, the creative mind behind Mechanistic shows how he used a 3D printer to create a tabletop "Micro Jib."

Capturing product photos and video in small workspaces can be a tedious process without the right gear, but acquiring some of the higher-end tools needed can be very expensive and out of reach for most creatives. As such, many turn to solutions at home that are more approachable, customizable, less expensive, or some combination of the three.

Shooting on a tabletop setting seems pretty straightforward and easy until you have to change camera angles and positions for different shots. When using full-size tripods and boom arms, making adjustments can be pretty cumbersome and time-consuming, where having a jib or crane would make things much quicker and easier to capture more dynamic and exciting shots. Spotted by Hackaday this mini version was inspired by Ivan Miranda's 3D printed crane but takes that design and scales it down so that it can fit right on top of most household tabletops.

The crane's main arm can pivot along two axes around the base and uses a parallel bar design to keep the camera orientation constant through its vertical range of motion. It has an adjustable counterweight on the opposite end to offset the weight of whatever camera system you attach as well. The mount for the camera provides an additional three degrees of movement and can even be used to adapt a smartphone holder for casual or on-the-fly needs. According to Tang, every axis of rotation can be locked using thumbscrews to ensure each component is secure.

Tang says the system can hold a maximum weight of about two kilograms (about 4.4 pounds) based on his stress testing over a period of three months, meaning it is highly suitable for most new mirrorless systems and DSLR systems with appropriate lenses for the situation. The entire video above, for example, was recorded with the Micro Jib using a Sony Alpha 7S III with a 16-35mm f/4 lens, which proves the system is incredibly functional and still has a variety of unexplored use cases.

Those interested in 3D printing this kit for themselves can purchase the STL files for $39 here, and the assembly instructions can be found here in a PDF guide.

#doityourself #equipment #3dprint #3dprinting #cameracrane #crane #desktop #diy #jib #microjib #youtube

Mini Camera Crane For Your Workbench

If you've ever tried to document a project on your workbench with photos or videos, you know the challenge of constantly moving tripods to get the right shot. [Mechanistic] is familiar with this frustration, so he built a small desktop camera crane.

Heavily inspired by [Ivan Miranda]'s large camera crane, this build scales it down and mainly uses 3D printed parts. The arm of the crane can pivot along two axes around the base, uses a parallel bar mechanism to keep the camera orientation constant through its vertical range of motion. The camera mount itself allows an additional 3 degrees of freedom to capture any angle and can mount a DSLR or smartphone. To offset the weight of the camera, an adjustable counterweight is added to the rear of the arm. Every axis of rotation can be locked using thumbscrews.

We can certainly see a crane like this being useful on our workbench for more than just camera work. You could create attachments for holding lights, displays, multimeters, or some helping hands. For some tips on creating an engaging project video check out [Lewin Day]'s excellent video on the subject.

#digitalcamerashacks #toolhacks #3dprinted #cameracrane #photography #videography

3D Printed Camera Crane For The Workshop

When you make a living building stuff and documenting the process camera setups take up a lot of time, breaking expensive equipment is an occupational hazard. [Ivan Miranda] knows this all too well, so he built a fully-featured camera crane to save his time and camera equipment. Video after the break.

The basic design is a vertical mast with a pivoting camera mounted to the end. The aluminum mast telescopes for increased vertical adjustability, and rides on a plywood base with caster wheels. The aluminum pivoting arm is counterweighed to offset the camera head, and a parallel bar mechanism allows the camera to hold a constant vertical angle with the ground. Thanks to the explosion of home gyms during the pandemic, gym weights were hard to find, so [Ivan] used an ammo can filled with sand and screws instead. A smaller sliding counterweight on top of the arm allows for fine-tuning. [Ivan] also wanted to be able to do horizontal sliding shots, so he added a pulley system that can be engaged with a clutch mechanism to keep a constant horizontal angle with the camera. Most of the fittings and brackets are 3D printed, some of them no doubt on his giant 3D printer.

We can certainly see this crane meeting its design objectives, and we can't help but want one ourselves. [Alexandre Chappel] also built a camera crane a while back which utilized a completely different arm mechanism. As cool as these are, they still pale in comparison to [[mingul]'s workshop-sized 8-axis CNC camera crane](https://hackaday.com/2019/09/17/speed-up-filming-with-this-jawdropping-8-axis-camera-crane/#comments).

#digitalcamerashacks #mischacks #camera #cameracrane #ivanmiranda #tripod