Building an Inexpensive Camera Jib for under $30.00
After I had made a couple of library videos, I was finding myself thinking about new camera angles. Wouldn’t it be nice to get a high shot looking down on a subject or how can I pan from a high vantage point to eye level. A camera jib is the answer. A jib is nothing more than a camera on the end of a pole that pivots. Think of a seesaw with a camera on one end. There is a difference because the camera lens needs to be able to stay pointed towards the actor, but you get the idea.

There are a number of really great examples of people who have built their own camera jibs out on the Internet. A search on YouTube will pull up a number of tutorials. Indie Mogul on YouTube has created a great video tutorial on how to build a jib for about $25.00. I liked this so much I decided to put it to the test to see how long it would take and if I could do it for about $25.00. I have made some slight alterations but again, like the steadicam, I have stayed true to the original design.


Parts List

3/16 cotton rope. This is generally used as a clothesline. I could only find it in 50-foot length.
Four 2 ½” L brackets. These are also called corner braces. They generally come in packets with screws.
Two 2 ½” x ¾” corner plates. This also will generally come in a packet with screws. If you cannot find these you can substitute two L brackets.
One ¼” wing nut and fly washer. Make sure that the wing nut is threaded the same as the bolt you are purchasing. This will save a trip or two back to the hardware store.
One ¼” x 3” machine screw
One packet 1 ¼” #6 Drywall screws
Four eye screws
Two 5/16” lock nuts
Two 5/16” lock washers
Eight 5/16” x 1 ¼” washers
¼” t-nut.
Two 5/16” x 3” hex head bolts
Two 8 foot 1” x 3” pieces of wood
¾” piece of plywood. I already had this but there is no need to purchase an entire sheet of ¾” plywood. Most hardware stores will have smaller pieces available for you to purchase. You are going to be cutting out a 7”x 7” square and then a 3” x 12” piece. So you just need a one foot square piece of ¾” plywood to get these two pieces.


Tools:

A roofing square will help us get a nice right angle.
Tape measure, ruler and pencil
Ratchet with ½” and ¼”sockets
Vice grips or pliers
Drill with #2 Philips bit, 1/8”, ¼”, 5/16” drill bits, ¾” paddle bit
Saw
I used a table saw but you could use a circular saw or a handsaw.

Putting it together:


Cut out your 7” x 7” tripod mount from your ¾” plywood. You are going to need to find the center so the easiest way to do this is to draw a line from corner to corner. Once you have found the center, drill a ¾” hole through the middle. You are then going to countersink the t-nut. Use the ¾” paddle drill to do this. Do this slowly and carefully.


Now drill the hole and loosely place the t-nut in the opening. I repeated this until I thought it was going to be flush with the other side of the board. You are going to have to take into consideration the prong height. This is the part that is going to connect to your tripod. Before you go any further, go get your tripod and test that this board connects correctly. The pencil marks indicate the top of the board.

Now take a look at your two 8 foot length 1x3 boards. Pick the straighter of the two and put it to the side. You will need it later. On the remaining 1x3 cut a 7” piece and then cut a 21” piece and connect these together using three of the drywall screws. I always pre-drill and I used the 1/8” drill bit to make some guiding holes. What you have done is to create the vertical upright to which the jib will connect. You can see in the photo how I have used the L brackets to connect the upright to the 7”x7” plywood board. Now drill pilot holes for connecting your L brackets.




1” from the top of the upright, pre-drill a hole using the 1/8” drill bit for the eyebolt. Now go ahead and screw in the eyebolt.

Measure 10” down from the 21” piece and place a mark. This point is where your jib arm is going to connect to your vertical support. Make a mark on your other eight foot 1”x3”, 2 feet from the end. Now with a 5/16” drill bit, drill through both pieces of wood. You are probably going to need someone to help you.










If you are doing this solo, then just drill the holes separately as it will be easier. So now you can attach the jib arm to the vertical mount. So in this order: get your 5/16” hex bolt and put a fender washer one of the 5/16’ by 1 ¼” and then thread it through the jib arm. Then two more of the washers are placed on then thread the bolt through the vertical mount. The add another washer, then add your lock washer and then put on the nut.





As you can see from the photos, I purchased a bolt that was not threaded completely to the end so I just cut another piece of 1”x3” and placed it between the vertical mount and the jib arm. Now tighten this up, but not to tight as you want to have movement



At this point it should look like the photo to the left. Now we are going to build the part that is the camera pivot arm. Cut an 18” piece from your remaining 1”x3” and make a mark 1” down from the end of this piece. Drill a hole at this location and add another eyebolt. On your 8 foot jib arm, measure 5” down from the end. This is where you are going to attach the camera pivot arm.










Drill a 5/16” hole. Now measure 10” down from the top of the camera pivot arm and drill a 5/16 hole here. Now follow the same washer configuration as we did to connect the jib arm to the camera pivot arm. Get your 5/16” bolt, add a washer, then screw it through the camera pivot arm and then two more washers and then thread the bolt through the jib arm. Add another washer and then a lock washer and then add the bolt and tighten.
Now with your remaining ¾” plywood cut a piece that is 3”x12”. This is going to be the platform where you mount your camera. Now measure 2” down from one end and drill a 3/4 “ hole. Now take your L-brackets and attach the camera platform to the camera pivot arm. Now get your rope and tie it to the camera pivot arm and the front and then thread it through the vertical arm eyebolt.


The camera mount needs a little more explanation. Once you have attached the camera mount, you need to attach the camera to the mount. Get your ¼” bolt and then attach the wing nut upside down and wind it down to about the half way point on the bolt and lay the washer on top. Then thread the bolt from the bottom and attach to the camera. Now tighten the wing nut. This will push the washer up against the bottom of the camera mount while securing the camera on the mount so it won’t wobble around.



So here is the finished result. I made some other additions that I found helpful. I drilled a 5/16” hole at the end of the jib arm and attached a weight. This helps move the arm smoothly. I also attach another eyebolt at the bottom of the camera arm and attached another piece of rope. This gives me more control pivoting the camera and getting the correct angle.

The 8-foot arm does wobble a little because it is made of wood, but far less than you would think. Another downside to this design is that you do not have a monitor to see what your camera is filming. That being said, I love this jib arm and you can get some amazing shots. The whole process took about 5 hours.