Recently, my son Adam and I were hired out along with our ColorTran Mini-Crab Dolly and a 12' Jib. We were part of a three-man camera crew to film a Martial Arts Ultimate Fighting Exhibition here in Ohio. This is an actual shot of Adam filming the fighter from above the cage with the Jib. Adam is watching his filming through a monitor on the floor. The fighter is waiting for the next round to start as the ring-girl is carrying the round number above her head. Click on any image to enlarge.
Prior to the show, Adam balanced the 12' Jib-arm with about 50 lbs. of steel weight and then rehearsed our shooting angles. The Mini-Crab works great when using a long Jib.
There were a total of 12 fights (about 4 hours of filming!) that we did using Sony 3-CCD HD cameras outfitted with beautiful Zeiss T* zoom lenses. We used our Mini-Crab with a Camera Turrett 300, 12' Jib. Luckily, with the Mini-Crab's hydraulic pedestal fully extended, we just cleared the top of the cage by a couple of feet. We were stationary and the other two cameramen were handholding their rigs, one at the opposite side of the ring, the other roving near the fighters.
Photo of Adam and Greg Zaryk. Just before showtime, Adam is relaxing on the Mini-Crab. It was fun working together even though we are not fans of the ultimate fighting sport. Adam actually did most of the Jib filming including the final championship match. He's much smoother than I am in panning a high mounted camera.
I'm so amazed with how William Sargent designed the ColorTran Mini-Crab Dolly. It's so compact and versatile that it's effortless to use, disassemble and transport.
I must say, you don't know how perfect this dolly is until you've used it! It's hard to believe that it's almost 50 years old! Way ahead of it's time! A true testament to a marvelous design by a genius designer...William Sargent!
We'd like to hear your production stories using the ColorTran Mini-Crab Dolly. Please e-mail them to me at gregoryz@centurylink.net with a picture or two of the Mini-Crab in use.
That's great. I'm thinking the colortran will be our main support for our Jib from now on, much more stable and safe than the sticks we've been using.
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