Glide Gear Jib Review!

Hello all, and welcome to our first official blog post! This post is going to be a review of a new bit of gear that we just got. A mini camera jib from Glide Gear that’s designed for DSLR cameras! Now even though this is called a mini jib it’s actually pretty big extending at just over 6 feet and when mounted on a tripod you can get some really big shots!

The first thing that can be noticed about this jib is that it is really light in weight and comes in a nifty little bag that makes it easy to transport and easy for storing away. Straight out of the bag you notice an easy to assemble jib that comes in three main pieces, all of which are super easy to put together. The first thing to focus on would be the mid-section, this is what is actually mounted on the tripod. It comes with three different sized screw holes to support different sized tripod screws (it also comes with handy little adapters for the screws in case your tripod’s snatch plate has a different sized screw). After this has been mounted on you can put any one of the other two parts on in any order you want. Once everything is attached you can move the sections back and forth to make them at the length that you want them to be at.

Now that you have it at the ideal length for your shot you can put your camera on it. It’s always important to put your camera and additional gear on first, because if you put the counterweights on first you will be faced with two problems. One, the front of the jib will be stuck high up and you won’t be able to reach it with your camera, which leaves you in an awkward position. Your second problem will be that if you put your counter weights on first and then your camera along with other gear (microphone, additional monitor or light etc) you might have to add more weights to the handle end which means taking them off anyway. So that’s why it is always good to place the camera on first and lock it into position. The jib comes with a little side platform that can be placed either next to the camera at the front or in the middle where your jib is connected to the tripod. You can mount it on the front next to the camera and put a small LED light if you want one or additional microphones. You could also put the platform at the tripod end and attach an external monitor for the camera there so you can see what you’re recording. Ideally it would be best if you had to platforms so you could do both, and additional platforms can be found online for a good price!

The one problem that I had when I first started setting it up was that it doesn’t come with any counter weights. It comes with two small weight disks that are mainly there to help hold any larger weight disks in place when putting the handle on. Luckily I had some spare weights lying around from some dumbbells and was able to use them to help balance it out. Balancing it out doesn’t take much time and once it’s all balanced out, using it is even easier. With a perfectly balanced out jib it takes very little effort from you to control it. You can easily move it up and down without having to put too much force into it.

When attached to a tall tripod this jib really offers an opportunity for many great shots. Jib shots can be used to emphasize just how big something is. Many documentary films use jib shots to reveal their subjects or to show the scale of an object at a closer perspective. Feature or short films employ jib shots in the same way, either to reveal a character or a location, as well as to send a character off. You know that scene in almost every movie where a character slowly walks away into the distance while the camera gets really high up? Well that’s a jib, or a crane, or in most recent cases a helicopter drone. But that’s a topic for a future blog post.

Either way this jib really is a perfect bit of equipment for any low budget or indie filmmaker. It works great for DSLR cameras and any small camera with an additional microphone attached to it. I highly recommend this jib to anyone who is just starting out and anyone who wants to have high production shots at a low price.

The video below is a review of the jib and it also includes some test shots from the jib along with the links to where you can buy the equipment that can be seen in the video.