About

What is a camera jib? A tool for getting vertical motion shots by moving the camera up and down, also known as a camera crane.

Portable Lightweight Action Sports Camera Jib

Portable Camera Jib

I set out to make a light weight jib for GoPro type sports cameras that was as easy to set up and use as a portable tripod. I wanted to design something that every videographer would want to carry in his bag and I wanted to hit a price-point that would allow us to reach both the amateur and professional markets.

In my personal experience producing videos I have found that with a limited budget comes limited equipment and therefore limited professionalism in your footage. I have learned in striving to get that “epic” shot that sometimes a steady hand is just not enough. I am continuously working to improve my videos and constantly building and testing new gadgets to help produce better results.

You'll need an HTML5 capable browser to see this content. Play Replay with sound Play with

sound 00:00 00:00

Elev8 Action Camera Jib Unboxed by Darryl Silver at The Idea Factory

4th Generation Prototype

What Is Kickstarter?

In case you are new to Kickstarter...

Kickstarter is a crowd funding organization designed to help bring new and innovative ideas to market. People can search out new projects and pledge to contribute a certain amount to them. A project starts out with a certain monetary goal and does not receive any funding until the the goal is 100% reached. Kickstarter then gathers funds from all the backers and sends them to the project creator, who then begins to fulfill any rewards promised to the individual backers.

The Market

The sports action camera market has really blown up over the past few years. Small, lightweight high definition cameras have now been brought into the consumer market and are becoming more and more affordable. Social media sites are a hotbed for cool videos and people are shooting more video footage today than at any other time in history. There are also more aspiring videographers and film makers than ever before cropping up all around the globe.

The GoPro company alone has sold upwards of five million cameras over the past twenty-four months and there are many other companies selling great action sports cameras at even more affordable prices. If only one percent of these camera owners are interested in improving the quality of their videos we will have an incredible market for sales.

Lightweight, Portable, Easy to Use

You'll need an HTML5 capable browser to see this content. Play Replay with sound Play with

sound 00:00 00:00

Product Evolution

I built the first camera jib over eight months ago just for personal use. It worked so well I nearly didn't make the effort to take it to the next level but after having several people ask me about it after seeing me shoot footage with it I started thinking seriously about bringing the idea to market. I shot most of the promo video with the original prototype but have since added several upgrades including sealed bearings and a detachable horizontal stabilization handle.

We have tested 5 generations of product design since the inception of the action sports camera jib idea. Each design a solid improvement to a great first prototype.

Five Generations of Prototypes Tested

Production Process

There are three basic ways in which to manufacture the parts for this project. Injection Molding, CNC Milling, or 3D Printing. A single mold for the injection molding process costs upwards of $10,000.00 and if you want to make any changes in design down the road you have to make a new mold at an additional huge cost. CNC milling produces a lot of wasted material and the cost of each individual piece is much higher than injection molding or 3D printing, therefore raising our projected retail price to well over our target.

We chose to go with 3D printing using a commercial grade printer. This way we can keep more of the production process in house while still reaching the quality goals we have set. We will have a slightly higher labor cost but the benefits will be many. We will have the option of easily implementable future design changes, the ability to produce equipment on a “per order” basis, the ability to offer custom colors, and the option of using different composite materials such as carbon fiber fill, copper fill, and wood fill.

Parts Designed and Produced in the USA

Business Model

We believe in providing value to our customers with great customer service. Our business model is geared to provide quality products at affordable prices with maximum customer choices. We believe in a lean production process that is eco-friendly, leaving as little waste as possible. Our business model is to micro-produce products as they are ordered, therefore reducing initial start-up, inventory, and warehousing costs.

You'll need an HTML5 capable browser to see this content. Play Replay with sound Play with

sound 00:00 00:00

The Competition

There are plenty of good camera jibs out there for DSLR and Professional cameras but nothing made specifically for sports action cameras. There have even been a few successful Kickstarter campaigns (search "jib") for heavier duty camera jibs for full-size cameras. The pros can easily afford a $400 to $1200 camera jib but when your hobby doesn’t make you any money something like that is just out of the question. Our portable action sports camera jib bridges the gap between expensive professional cinematography gear and affordable, portable video recording gear.

You'll need an HTML5 capable browser to see this content. Play Replay with sound Play with

sound 00:00 00:00

Become a Beta-Tester

We are offering up 25 beta test units that will be delivered just after successful project funding (fingers crossed!). We want to get these out to you right away so that you can help us field test them and offer up your opinions. With your permission we will post your feedback to the project updates along with our production notes. The parts for the beta test units will be produced with the 3D printer we use for prototyping and will not be of final production quality. Once we produce the first run of jibs with the commercial printer, we will send you one of those also. We hope you will take up our invitation to join the elev8 team!

Target Pricing

Our goal is to get this product into the hands of both amateur and professional videographers around the world. We set our price-point goals accordingly. With a starting retail price of $89 USD for the basic jib I think we reached our mark. We have added in the horizontal stabilization handle as an upgrade for an additional $20 USD and choice of colors for an extra $10 USD.

Accessories

Included Accessories

Colors

Grab a reward that has choice of colors, and choose from red, yellow, orange, white, purple, green, blue, silver, or black. All plastic parts made from durable PETG filaments.

Optional Colors

The Team

-Cary Jones - Avid videographer and purveyor of SkullRush.com and Videonautics.com, inventor of elev8 action camera jib, and research and development manager.

-Dennis Gravo - Chief financial officer and business development coach. Dennis has experience as a national sales trainer and has developed two nationwide businesses.

-Dayron Valiente - Lead programmer, product development assistant, and part-time videographer. Dayron is heavily involved with product development and has won several prizes in the code writing field.

Why We Need Funding

We have been field testing the fifth generation jib for a few months now. We have fine tuned this jib along the way and now have a great product ready to go. The only thing missing is the capital to get the ball rolling and put this product out on the world market. Kickstarter is a good way to bring great ideas to light and get people involved in exciting projects. Funds from this project will help cover initial production costs and help generate interest and sales. First year profits will go back into the business in the form of marketing and research for future projects. We thank you for taking a look at our project and sincerely hope that you will join us at some level to help bring this idea to market!

Timeline

Product Design Timeline

Projected Production Timeline

Check out our Website http://elev8actiongear.com

Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/elev8actiongear