The Aviator Travel Jib is basically a collapsible, light weight mini crane. It has a maximum length of 6 feet and a load capacity of 6lbs, yet when Folded up the Aviator Travel Jib is only 24 inches long. Designed with light weight cameras in mind, It’s basically the crane equivalent of the Konova slider, small, simple, and a handy way to add the production value of motion to your shoot.

Because I do most of my traveling in a compact car I’ve held off on buying a large camera crane.  If it’s longer then 4 feet I don’t really have room for it. Sure I could upgrade to a conversion van, or drive around a hearse but frankly, my little Nissan Versa is the right combination of economy and subtlety when traveling with large amounts of camera gear.

With a starting pledge of $299 the Aviator Travel Jib is a little more then the price of some large camera cranes. But if you’ve ever gone shopping for tripods you know that lighter, more compact units are always more expensive then larger heavier units. I think that’s the trade off here. If you have 8 or 16 feet of space and don’t mind carrying around 24 pounds of crane parts, then your money might be better spent on a larger heavy duty jib. On the other hand if you need something that’s light weight, compact and easily portable, then the Aviator Travel Jib is defiantly something to check out.

The $299 backing level will get you the crane only, but for an extra $100 (the next backing level) the kit includes the Aviator Travel Jib with fluid pan base, padded bag, mounting hardware, bubble levels, and ballast bag. I liked the idea enough that I backed the kickstarter project last night. Hopefully there are enough people like me in need of a light weight crane option to get the project fully funded. As of this writing the project is nearly halfway funded, so there is a pretty good chance the Aviator Travel Jib will meet it’s goal.

For more info on the Aviator Travel Jib check out the kick starter page.



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