Kessler Pocket Jib Traveler Review

I wrote a post about the Kessler Pocket Jib Traveler when it was announced and having ordered one at the time I’ve recently taken delivery of the product so I thought I’d pass on my initial thoughts about it now that it’s in my hands.

As you can see from the image below the folded up Pocket Jib Traveler is around the same size as a Manfrotto 055CXPro tripod, and at only 5 lbs in weight it’s not much heavier either.

One of the things that strikes me about this little jib is just how well designed it is, so many details have been considered in order to make it as portable as possible whilst being a single part. There are window cuts in the metal work wherever possible to keep the weight to a minimum, it really does look and feel like a well engineered product.

The camera mounting plate folds around the main assembly when packed away and is secured in place with a velcro strap, there’s also a mounting point for the clamp that keeps the counter weights in place so that it doesn’t get separated from the jib.

The base allows the jib to be mounted either directly to a flat tripod top or to a ball type attachment for use with ball head designed legs. The base also has additional threaded holes each side of the main mounting point to allow the new Kessler Mini Plate to be directly attached for use with Kesslers Kwik Release System.

For my initial setup I decided to mount the jib directly to the Manfrotto tripod shown above, this would make a really portable solution although is not going to be as rigid as a heavy duty tripod or dedicated support like the Kessler K-Pod.

The pocket jib traveler is basically folded in half to be transported and in order to make that possible Kessler have designed an articulated hinge that allows the two parts to be wrapped around the main pivot point.

The first stage in setting up the jib is to release the velcro strap at the top and then open up the two parts.

The hinge mechanism is then lined up to allow it to be slid inside the main body of the jib.

   

Once the hinge is inside the main box section the two parts are locked in place with the most rearward locking knob. I found that under load this joint has a small amount of play which results in the two parts of the jib not staying perfectly straight, it doesn’t seem to effect the operation of the jib though.

With the two parts secured together the gib is starting to take shape, next lets move on to the camera mount. The camera plate is flipped over and then secured in place with a spring loaded pin.

 

The design of the camera plate is interesting as unlike many jibs the arm pivots in the centre of the plate. Many similar products have the camera plate hanging to one side on an L shaped bracket. This design is more complicated but according to Kessler allows for better weight distribution. It does throw up some small obstacles though, I’ll talk about those a bit later.

The front part of the jib is extendable by loosening locking knobs on both the upper and lower arms and then sliding the inner parts of each out. There are indented positions along each arm where the knobs should be secured to keep the camera plate level as the jib is raised and lowered. The image below shows the front part of the jib fully extended and locked off.

 

Next we move on to the back part of the jib. Again the arm is extendable and is locked of with a locking knob.

 

 

The extended part is the required diameter to support small weight lifting style weights, there are also cut-aways to allow weight bags or other items to be hung from the arm to act as a counter weight. So that’s the main parts together, here’s a couple of shots showing the jib fully extended ready to have a camera and counter weights added.

 

Next I mounted the camera to the jib. I used a Kessler mini ball head and a Miller mounting plate to attach my C100 to the plate.

This is where the centrally mounted plate throws up a bit of a problem. When the arm is up there’s plenty of room around the head but when the arm is dropped lower theres not much room between the mounting point and the arm itself. This will effect the style of camera that’s going to work with the jib. I suspect the mounting plate was designed with DSLR’s in mind as they are fine. My C100 was also usable on a mini ball head but any cameras with longer bodies and forward mounting points are going be a problem as the arm will hit the camera body. The solution would be to use a taller mount or one that moves the camera forward.

Here you can see that the C100 comes very close to touching the arm when lowered.

Next I added the counter weights, the included clamp holds the weights in place. I found 3 x 1KG weights to be a good start for the C100, although with the rear arm fully extended they were slightly too heavy. Ideally the jib needs to balance perfectly.

 

This is where the extendable part work well as it’s then just a case of pushing the arm back in until the jib balances nicely.

The pocket jib traveler features two friction / locking points that can be adjusted during use. There’s a knob on the right side of the main pivot plate to adjust the friction of the up and down movement and a lever above the tripod mount for locking the side to side movement.

First Impressions
Using the pocket jib traveler for the first time I noticed immediately that it requires a steady hand.  I found that trying to control the camera as you would a larger jib by holding the rear weighted section resulted in a lot of side to side wobble at the camera end.. Tightening the vertical friction knob as much as possible helps stop some of that so it’s important to set that as tight as possible but keeping the camera steady still requires a gentle touch.

I found that the best way to use the pocket jib traveler was by standing next to the tripod at the mid point with one hand on the back half and one on the front half of the jib. This stabilises the movement a little although it’s still a challenge to keep things perfectly steady through the move, it really comes down to how gentle and precise you can be in operating it so it will require some practise.

Standing beside the tripod I thought it would make sense to use an HDMI monitor so I rigged up my SmallHD DP6 but then realised that there’s nowhere to attach it, it would have made a lot of sense if Kessler had included some threaded holes on the left side of the main pivot plate.

Although it’s fairly short as jibs go, the travel distance of around 6 ft seems useful, the tripod height can always be adjusted to provide the optimal starting position and again like sliders it’s surprising what can be achieved with minimal movement.

Kessler says the product can support cameras up to 10 lbs and I’m sure it’s physically capable of doing so but I found that as the camera and counter-balance weight increases so does the challenge in stopping the camera from wobbling from side to side.

In my opinion the Kessler Pocket Jib Traveler is best suited for use with DSLR’s. The heavier C100 and C300 can be mounted and used with care but something like the regular 22 lbs Kessler Pocket Jib would provide more stability if transportation wasn’t an issue.

At $599 I feel the Kessler Pocket Jib Traveler offers very good value, it’s ideal for DSLR shooters and with careful use can also handle heavier cameras. Ultimately this is a 5 lbs jib that you can carry in a backpack or a suitcase and as such could get the job done when a larger system is not a practical option.
In use
I’ve just completed the video below for Harley-Davidson, as you’ll see the Pocket Jib Traveler shots are used throughout. Working with the jib was great, I used two water bottles as counterweight for the C100 and carried everything around by myself.

The most challenging shot was one shown at the end of the video as I carried the jib along with my miller tripod and C100 through a crowd of thousands on the beach watching Status Quo perform. It was dark by that point too so I had to use the light on my iPhone to see the camera but the results were worth it.

Where to Buy?
The Pocket Jib Traveler is available directly from Kessler for $599.

9-4-2013 – Note: content updated (reworded)

12-4-2013 – Update:
I took the Pocket Jib Traveler to a shoot in London yesterday and will post some of the results as soon as I’m allowed to. The shoot was a hard start for the PJT as it involved tracking the camera past small objects fairly close to the lens so any wobble was easy to spot. I was able to capture some useful shots but it was hard work and often took multiple attempts.

My advice would remain as stated above, if you need to travel and cannot take a heavier jib with you then having the Pocket Jib Traveler will give you the ability to get a jib shot, but if you can manage something bigger and more rigid then I would take the heavier jib as it will be much easier to work with and you’ll achieve steadier results with more ease.