ProAim Jibs - Any Good?

[Stacy Rothwell]

I'm looking for an inexpensive jib system. I want both a crane and a motorized PT&Dutch Head.

No way I can possibly afford a CamMate or Jimmy Jib....

Was looking around and see that ProAim from India doesn't have any bad ratings.

Anyone here have any experience with them and the quality of their products?

[Dave Allen]

Avoid them and all their shell companies like the plague, unless you like sadomasochism. The stuff I bought from them was junk and didn't work.

[Stacy Rothwell]

Can you expand on that? Did you buy stuff from them and have a bad experience? What was it, specifically? What do you mean by shell companies? Do they do business as other companies as well?

Thanks for the info!

[Dave Allen]

Stacy, I ordered a matte box and baseplate system from them. The rails and most components were heavily sand blasted. They apparently mishandle the parts in manufacturing, so they sand blast them to hide the crappy metal finishing. This reduced their ability to properly slide. The rails were not in alignment, so as one slid the components on the rails, they bound up badly.

The matte box was a swing way design, and the receiver hole was aluminum and too large, so the steel pin was loose, causing it to slop around. They advertised it specifically to fit my camera, yet the stages hit the microphone protrusion.

The documentation was a joke, just crappy photocopies....in fairness, my utterly superior Chrosziel matte box came with no documentation.

When I contacted ProAim about the problem they asked me to take photos of the issues and incompatibility. After they received those, they said to ship them the unit back to India and upon proof of returning shipping, they would send half back via Paypal, then upon receipt of the unit, they would Paypal back the balance.

After I sent them the proof of return shipment, the lies began. The best one was they were low on money and had no funds in their Paypal account. They continued to use sham excuses till they got the unit back unused. Then they claimed it was so old they could only refund half the amount.

Two years later and repeated posts in pro forums about this, they finally sent back almost all the remaining half back.

I talk with all the major manufacturers who complain ProAim rips off everyone's design. ProAim seems to use the same city address as half a dozen other shell company names like Came, CineCity, Camtree Hunt, etc, etc.

Some guys report they are quite happy with the products and for the cheapo price, got what they paid for and the product worked.

In my instance, any tiny little individual part for my Chrosziel matte box, when lost or damaged, I have been able to get right away from their USA rep without delay.

Since then, I have had great experiences with Movcam products and awesome support by James at 16x9, their USA rep., and although not sure about spares, Lanparte has a great price to quality ratio.

ProAim and all their other shell company names may very well have changed their sinister customer service ways, but there is no way I am willing to find out. I want to deal with a reputable company with proper North American support who makes quality products.

This guy reviewed their steadicam and it was not a glowing review:

Review of CineCity/FilmCity/ProAim Products & company ethics. Rails, follow focus, flycam/steadicam on Vimeo

[Dave Allen]

As a follow up, if you're looking for something at a low pricepoint but want better quality than ProAim, check out Weildy and their jibs, the Chinese company. I don't think they have a dutch roll head though.

[Stacy Rothwell]

Dave

Thank you for taking the time to reply to me! It's much appreciated.

I will admit that ProAim's prices sure are a luring siren for someone who's looking for a cheap Pan/Til/Dutch head with a crane. No way in heck I can afford a Jimmy Jib system or something like that.

I have used a Wieldy steadicam in the past. Still have it. Although I bought the Wieldy vest/arm for their steadicam and it broke the first time I used it. They also insisted I pay for half the shipping back to china, which ended up costing me $90.

I have purchased a ProAM (not ProAIm) jib and am, mostly, happy with it, but I really want a servo head for it as I'm going to quickly outgrow the jib without it

I'll take a look at Wieldy's offerings. thanks!

[Dylan Couper]

Originally Posted by Dave Allen

I talk with all the major manufacturers who complain ProAim rips off everyone's design. ProAim seems to use the same city address as half a dozen other shell company names like Came, CineCity, Camtree Hunt, etc, etc.

Just for clarification, Came as in CAME-TV is is *DEFINITELY* not ProAim. You're right on all other counts though. Came-TV products are quite good for the money and they're actually a forum sponsor.

I used to own a ProAim jib with remote head. The gears ground and was never smooth. The first controllor box died in a few days. They sent a replacement, it lasted 6 months or so.

Here's an interesting read.
https://filmgeartorture.wordpress.co...er-rig-review/

Recently I was curious if ProAim were as bad as they used to be so I ordered one of their cheap-ish metal cages. It seems like their quality has come up quite a bit, but I'd still have a hard time trusting them with anything electronic.

[Dave Allen]

Dylan, thanks for the info...I can't edit a post but it would be nice of the post could be edited to delete the Came name so there is no confusion with DVInfo sponsor Came TV.

[Adam Grunseth]

I had a ProAim 14ft jib with the Junior pant-tilt head for a while. It wasn't awful.

The jib itself wasn't bad. Yeah, the finish was kinda rough- But it is a tool, not a museum piece. It was actually fairly sturdy, and when balanced properly, the camera floated beautifully.

Unfortunately, setting it up and taking it down was a pain. It just took forever to fit all the pieces together, get it up on the stand, get everything leveled and balanced, then set up the monitor. On a good day, this would take about three hours.

The pan-tilt head was just weird. I'm not sure how to describe it- It was just really hard to get precise moves with it. If the dampening was set so the movement was smooth, there was too much left over moment once you let up on the stick to really accurately control the camera. If you tightened up on the dampening, the movement was jerky. It was impossible to find a good balance. The speed of the motors also didn't seem consistent across the pan-tilt range.

Perhaps if I spent more time getting really familiar with the pant-tilt controls I would eventually be able to overcome these issues, but considering the time involved with setting up and taking down the jib, it just wasn't a tool that ended up being useful on shoots for me.

[Mike Watson]

I have a Kessler jib and saved maybe 50-75% on buying a ProAim motorized P/T head instead of the Kessler one. It works pretty good but for the fact that it doesn't have a control to "center" the joysticks - so at rest, it pans/tilts veeeeery slowly. I got the soldiering iron out to fix this, it wasn't difficult. It doesn't seem like you should have to soldier brand new equipment, but on the other hand, the 75% I'm saving... it wasn't so bad.

I would buy their stuff again. Be aware of what you're reading and take it into consideration.

[Darren Levine]

Hey, that's my 'glowing' review video!

Glad to see its helped others avoid making the mistake of doing business with them.

it's your money, treat it well!