Q. How does the camera attach to the crane?
A. The camera will mount by way of a standard thumb bolt (included) that is located in the center of the camera basket.

Q. How does the crane attach to the tripod (others require a special plate to attach)?
A. No special plate is required. You will simply bolt your tripod shoe to the crane's center pivot plate with the supplied bolt. Next, place the crane on top of your tripod so that the shoe lines up with the shoe pocket and lock into place.

Q. Are there holes in the side of the crane to allow cables to exit (for Lanc and S-video)?
A. There are no preset holes for wires but the frame of the crane is made of hollow Aluminum rectangular tubing that is open on the camera end, so it would not take much to run your wires down the tubing. You would be required to drill an exit hole for your wires to come out of the end. I myself use Velcro straps (included) for quick setup and tear down.

Q. How hard is it to set up the crane (how long does it take)?
A. The Kessler Crane® (KC-8) will show up at your door per-assembled but in (2) two sections. All you will have to do is lay out the front and rear sections on the floor and bolt them together with the (2) two supplied 3/8" bolts. Next, bolt the two control rod sections together with the supplied Ā¼ā€¯ bolt, attach your tripod shoe to the pivot plate, and lock into your tripod. The last step would be to attach your camera securely to the camera basket and add your counter weights so that the crane is perfectly balanced. The total set up normally takes less than 10 minutes.

Q. Can your crane pan? Can the camera pan independently from the boom?
A. The boom/crane itself CAN pan left to right provided that your tripod head will turn/pan left to right. The camera itself CAN NOT turn/pan left to right independently from the boom with out the use of a MOTORIZED PAN/TILT HEAD. You will find that this feature is not needed in most cases.

Q. What movements can this crane make?
A. You can do the FOLLOWING movements

• Boom up and down
• Camera tilts up and down
• 360 boom rotation (left to right)
• Fixed camera angle up and down -Automatically keeps the camera level or fixed angle no matter how you move the boom up/down left or right
• Variable camera tilt / independent camera movement. You can move the camera up and down when ever you want no mater how you move the boom
• DUTCH ROLL- By placing he camera sideways on the basket and positioning the boom parallel to your subject you will be able to start out with a level shot and roll the camera up to 80 degrees in one direction and 30 degrees in the opposite direction

Q. Can you mount a Fluid head on the camera basket?
A. Yes, in fact, if you mount a fluid head to the end of your crane you can position the tilt/pan lever of the fluid head forward so that you can operate the camera from the basket end of the crane. By operating the crane from the camera end of the boom you will be able to produce beautiful fluid walking/tracking shots as if you had your camera on a tracked dolly.

Q. Your cranes seem to be the best I have seen. Why are they so inexpensive? Are they as good of quality?
A. Our cranes are often built to a higher level of quality over other cranes. The reason our competitor's cranes are usually 2-3 times the price is because they sell through retailers/ dealers, so they have to set their price much higher to accommodate the chain of sale and make their distributors and retailers money. Kessler Crane„¢ at this time only sells direct, thus keeping the overall price to a minimum.

Q. What type of tripod can I use your crane with?
A. I recommend a medium to heavy duty trIpod. Try to find a tripod with an all aluminum fluid head. Trust me when I say that a fluid head will control your shots by dampening your movements, and give you a very professional shot.