DJI Ronin-S VS. Zhiyun-Tech Crane 3

M

Mark-P

Well-known member
I want to get a gimbal for a A73 to use with various lenses, including some longer lenses. I do not know much about gimbals, does anyone have any thoughts between these two DJI Ronin-S VS. Zhiyun-Tech Crane 3? I might want to add a field monitor at some point, not sure if I should, I might want to add a on camera boom sometimes. It seems the Crane 3 has a large capacity weight limit. Other then that, what else makes one better than the other?

Thanks.
 
Mark-P said:
I want to get a gimbal for a A73 to use with various lenses, including some longer lenses. I do not know much about gimbals, does anyone have any thoughts between these two DJI Ronin-S VS. Zhiyun-Tech Crane 3? I might want to add a field monitor at some point, not sure if I should, I might want to add a on camera boom sometimes. It seems the Crane 3 has a large capacity weight limit. Other then that, what else makes one better than the other?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Personally I have never used the Crane 3, only the Crane 2 and I own a Ronin-S and have owned and tested many single hand gimbals in general DJI has much better build quality and much better app functionality which together pretty much put it in a different class than anything else out there. Zhiyun and Moza etc all come out with a new gimbal every few months with very slight improvements but their overall app functionality and calibration and tuning process and build quality are pretty poor despite the incrementally higher specs and designs. In a year you'll have a Crane 3 which will be replaced by a new slightly better model that drops the value of yours exponentially, or you'll have a Ronin-S which was a steal for the price and still probably won't be replaced by anything else then.
 
I had a chance to play with the Ronin S the other night at a party, someone was shooting with the 5D MK IV. Nice but too big and heavy unless you need the weight capacity. Strong motors but the thing is a beast as far as weight and size. Every extra ounce will tire you that much quicker when free holding a device away from your body. People who fly FS5s and C200s on these things are crazy, it will tire you out in about :45, then you get shakey, then the gimbal is fighting the micro jitters. Not the right tool for a heavy camera. And if your rig is lighter, I would advise a smaller, lighter gimbal. I like the Ronin-S, I just wish it was a lot lighter and bit smaller.
 
Are those the only two gimbals you are interested in? I'm doing
a review of another gimbal which is similar (back motor out
of the way of the screen, 7lb plus weight carrying capacity
but significantly lighter gimbal than the Ronin S.)
 
nyvz said:
Zhiyun and Moza etc all come out with a new gimbal every few months...
Click to expand...

As if on cue...

ZHIYUN WEEBILL LAB Hands-On Review
by Matthew Allard

https://www.newsshooter.com/2018/11/13/zhiyun-weebill-lab-review/

Only tried a Ronin-S briefly during CineGear, & it did feel a bit hefty, but what I like is it’s part of a system that’s expandable, & supposedly dual-handles are coming.

That said I’m still sporting a Crane v1, & not planning on replacing it in the near term, mostly because it get’s much less use than when originally purchased. Gimbals are great for some shots, but I typically prefer the handheld look, much like I prefer hand-pulled zooms to servo’s.

Would love to be able to pull focus with the gimbal, & that may eventually lead to picking up a replacement.
 
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I've rented both recently and tried them with my 5d and my C100. The Ronin handles the C100 pretty well, it is heavier but I found it easier to control.
 
alaskacameradude said:
Here's my review I was talking about if anyone is interested
https://alaskacameradude.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-great-camera-accessory-in-akthe.html
Click to expand...

Nice! I haven't even heard of this gimbal, good review. I just ordered the Crane 2. I have the Crane 1 but need more weight capacity and the controls on my Crane 1 are going out.
I tried the Ronin S, great gimbal but too heavy for my needs, I'll be moving from a fairly heavy DSLR to the Fujifilm XT-3, nice and light so I think the Crane 2 is a better choice for me.

I don't really get or care about focusing knobs, Zooming, apps and all of the other frou-frou, I simply mount a camera with DAF or decent AF/Face Recognition like the Fuji has and shoot.
For me, gimbal is kind of like better handheld, small, subtle moves, tripod shots without setting up a tripod, an occasional follow talent shot but for me, gimbal is just an extra, only used on
about 20% of shoots because I only like to move the camera when there is a storytelling reason to move it. The constantly moving/roaming camera aesthetic generally is horrible and I hate it.
Most of that is from people who have a gimbal and think that it should be used for every shot and don't understand visual language.
 
Got my focus unit today. I find it quite incredible when I think about it:

4K60p to internal compressed raw, in a light composite body with a huge screen that you can speedboost to around 1.22x crop equivalence and put on a powerful, one hand gimbal with motorised focus for $2300! Add lenses and media.

What the effin' hell?!? Oh, and it includes a studio license to a world class NLE/Color Grading/Compositing/Audio app....

RSF_1.jpg


RSF_2.jpg


RSF_3.jpg
 
Neat rig! I'd get a printed or machined focus gear for that lens to tidy it up a little more.

How well would it balance with a small lens mounted matte box to keep light off the front element?
 
The ronin-S focus motor doesn't add any wireless focus capability does it? I guess maybe you can control it over bluetooth through the app? I guess you can do that with native lenses on the blackmagic IOS app as well without any motor... Any benefit to it over the upcoming Tilta Nucleus Nano? Being able to mount the focus wheel on the rig or give it to an assistant seems like a great option. Does seem like a nice setup if can always get away with pulling your own focus, especially with that big sharp bmpcc4k screen.
 
puredrifting said:
Nice! I haven't even heard of this gimbal, good review. I just ordered the Crane 2. I have the Crane 1 but need more weight capacity and the controls on my Crane 1 are going out.
I tried the Ronin S, great gimbal but too heavy for my needs, I'll be moving from a fairly heavy DSLR to the Fujifilm XT-3, nice and light so I think the Crane 2 is a better choice for me.

I don't really get or care about focusing knobs, Zooming, apps and all of the other frou-frou, I simply mount a camera with DAF or decent AF/Face Recognition like the Fuji has and shoot.
For me, gimbal is kind of like better handheld, small, subtle moves, tripod shots without setting up a tripod, an occasional follow talent shot but for me, gimbal is just an extra, only used on
about 20% of shoots because I only like to move the camera when there is a storytelling reason to move it. The constantly moving/roaming camera aesthetic generally is horrible and I hate it.
Most of that is from people who have a gimbal and think that it should be used for every shot and don't understand visual language.
Click to expand...

I was just having this discussion with someone. He wanted to mount an external
monitor (because he couldn't see to focus on the tiny built in screen) and an
external follow focus (so he could focus while watching said external monitor)
and so on. Of course then you need the dual handle attachment because now
it's heavy and you might as well just bought a full size gimbal and put a cinema
cam on it. To me, I just want something small and light, that has very strong motors
and gives smooth footage. Then I'll just use a small camera (dedicated gimbal cam)
that has good autofocus, there are tons of DSLRs or mirrorless cams that will work.
Currently I'm using a cheap A6500 with Sony emount lenses and the autofocus is great.
Besides you are usually using a pretty wide lens when on a gimbal anyways.

I also discovered what you are saying with 'small subtle moves.' Unless you
are tracking a moving subject, even walking pace is often too fast. And
walking pace is kind of what you default to with a gimbal, you tend to want
to walk with it. That's one thing about sliders, even a 24 inch one gives you
enough travel to add a little motion to a shot and they are easier to do subtle
motion with. With a gimbal you have to 'rewire' what you think is going
to look 'natural' and slow down. More than I realized until I started looking
at my footage in the edit bay. Still gimbals are easy to set up (compared to
track or even slider) and you can use them for all sorts of shots when you need
a little motion. I think they are amazing tools now that I own one but I
do have to work hard at being subtle with it, kind of similar to my drone.
It adds to the production value of my work but it doesn't become the main
body of your work either, just adds a 'dash of flavor' if you will.
 
Greg_E said:
Neat rig! I'd get a printed or machined focus gear for that lens to tidy it up a little more.
Click to expand...

=) Yes, this was day one—at least I've trimmed it down a bit now. But I agree: perfect is perfect.

Greg_E said:
How well would it balance with a small lens mounted matte box to keep light off the front element?
Click to expand...

Front heavy isn't a problem. It allows you to place the camera farther back where it's easier to make side adjustments, as the P4K is pretty wide and bumps against the Ronin on the camera's right side if the front is too light (unless you offset the camera to the left with an additional plate or cage).

nyvz said:
The ronin-S focus motor doesn't add any wireless focus capability does it?
Click to expand...

No, I guess it was made specifically for the Ronin-S with one person operation in mind. I can see how investing in a more universal system is a better choice for some, but in fairness, I think this is one of the smaller and cheaper motors out there: $169 for the whole kit including rods, mount and cable. And the wheel on the Ronin-S is very smooth. It's also very easy to setup virtual hard stops.

Hmmm... I wonder if it can be programmed with the app for time lapses? Haven't checked that...
 
So one thing that really ticks me off is when using the Ronin-s is that the latest Panasonic firmware update for the GH5/S has disabled the ability to both control the camera/focus through the PC Tether AND see the video output via the HDMI port. In other words, you can now only have one or the other, not both.

To clarify, if you're using the PC Tether and HDMI output, both your viewfinder and LCD screen go black with all the obvious ramifications to clean HDMI monitoring or external recording.

Before the latest firmware update, you could control focus/stop AND monitor via HDMI. Now you have to choose. I just discovered this today out in the field, having not used both together in a few months. Verified on the DJI forum.
 
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