Micro Gimbal for GH4, BMPCC, A7s - $699 USD

Graeme Meiklejohn said:
Very excited for you guys to get yours and share your thoughts. I am hoping to be flying a GH4 + speedbooster and Tokina 11-16 but I fear it may be too heavy for the motors. it would be a dream come true for action sports if that set up panned out.
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I don't think you'll be able to balance that combo. the speedbooster and lens are quite heavy and most the weight would be too forward.

My copy of the gimbal is "on truck for delivery" as of today.
 
OK, mine arrived!

First impressions after a quick and dirty balance. I mounted the Gh4 with the 7-14. Got the tilt and roll decently balanced. I have not even adjusted the pan axis. took me about 10 minutes to get the roll and tilt at a good balance. So the 50 minute set up video should not scare you. Turned it on (without pan adjustments) and flew it around for a bit. Lets just say as an owner of the Dji Ronin and Defy G5 (I will be selling my G5 coming up for a great deal) I'm pretty darn impressed with the Nebula. It works and it works quite well. I think once I get the pan balance adjusted I might just be blown away with it's performance. Then getting in to the PID should put the device over the top. But my impressions with the unit 10 minutes out of the box are strongly positive!

What I don't like are where the adjustment screws are. You will have to unmount the camera to loosen them for adjustments on different payloads. Not a deal breaker by any means.

Now I do have experience with gimbals. Those that are getting this device without prior gimbal balancing experience, don't flip out if it's not working for you right off the bat. Go and watch various gimbal balancing videos online so you understand how to do it. Like I've stated, out of the box with a quick and dirty balance I'm getting really good results and that is without a proper pan adjustment.

As for the earlier hopes of mounting a gh4 with 11-16 speedbooster? I highly doubt you will be able to mount that combo.

So far so good guys. I do not regret the buy thus far. Let's just hope the engineering holds up.
 
Very cool, thanks for the update Dustylens. As per DVX protocol I look forward to some footage of you chasing your cat, kids or dog...not necessarily in that order.
 
Gh4 with 7-14 on the Nebula 4000.

The Yaw is quite hard to balance. Its raining out but lets see if I can get something shot for you guys to look at. I do have to shoot video this week out of town and was planning on packing the Ronin, but I might just take the Nebula. The case is sooooooo small!

https://vimeo.com/113445521
 
Good news, Dustylense, I am relieved. Mine came today also, haven't unboxed it yet, and since I don't have any gimbal experience, I won't be a good judge of it. I don't normally stick my neck out on being a first user, but I needed it for a job this Saturday, so took a chance. The Sony RX10 is my first mount.
 
Kraut69 said:
Good news, Dustylense, I am relieved. Mine came today also, haven't unboxed it yet, and since I don't have any gimbal experience, I won't be a good judge of it. I don't normally stick my neck out on being a first user, but I needed it for a job this Saturday, so took a chance. The Sony RX10 is my first mount.
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K dude. I think the RX10 will mount. Watch some balancing videos online (and the nebula one of course). Don't stress too much on the pan balance. Just get the tilt and roll close and you should be good. You will find that seeing the monitor is not as hard as it looks online.
 
Dustylense, yeh, the pan balance doesn't look real workable, there are only 3 positions. In the video they show they got it right, but none of the three positions work for me at this point in my learning curve.
 
Kraut69 said:
Dustylense, yeh, the pan balance doesn't look real workable, there are only 3 positions. In the video they show they got it right, but none of the three positions work for me at this point in my learning curve.
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Just set it the best it can be and concentrate on the tilt and roll axis.
 
amosrafaeli said:
dustylense do think there is a way to work with the tilt motor on the right side
and than open the LCD screen?
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probably not. I don't have too much issues seeing the screen though. But they should have designed the gimbal with the tilt motor on the right side. It's not a deal breaker though. In all the videos it looks like the monitor is obstructed, but you can see what you're filming more than it seems.

I don't think people should get hopes up as if this gimbal is going to compete with the Movi or the Ronin. You are going to be limited to the camera and lens you put on it, whereas the Movi and Ronin have lots of flexibility. This gimbal will really only take light lenses upfront as there is just not enough space for a front heavy lens to get a decent balance.
Now I love my Ronin. It can fly all sorts of configurations. I bought this Nebula for the times where I want a quick motion shot without having to break out the Ronin. I didn't expect nor do I expect it to perform like the bigger gimbal. But then, I didn't expect the Nebula to perform as good as it has in my first few power ups. I would love if DJI made a pocket gimbal like this with a some more refinement and their software.

What I do like about this gimbal is that once packed in the case you can fit it under a car seat. I didn't think it would be this small. On a scale from 1-10, when you consider what it is capable of I give the gimbal a solid 8. The Ronin I give a 9 only because it is heavy.

Looks like my shoot is going to be rained out this week, so I should be able to upload some samples of the gimbal in the coming days.
 
I can't claim I have my RX10 balanced optimally, but I have worked on it for a long while. At the moment the main problem is that I am getting occasional downward jerks on the right hand side, even though the roll axis seems to be well balanced. Can do this downward jerk like 5 times in a row. I did both the acceleration calibration and gyroscope calibration steps.--Dont reply yet, I think I have found the problem, the thicker cable looping through the horizontal member was sticking out in too big of a loop on the back side of the member, and rubbing slightly against the vertical member. I pulled the cable toward the front of the unit to remove the offending interference, will see it that helps after rebalancing.--edit, yes that was it, my two hours of frustration with an odd mix of shakes is over and it is moving silky smooth now, I am a happy camper.
 
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yes, make sure the cables are tucked in and not obstructing the flow of the gimbal. Any minor interface will toss the gimbal off. This is where the Dji Ronin excels. I've bumped the thing into my knee so many times and still got the shot.

essentially, imagine lines intersecting through all three motors (X, Y, and Z). The dead center of gravity of the camera should meet those intersecting lines. You can find a cameras center of gravity by balancing it on a pencil though X Y and Z. It's a tough gimbal to perfectly balance as some of the screws are tough to get to. If you can just get the camera to not lean to a side or forward or back you should have a decent balance to give good results. It the camera moves softly in a certain direction, close but not perfect, you should be able to get nice steady shots. Just try and get the pan axis as best as the gimbal allows.
 
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I'm very impressed by the fact that both of you, one with experience with gimbals and one without any, are so happy with the results. My DIY thing is working a lot better than it was, that's why I haven't pulled the trigger on the Nebula, but this thing is getting more and more tempting.
 
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