what 3-axis gimbal to get ? first time user

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gutterball321

Well-known member
I have been putting off getting a gimbal for a while because i remember dave dugdale saying a new one would be coming out towards the end of summer I believe. Not sure which one he was referring to but I am ready to go ahead and get one. I need one with a good battery life, good pan/tilt without making it look too obvious its remote controlled and can easily hold my gh4 and a sigma 18-30 lens. (may even be upgrading to the a7rii or the heavy a99ii). So what are some options and anyone have preferences in the $800 price range. Im willing to go up or hopefully down if the options arent much different.

any input on what to stay away from and the better ones out right now?
 
I've been using the Zhiyun Crane, it is quite nice. The only draw back is it's weight limit is 1200 grams, which means your GH4, no problem but the bigger mirrorless, probably not, at least with heavy lenses. I am using a Canon 80D and a very light Canon 10-18 IS STM 4.5-5.6 lens. It sells for $600.00 if you hunt around. Super easy to use, battery life is amazing and none of the fine tuning, needing to download extraneous calibration software BS that a lot of the gimbals have. I took delivery from Amazon one night, late delivery, I was shooting a piece for Dancing with the Stars the next morning that aired, clients were very happy with the dance rehearsal footage I shot with it. It's well made, has a longer handle which most users kind of dig, it gives you a lot more options and flexibility than a short handle. If you can live with the weight limitations, I highly recommend it. if not, the Letus Helix Jr. or the Ronin M are both great too but double your budget or more.
 
My Nebula 4000 was great when I got it, but it's outdated by now, there are better options out there. And that Zhuyun Crane sounds great.

An a7S II with FE 16-35 f/4 weights 1145g, so the ZC should be OK (it's not ideal to get so close to the limit, but it should work). With the Batis 18mm or 25mm, it's around 960g. If it works well and doesn't need any fiddling with settings, that ZC might be what he's looking for.

One thing to consider: the bigger problem with these things, rather than payload, is whether you can set up the gimbal with a heavy lens. Not all gimbals allow enough adjustment to get it centered. Same if you want to use a quick release plate (which I definitely do). How is the ZC in that respect?

Edit: reading this thread right now
 
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With the Crane, I am using the Canon 80D and mainly the Canon 10-18 STM IS lens, which is a pretty light lens. With battery, card, variable ND filter, the camera and lens, I am right around 1150 grams. I would personally not go over the 1200 gram limit unless my movement was very conservative. The 80D is back about 50% of the way on the mounting plate, using the middle hole in the plate. I also just bought the Canon 24mm 2.8 UMS pancake lens, I think it will actually be better lens to use as far as how the Crane behaves but the FOV of 24mm on an S35 lens is not wide at all (38.4mm?) so probably best for trying to get gimbal CUs of faces sort of shots. Just like on a Steadicam like device, on a gimbal, wide, wide angles look the most impressive generally, especially if you are running and gunning and don't have the time or possibility of blocking your shots.
 
which was the gimbal that had a button to lock focus onto a person for an interview, then wherever you moved it aimed the camera at that person to keep the interviewee on camera?
 
gutterball321 said:
which was the gimbal that had a button to lock focus onto a person for an interview, then wherever you moved it aimed the camera at that person to keep the interviewee on camera?
Click to expand...

All of the gimbals I have used (Osmo, Crane, Ronin M, Ronin) do this, very common feature.
 
thanks for the input guys, looks like the Crane is sounding like the best for under $750? How does the ds1 beholder and pilotfly stack up?
 
Do you like messing with balance and software settings? Or would you prefer to just take your gimbal out of the box and have it work perfectly? Those are your choices. If you like to tinker and play with settings/third party software, DS1 or Pilotfly. If you want to take your new gimbal out of the box and just go shoot, Crane. At least that's what the reviewers say, I have not tried the Pilotfly or DS1 but watch the videos rom Mr. Cheesycam and other popular You Tubers. The others are good products but the software needed to fine tune both is third party and requires PC (we are a Mac shop) and looks faily complex to me. The Crane comes with an App for your phone for some fine tuning, if you want but it just works out of the box too.
 
(simpleBGC does the setup from a phone for my Nebula 4000 so I guess it works on the DS1 and Pilotfly too; it's still a special kind of painful hell, though)
 
Whatever gimbal you choose be sure it utilizes encoders. AFAIK Beholder's DS1 does not, but their newer EC1 does. The Crane also uses encoders.
 
That puts you at about 1400 grams with body, card, battery, Tokina 11-16. I wouldn't do it. Unfortunately if you want to use a DSLR on a gimbal made for small and light mirrorless cameras, you are stuck with medium speed primes like the EF-S 24 and 40mm 2.8 pancakes, or slow zooms like the 10-18 STM IS, etc. Fast zoom lenses are heavy, that is a fact of physics. Wish Canon made a 16mm 2.8 pancake lens. I have the 28mm 1.8, it's 310 grams so I can use it with the 80D and stay under weight. The 10-18 STM IS is only 240 grams, for once, I like the cheap, plastic mount.
 
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