Zhiyun Crane

There is a attachment you can screw on the gimbal at the top that has a hot shoe mount. I don't have a link but I've seen it on Ebay.
 
I see the Feiyu MG V2 is already discontinued and appears to be replaced with the A2000 model wheras the Zhiyun Crane may still be on the same model? Is the Crane generally accepted to be superior? Seems to be the one most people are getting.
 
firehawk said:
I see the Feiyu MG V2 is already discontinued and appears to be replaced with the A2000 model wheras the Zhiyun Crane may still be on the same model? Is the Crane generally accepted to be superior? Seems to be the one most people are getting.
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Its because its low price and the result you get back is its outstanding.
 
Zhiyun is popular because it has superior software. Virtually all of the other gimbals use software from Basecam, so they cannot distinguish their performance from each other. The most complicated part of a gimbal is tuning the PID for each axis, which can take hours of trial and error. With the Zhiyun, this has been largely eliminated.

I don't see anything on the Feiyu website that indicates they have their own software.
 
The Crane is the only gimbal I have used that is balance and go. No stupid Simple BGC, which is a nightmare and not simple, no tweaking. Mount your camera, balance it and you can start shooting. Love the Crane.
 
Thank you puredrifting, Paul and ph2003.
I have a new unopened Feiyu MG V2 that I haven't had time to set up and use. I'm now thinking about parting with it for the Zhiyun Crane
 
Curious if it's possible to use the USB camera control cable to communication between Zhiyun Crane v2 and the Sony A7r2 camera? If so what am I missing tried to do a firmware update but that didn't help.

thanks for any help.

jeff
 
lightstand said:
Curious if it's possible to use the USB camera control cable to communication between Zhiyun Crane v2 and the Sony A7r2 camera? If so what am I missing tried to do a firmware update but that didn't help.

thanks for any help.

jeff
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i think there are a few functions that will work with that camera but i don't thin "focusing" is one of them.
 
Sony don't include focusing through the USB interface so no luck there. I will stick with my V2 as the newer "2" is bulkier and really doesn't provide anything extra.
 
david_p said:
i think there are a few functions that will work with that camera but i don't thin "focusing" is one of them.
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thanks for the response, encouraged me to try more. yes I understood that the focusing was a feature of the newly announced but not yet available larger model. To answer my own question it seems, I could be wrong, that the Crane is rather picky about turning the Crane on first then the Camera when the USB cord is attached. With the A7s(v1) I still can't get it to activate the record button but I can get it to zoom the 18-105.
 
i just got the Crane 2 today and cannot get dynamic balance on my 1DXmkII or my A7sII with its battery grip attached. both are too "top heavy.

question...are you supposed to have the camera balanced like the Ronin where it doesn't "fall" in any direction prior to powering up the gimbal? I'm thinking the answer is an absolute "yes" but don't see how i can do this with these 2 camera setups. if i take off the battery grip on the A7s then yes i can see it working but i bought this thing because of its tremendous capacity to hold more weight.

i did power up with the 1DxmkII even though it was not properly balanced but the camera all of a sudden dropped forward nearly smashing the sigma 8-16mm lens into the bottom motor of the gimbal.

i also powered up the A7sII (with battery grip on the Crane 2 and although it was not dynamically balanced it still seemed to work ok. still the 1DXmkII on the gimbal seemed to over power the motor strength.

I've been searching high and low for a video dealing with this and have not found any. i even seen the FS5 on this gimbal but "no" setup procedures.

david
 
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Cool. Zhiyun continues to lead the pack (actually, they left everyone behind with their first gimbal). The motion tracking was already available on their phone gimbals. I have the phone gimbal (Zhiyun Smooth), but have not had a need to use the motion tracking, so I don't know how well it works. It probably works ok if you don't expect too much out of it from what I have seen in the demo videos.
 
It looks like they are unloading the Crane V2 inventory due to the introduction of the Crane Plus. The V2, normally $649, is now $399 on Amazon. If you don't need the new features of the Plus, its a great deal.

I agree with Erik in his piece about the Plus, the naming of the Crane and Smooth series of gimbals is confusing.
 
Oh, my, now a Plus model. These names are chosen specifically to generate the maximum confusion possible. Next up will be an Elite that is just like the Crane 2 but bigger, then a 3 that has an angled back motor but none of the features of the Crane 2. Then they'll change the name of the company and of all their models, but without changing any features.
 
lol Samuel, it's true.

The design and function has not changed very much since the very original crane v1, most of the features being added by firmware. Yet in just over a year they've managed to "obsolete" 3 some models.

Hey, on that note, I have 3 Zhiyun Cranes at home here: v1, and two copies of v2. I am looking to sell some. They are all lightly used. Don't ask... ;) PM if you want a good deal. One of them is not even opened.
 
Ok, the naming system may not be good, but you've got to like how Zhiyun keeps inventing and putting out new product. The V2 took another $34 drop to $365.
 
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