20 Best Handheld Gimbal For Gopro (2023 Updated)

To Know: Opening possibilities for filmmakers and content creators in almost any situation, Ronin-SC was built to go anywhere. Magnesium and aluminum construction, along with high-strength composite materials provide robust performance at just 1.

1 kg. With a modular, quick setup design, Ronin-SC can pack neatly in limited spaces and be carried with ease. Even in action-packed scenes, Ronin-SC gives a perfectly stable shot. Sport mode improves the sensitivity of each axis while continuing to maintain stabilization, making Ronin-SC more effective in fast follows, sudden motions, and complete changes in direction.

What We Love: LIGHTWEIGHT The Ronin-SC is lightweight enough to pack away for long trips with your mirrorless camera used for content creation. UNLIMITED PAN AXIS An innovative framework elevates camera payload above the roll axis, keeping the camera’s built-in display free of obstruction.

DETAILED PERFECTION The buttons are easy to reach for every essential control. A flared battery grip makes extended holding easier and slip-resistant, letting you capture moments throughout the day. The Details: Brand: DJI Product Type: Gimbal #photography #techie.

It worked great for a few months. then my phone updated to android 12 now going on 2 months its nothing but bluetooth connection issues making all the special features unusable. My wifes phone uodated to android 12 too and does the same thing.

The app. go check out the android app store and search for it. it doesnt exist. you have to sideload the apk to your phone which is absolutely unacceptable. if it cant be approved for the app store then it probably has some sketchy issues.

I bought this for my ze-e10 and now we are 4 months post release and DJI shows no signs of supporting it. Its been a long time since we’ve seen a firmware update. DJI support will tell you to reset your phone which is a giant hassle that doesnt work especially when you have multiple phones to test on.

As far as my experience goes, it appears this gimbal is abandoned by DJI, I wouldn’t but it in 2023.

Using with Sony A7C and Tamron 17-28 and Tamron 28-73. Have to rebalance if change lens. Have not tried a longer lens. If balanced with A7C screen closed then flipping out the A7C screen stresses the motors but not enough to force automatic shutdown.

For me this is not a one hand device. Have added a handle grip accessory. That item adds weight, but trades off for ease of handling and carrying. Also, the handle has cold shoe mounts allowing me to put the phone on the handle, not the camera for panorama and timelapse.

I was patient and watched YouTube how-to-balance videos to see what non experts did to get balance through trial and error. Buttons and joystick favor right hand operators. Usually I am too involved monitoring the camera view to look at the SC buttons and lights.

I am learning to operate the SC by feel. When setting up for a session turn on the SC before turning on the camera; else I get cable errors. Prefer to use the SC to reduce shake over Sony IBIS and Catalyst.

Have not had the opportunity to video fast action, only slow walks, slow pans and slow “diagonal” tracking. Still doing trial and error with when to use ninja walk. For my expected use of stationary slow pans of landscape, large indoor rooms, and slow moving trains, airplanes, water craft, the SC may be a good tool at the right price.

My mom bought this as a birthday gift for me about 6 weeks ago because we were about to to on our cruise destination wedding with 50 friends and family members. We used it every single day on the trip and absolutely loved it.

It was very user friendly, I went from knowing nothing about using it to being extremely comfortable with it just from using it for hours a day. One of my absolute favorite things about it is the ability to help charge your camera.

While using it, your camera will pull battery from the Grip. I was pretty impressed with the battery length and how easy it was to just plug in the Grip to charge, with the camera still attached, and it would charge up both the Grip and camera all at once.

If using the Grip regularly, I’d recommend getting a second Grip battery instead of spending money on extra GoPro batteries. We passed the Grip around to different people and found that people loved using it.

I haven’t had time to review all of the video yet, we took over 100 GB of video, but the clips that I did review were pretty great. I’m only recently getting into video so I’m not very experienced but found this to be easy to use and it really helped the quality of the video we took.

It was easy to carry around and I found that a lot of time, I hardly realized I was even carrying it and taking video. Unlike holding a camera or a non-gimbal mount, you don’t have to put much thought into being careful of shaky video.

That being said, you can see some sway back and forth when you walk but no ‘jiggle’. Unlike some reviews, I didn’t notice the motor sound on the recorded video. I didn’t hear it at all, maybe because of all the background noise of our surroundings? Overall, I highly recommend this – even if just using it for family videos to look back on.

It’s extremely easy to use and makes a huge difference in video quality.

Ever go to show friends and family GoPro video of your amazing vacation or activities only to watch them become quickly disinterested and mildly nauseous from the shake and jitter in the video? The Karma grip turns amateur video cinematic, changing the game when it comes to documenting an adventure.

I use this product as much as I can when filming, but it is not suited for all environments. Despite my love for this product, it has some problems. hence my reluctant 3-star review. Pros: – Silky smooth, cinematic video – Seamless integration with GoPro ecosystem – Quality build and feel in the hand – Protective case Cons: – Cumbersome – Architecture chooses to charge Gopro at all times draining the non-replaceable Grip battery quickly.

– The more video you take, the slower the product takes to turn on. After a few days of filming the product becomes unusable depending on SD card size and remaining memory. (“USB Connected” screen on camera holds for minutes before Karma Grip loses control over the camera) – Cannot be used in very wet environments without concern for damage.

– Motor noise can sometimes be heard in the video. – First time plugging it into PC bricked the Grip. Needed to follow a manual firmware download process to fix the unit. The product needs a bit of work.

but does what it says, and does it well. I recommend the product but look forward to software updates from GoPro.

Pros: Very good stabilisation compared to other gimbals in the market. The GoPro integration is really useful, being able to start and stop the recording from the Gimbal is by far one of its best features.

I must say though the Video quality is outstanding and feel I can use the gimbal on the roughest of terrains without compramising quality. Cons: Because the gimbal is rechargeable but doesn’t have a removable battery it does mean long filming sessions would require you to buy a Power bank so you can charge on the go.

The other thing is that the audio quality when using the Hero 5 Black is comprimised as you can faintly hear the motors and the plastic case cover the microphone. I found the best best solution was to buy a voice recorder and lapel mic and put the audio with the video in editing although it wasn’t the most ideal fix and did mean that I forked out even more money to get decent Audio.

I was concerned about buying from a supplier in Hong Kong but everything went to plan, arriving pretty quickly. I purchased the item for an upcoming 12 day motorcycle trip to the Pyrenees and to improve quality of my hotel and landscape GoPro shots.

I didn’t use this every day but I was impressed that the battery was still 25% charged on my return. Really enhanced my Vlogs. As I already own several Go Pro’s, so my only caveat would be that. gimbals are on the way out IMO.

now, with the GoPro Hero7 just released, small and offering amazing stabilisation. check that out before deciding!.

I had to send mine back! The stabilization itself is very good but all the mic on the go pro picks up is the sound of the gimble motors. If you want this for action footage that you want to put music over then its great but if you want this for filming people and picking up there voices then is no good, unless youre prepared to buy a decent external mic.

Having made my own little holiday films, this Gimbal helps to make your shots really smooth, having only made a short test clip, Im really impressed how it works and how smooth the footage looks, Im sure the results of our next adventure will look even better and an end to unusable clips that are too poor looking.

Ive given 5*s as its the best price Ive found anywhere on the internet and it really works well.

Easy to set up. Although messy to fit the SJ4000 camera (similar to GoPro 5/6) as the screws need to be fully unscrewed from the retaining bracket – fiddly for us oldies. Operation is very smooth. No additional calibration was needed for perfectly level horizon from first power up.

The stabiliser options are easy to understand and use. Especially good is the joystick for small adjustments to the ‘centre’ position. Coupled to the ‘hot key’ press button for instant return camera to centre, it’s a joy to use.

So far haven;t noticed any noise from the motors picked up by the camera mic, however it does not get extreme use. 1/4″ mount on side of handle for an additional mic or light is a good option. Big battery of 4000mAh will prove useful.

Clear indication of battery charge. Also the telescopic handle has proved useful already to get over the crowd. Haven’t used the quality mini-tripod yet but can see it’s function for the future. Performs as well as competitors which cost three times as much.

Supplied with a sturdy hardcase, too. Highly recommended.

I have tried several wrist bands but this one beats the lot! I like its ability to show me incoming e-mails, WhatsApp and bank notifications on my wrist. The display is the brightest I have seen and easy to read outside in daylight, unlike the others.

Also, the battery life before requiring recharging is excellent. With the Huawei Health app already being on my Huawei phone, it was very simple to set up. It is interesting to note that the app is also available for iOS devices.

In brief: Very highly recommended.

Good quality product, comes in a nice case and a mini tripod. Doesn’t seem to work well with the design of the Gopro hero 5 due to either the on button being blocked or if turning it the other way around, the charging door being blocked.

This speaks more about the design of the Gopro rather than the gimbal. Also bad electromagnetic interference with the sensitive Gopro mics even with soft/firmware upgrade. Had to change to Wind settings on Gopro to fix it, even though no wind.

Not ideal for audio quality. Again Gopro weakness. Gimbal works perfectly with cheaper Akaso camera though.

The quality and functionally was a surprise considering the price. Significant stabilizing effect. Recommend this product for those wanting good results, but not wanting to spend a great deal of money.

I brought this for my university daughter. She loves it. It monitors her sleeping patterns. Reminds her to get up from the desk and move about. Most of all it motivates her to do exercise. I also got my son and me one too.

Love it.

I would give this 4. 5 out of 5. 0 stars if I could. I bought this to take stabilized moving video clips with my Sony a7iii in conjunction with photography, using a tripod and hand held shots. I really love how compact this is, which makes it much less of a hassle to bring and use than the Weebill-S.

It worked well enough to balance with my largest lens, the Tamron 17-28 f2. 8, and with a Synco A2 receiver in the hot shoe. I liked that there is a dial on the front that I could program to adjust the horizon, since that sometimes drifted.

The light with the color/brightness adjustment came in handy when I was going into a cave. The gimbal arms were not large enough for me to rotate the handle out from under underneath into a underslung position – which was expected and not a major issue for what I was trying to do.

I only experienced 2 situations where there is room for improvement. (1) I wish this was Arca-Swiss plate compatible. I often have a Peak Design plate on my camera so I can mount it back and forth between a capture clip on my backpack strap when I’m hiking and on a tripod.

However, having to swap out the plate for the Zhiyun M3 plate every time I wanted to use the gimbal was a hassle. I found myself leaving the camera mounted on the gimbal instead and just hand holding the entire set up, or mounting the gimbal onto the tripod if I wanted to take a stabilized or timed shot.

This wasn’t a major issue while hiking, but in a more urban setting, I would feel very self conscious about keeping the gimbal attached if I wanted to just take photos. (2) There have been a few times lately where the gimbal has oscillated wildly in the roll axis, despite appearing balanced when I set up the camera.

I’ve reset the settings, which often seems to fix the problem, but it makes me suspect that the touch screen is often accidentally getting activated and that settings are unintentionally being changed.

I wish there was a lock switch on the screen. Otherwise, it’s great for me – a video/photo enthusiast doing run-and-gun shooting.

I would give it 5-stars but I took a star away because it’s good but not 5-star good. The power of this gimball Is ok. I use this with a Sony zv1 inside a ulanzi cage with the 50mm lens mod and if I use a Ride video micro, it has just enough power to work it.

I am not super impressed with it’s power but it does have weight limits for a reason so there is that. I’ve used the built in LED light for low light product videos and it works perfectly (especially when used with area lighting).

This gimball looks pretty nice to the point where regular folks assume my rig setup using this gimball “must be expensive”. I also like all of the operating modes of this gimball. I’ve used this with my zv1 in the cage, GoPro Heros 9&10 and my Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ phone in a phone mount and all worked flawless (GoPro’s have the 1/4″ thread base mod allowing me to use the mount this gimball came with).

I initially had problem with battery performance with the Type C to Multi-C cable which, was constantly charging the camera and was also too short. But thanks to their excellent support team, I found a work-around.

The transmount Bluetooth controller that is being launched and the camera controller attachment that already comes with the Pro model make this a perfect gimbal for my Sony A6600. You can also use the other Bluetooth remotes like those from JJC, Sony etc.

if you do not want to use Pro model. I have owned a DJI Ronin before and I can say that I had a far superior experience with Zhiyun in terms of both the product and especially their customer service.

I highly recommend it.

I had to return this from it vibrating randomly right out of the box. There is two other things to think of when buying this. ND filters: If you want to use ND filter like the Freewell style that push onto cam house over lens, you won’t be able to use them due to there mounting system.

Water Proof: Here’s a big one to think about. there’s always going to be a chance with it getting wet, spend a extra $40 and get Feiyu G6 gimbal. I’m, not sure if the ND filters will fit on this one,but it looks like it.

This product is very good

Truly impressive! This gimbal is very easy to set up. Super light, perfect size for traveling with a small backpack. Awesome and sturdy product, lightweight but strong enough to hold camera and phone devices.

The feature I like most is the built-in light and quick attaching filters, those make vlog shots more professional. Charging time and runtime are excellent. Overall great performance, a gear MUST have for a run-and-gun filmmaker.

A+ product, worth every penny!.

This gimbal is AMAZING! It’s compact, lightweight easy to carry around. Really easy to set up with no brain pain! Great features with build-in LED light which good for low light environments. Also it’s fast charging and more runtime compared to others.

Love this little monster! A MUST have for Vlog professionals. Very happy with this purchase, definitely recommend it.

Love the look and the bag it comes in. My only concern is in the calibration for an iPhone 13 pro max. The crane does not seem to be able to support my device with accessories as well as I had hoped.

I would recommend going with the M3 instead just bc of this inconvenience. Without lenses and a cage on the iPhone the M2s is able to handle the iPhone just fine with few automatic shutdowns during recording sessions.

Didn’t really want to buy this product. I don’t want lots of camera gear and I like simplicity ( just wanna stick camera in pocket and need nothing else ). I now realise I won’t leave home without it anymore.

It’s a nuisance of course , an extra piece of kit , that I’ll have to carry in a bag , it won’t fit in your back pocket etc etc. but when you look at your footage later , you’ll notice that you have less of a headache watching them.

After you’ve made a few videos , take a look back at your previous videos ( the walkabout with camera type videos you used to make ) and you’ll notice just how bad they were. You didn’t notice at the time , but the shakiness is really obvious now.

in fact , they’ll start to irritate you. So to anyone thinking of getting one of these , just do it. I promise you, you’ll be so glad you did. There are many videos on YT that describe all it’s functions etc , so I won’t waste time with that here , but suffice to say , I have had it for a week , made a few videos and that battery still hasn’t died yet.

Don’t hesitate. for this price , it’s well worth it. you only live once.

Quite impressed with this gimbal for times when I want to use the Gopro in modes and at resolutions that arent supported by the Hero 7s excellent electronic stabilisation. The compact nature of the gimbals mechanism does limit movements which means you have to watch for it clunking on other arms or the main body if youre attempting dramatic POV changes.

But the key to this is just having a play about with it to accustom yourself to its limitations. Fitting the GoPro in it is a bit fiddly. That aside it is easy to use and seems to me to do its job perfectly at an incredibly cheap price.

I would have no hesitation at recommending it.

I purchased this Gimbal about three weeks ago, I managed to get the pro combo version for 329 direct from Stationery Packs UK, I highly highly recommend you hold out and buy the pro combo version when the price reduces again to the price I paid, as it works out like 10 more than then standard version.

At the 329 I paid for the pro combo you effectively get over 100 of extras for free. Because even if you dont hook up the full follow focus I think its called system the side wheelcontrol thing you get with the pro combo version can be used as an electronic focus device in selected cameras, meaning you dont need to touch the camera to zoom check DJI website for comparability when the camera is connected to the DJI Ronin SC with the included usb to multi cable for Sony cameras, usb c to usb c for other cameras, for cameras with standard usb B connectors there is an a usb b adapter in the package.

Onto packaging and build quality, as you would expect from DJI if youve owned any of their products before, watched reviews or seen unboxing videos. They tend to copy apple in their packaging. The item comes in a grey carry case made out of the same material use in push bicycle helmets, a form of hard abs foam, over that is a sleeve with the poducts picture and information etc etc.

Apon opening the carry case the gimbal and its components extras are all secured nice and tightly so not much more I can say about that, just they would be secure in their to transport without jangling around The Gimbal itself is relatively light when you first pick it up, I have been using it with an RX100va so a very night small camera and after walking around with it for say twenty minutes if holding in one hand my arm gets very tired, so I recommend leaving the stand feet on the gimbal so you can use it with both hands, it does make it bigger of course but offers better stability and as I said fatigues you and your armarms less.

The really great thing is all of the axis lock so when you are transporting it outside of the carry case so in a backpack for example the gimbal isnt banging and crashing around its all locked into a neat package, you can even leave the camera on the gimbal in a backpack without fear of the camera swinging around.

So far in my opinion battery life seems good, the longest periods Ive probably used it is going for an hour walk and then trying some b roll filming at home, so after a few hours use it had only dropped one bar of battery.

Usability there is a resonable amount of customability when you use the gimbal in conjunction with the app, you can use the gimbal without the app but it wont be optimised and annoyingly like all DJI products you need to activate it via said app.

Once you have balanced the gimbal which takes a while to get right you turn it on connect it too the app and you can do a balance test and then do an auto tune. Now importantly all the YouTube reviews Ive seen bang on about how amazing the auto tune feature is, however Ive found it has limited benefits With two different cameras my old Nikon d5000 and my rx100va I have done the auto tune and on my occasions I have found the gimbal suddenly starts violently shaking and I get red warnings on the app and find the motors automatically shut off.

My immediate thought was the gimbal is faulty however having gone into the motor parameters on the app under auto tune, I eventually found out after experimentation the auto tune is setting the motor strength too high for example at 58 for pan which is just too high once I lowered that to 3540 the shaking shuddering problem appears to have stopped.

Another slightly irritating thing I have noticed, its probably my inexperience at using gimbals is I kind of expected to just be able to pick this up go for a walk and it to point dead forward until I move it updown, leftright however I have noticed it keeps pointing slightly downwards so I have to constantly use the joystick to slightly point the camera back up slightly.

The only way I have thus far rectified this is by holding the button at the front to lock the position of the gimbal, however then the camera is free to move on its own axis so the camera then keeps moving left or right I am continuing to work on this via the settings on the app changing the deadspots and the motor speeds which do help to an extent but I am still finding it frustrating, as I look back at footage and keep finding the camera is moving leftright and down not just facing straight forward.

It appears when one is walking with this or Im guessing any other gimbal you need to keep your hands perfectly straight and still and walk in a straight line otherwise any movement will make the camera pan or tilt.

Hopefully Ive explained that okay sorry its long winded. To finish the gimbal does feel very sturdy and well built, its packaged nicely, the battery life from my limited use is good. The app gives lots of creative options like the 360 inception roll which is just fantastic, you can also plot up to 5 way points so say the gimbal is on its feet on a table or a tripod.

You can set upto 5 waypoints for the gimbal to automatically move to, you can set how long it takes for the gimbalcamera to pantilt to each point and how long it will hold at each point before moving to the other, which is fantastic super helpful The camera has the force mobile option so you can use your phone to control the pantilt etc by tilting your phone etc.

I dont tend to use this as I find the camera gimbal go all over the place and dont interpret your phones movements very well The gimbal has active track when the gimbal is connected to the app and the camera connected to the gimbal This can be very useful if your a solo creator and need the camera to follow you without a camera man.

Please be aware though its very difficult to balance cameras on this gimbal with a phone attached with the included phone holder and importantly it limited how far down you can tilt because the cable connections from the gimbal to the camera hits the roll axis arm of the gimbal.

Dispite its limitations the active track can be a very useful tool for solo videographers. I havent yet tried the time lapse and motion time lapse on this gimbal but if and when I do I will update this review If anyone would find it useful I may do a video review for YouTube covering everything I have discussed above just with visiaul demonstrations Generally from my limited use I intended to keep this gimbal so long as the shaking and shuddering does not return and continue.

I would definatly recommend this gimbal too you to buy, just I must say if you intend to use this with a small camera like the Sony RX100 series you will need a cage or something else ontop of th included rises to be able to balance the camera otherwise it is too light for this gimbal Definatly recommend as long as you consider the points I have made above and get the pro combo at the reduced price of 329 or less.

I have used this gimbal one time since I bought it and I have come across a lot of issues related to the machining and build quality of this product. Issue 1 Carbon Fiber Dual handle grip- When I’m screw on the gimbal to the bottom of the dual handle grip I have movement no matter how much I tighten it.

Issue 2 Gimbal Handle- When I used the gimbal handle for the first time the rubber grip slide up and is now covering up the Joystick and function buttons. I tried to slide it down but it wont. Issue 3 Versatile Arm- The machining to attach the versatile arm onto the gimbal is off.

I can only screw one side to attach it to the gimbal Issue 4 After using the gimbal one time I had the pan lock quick slider just fall out and now I’m not able to lock the pan axes. Like I said in the headline.

I do love how it works but I’m very disappointed in the overall machining of this product and would like a better copy.

It’s a great gimbal. It’s surprisingly light and able to carry a lot of weight. My only complaint is that the arms are a little difficult to adjust when balancing. They get a little stuck and it’s hard to be precise.

But that’s not too big of a deal.

Bought my first gimbal after watching several reviews of similar products. I’m glad I decided on the Feiyutech AK4500 as it is a really strong gimbal and has advanced features. I’ve enjoyed using this and being able to get some great videos.

I definitely recommend this gimbal to anyone looking.

First of all, this gimbal does its main job really well: it keeps a heavy camera very stable (I have EOS R5 with the 24-105mm lens). The remote control works, at least for the EOS R5 using the USB-C cable.

The remote control is very limited, you can click the shutter or turn the recording on and off in movie modes. There is no remote for any of the wheels so you can’t, for example, change the aperture.

At least with my camera, the USB-C cable also charges the camera battery from the gimbal, which is (a) undesirable because the camera battery actually lasts longer and (b) sometimes hangs the camera so I can’t turn it off or do anything at all with it, I have to remove the battery every time it happens.

I started disconnecting the USB cable when not using the camera for more than a few minutes, otherwise, the gimbal batteries run out very quickly. The only minor inconvenience is that the included lens support is too short for cameras with included or attached battery grip (I 3d-printed a longer one).

The problems come when you want to take the camera on and off or switch between vertical and horizontal. The camera attaches with a quickplate and a longer plate, but the quick-mount uses the long plate.

This means that if you want to switch between the gimbal and a tripod, you can’t: the quickplate is standard but to free it from the long plate you have to unscrew two mounting screws. Also, the balance of the tilt axis is lost when you remove the camera unless you remember exactly the distance where you mounted it (there is a scale on the edge of the plate, so it’s possible to restore the position fairly accurately).

To mount the camera vertically, you again take off the camera with the long plate attached and mount the plate on the side arm of the gimbal (at which point, the lens support stand is entirely useless as it’s sticking from the side and supporting nothing).

You have to rebalance the gimbal between vertical and horizontal: in general, no position of the roll axis will work for both (tilt and pan should be ok).

Excitedly pulling the case from it’s box, the trapped air loudly breaks wind back at you, mocking your purchase. It is a harbinger. Once constructed, you begin to get an inkling that something isn’t right.

The feeble electronic menu winking from the distant past perhaps. Or the battery cover that refuses to lock correctly, its designers no doubt smirking at the thought of you turning around a flat object over and over like a confused toddler, attempting to reason with yourself that surely it must fit somehow.

The slow trolling of your mind continues as you realise that there isn’t a power button. There is a red switch that does nothing. Other buttons labelled with letters. Finally you submit to YouTube and endure endless review videos until you finally find one showing a person switching on The Crane, zooming in and squinting at where you must press.

Sure enough it is an unlabelled small dot surrounded by meaningless letters, like a cypher. It glows blue, the universal colour of refrigeration or the emergency services causing yet more confusion. Is The Crane now ‘on’? Unfortunately it is.

But once power is finally achieved, your problems have only just begun. Attaching a camera, you plug in the accompanying cable (in my case to an FX6) and your device halts in USB mode, refusing to communicate.

Unable to take the hint from your own trusted technology, you must press on through this madness. When finally you lift the contraption, you realise it has been designed for some kind of cyborg with unlimited arm and back strength and two horrifically-sized hands – one of a 5 year old child to hold the puny tripod grip, the other that of an ape to handle the enormous protrusion you are supposed to steer this thing with.

Sadistically angled towards your body, it offers no support at all, rather a constant feeling that you are falling backwards, a waking nightmare come to life. As your muscles begin to register that you are under unusual physical stress, you instinctively lower the machine and hold it like a briefcase.

This is far more comfortable, and perhaps reveals a sinister motive behind this design : a worldwide conspiracy to force every video ever shot to be from the point of view of a cat. As you realise you have used this ‘flying cats view’ on a job only once before in your life, you raise the contraption to waist height to achieve an at least useable frame.

You soon give up though, and try once more to film at eye level. Instantly the device again mocks your puny arms, along with the inability of your wrist to bend like rubber, so grimacing with pain you place the device on any flat surface close-by before reviewing the results.

Now your soul yearns for a time machine, to take back your foolishness at being lured by photographs of the strangely enticing Crane. The footage bounces – not in rhythm with your cumbersome shuffle, but completely independently, the resulting footage nodding back at you with glee.

This is because the default motor settings are factory-set to their lowest, so that any mid-sized camera – the exact type that this thing is supposedly made for – will suffer from this. Only those willing to download the accompanying app to their smartphone or navigate the myriad menu system will possibly be able to deduce this.

I stared at this nemesis for a day and a night, as if by studying it I would be able to work out it’s hideous riddle. I even searched for vests and support arms that would help me wrangle The Crane. It seems that they are out there, coming in at the princely sum of around one thousand dollars.

At this point, on the very brink of madness and a bottomless financial pit, I pulled back from the edge. Why was I doing this? Let others arrive on set dressed as if in a reboot of RoboCop. This was not for me.

I don’t know why it is for anyone.

I had already ordered the DJI 3 combo gimbal stabilizer, but it wasn’t going to be in on time, so I purchased this stabilizer the day before I needed it to shoot a music video. It was a spur-of-the-moment, last-minute option.

It was honestly a lifesaver for that day, as the footage would have been WAY too amature for my liking if I hadn’t used the gimbal. LIKES: Beginner friendly Easy to use for the first stabilizer I’ve tried Offers better footage than handheld, and is still able to make professional-looking shots.

DISLIKES: Axis Locks: I had quite a bit of trouble with them. they would randomly lock and wouldn’t cooperate while I was shooting at times which made it difficult to get the right angles and get the shot how I wanted it.

Setting Up: It was quite confusing to set up at first to get it balanced, but after a couple of YouTube videos, I was able to figure it out. Shaky: After viewing the footage on my computer, some shots were still a touch shaky.

I needed to put a stabilizer on the footage in my editing program to help. Payload: It can’t hold a real large camera or lens, just an average size, and the balancing point was a bit awkward at times.

There are others that have a second holding bar, which would definitely make it easier to use. If you do video footage here and there as a hobby and need a little bit more professional quality than a tri-pod, I would recommend this gimbal.

It’s worth having if you want that level above most. However, if you are looking to be more professional and use it in your career, I’d recommend upgrading to a DJI. I am looking forward to getting my DJI stabilizer.

I’ll write a review after using it and trying it out.

Zhiyun makes solid gimbals for DSLRs such as the flagship Crane series. I was hoping that the Crane M2 would follow its larger cousins’ footsteps and be just as functional for my Sony ZV1. In short, the design and performance was lackluster with the ZV1, which is within the size and weight of what the Crane M2 was marketed for.

Balancing was a pain as the plate for mirrorless cameras had very rough balancing. No quick release for the camera itself. Once balanced decently enough and the unit is calibrated, it operates like any other Zhiyun Crane.

however it’s not able to keep itself from getting jitters while walking. So the motors are pretty weak. All in all, it would be a solid choice for smartphones but is a weak choice for point and shoots/ mirrorless camerass.

Very fancy! Upon taking it out of the box I could feel the quality of the materials. I didn’t mean to buy what the brand considers to be a professional grade product (on their website) but I’m happy with it.

It’s not their newest model, so optimized for iPhone 12 and older, with rounded edges. However the phone grip still works fine with the square edge of the iPhone 13. I have the pro max and it’s too big for the grip with the minimal case.

It feels vulnerable to have my phone naked in the grip and is really hard to balance. The product works perfectly with my GoPro though. It’s all about balance and counterbalance. I didn’t expect to need to use that part of my brain when buying a gimbal!.

The Zhiyun Crane M2 is one of those perfect hard to find, smaller, yet powerful stabilizer. Let me explain. Many of us have smartphones. I mean BIG, oversized smartphones. Unfortunately most small stabilizers can’t handle the weight.

Some of us have smaller APS-C Mirrorless cameras or action cameras. Unfortunately most smaller APS-C cameras lack good stabilization or don’t have it at all. That’s where the Zhiyun M2 comes in. Its not big.

It’ll handle larger smartphones and smaller mirrorless cameras and action cameras with ease. It’s rated for payloads between 130-720g (. 28-1. 5 lbs) This range covers most larger smartphones, action and mirrorless cameras.

If you have an compatible device, Zhiyun even has an App that will also let you control your camera or smartphone too. It’s almost a perfect gimbal stabilizer. Good ergonomics, good battery performance, good features, All for a reasonable price.

If you want to take your video stabilization to the next level, get the Zhiyun Crane M2. It’s available at your local Best Buy for same as internet pricing.

First thing first: Make sure your payload is light/compact enough to work in the constraints of this. ——————————————— I’ve tried a few gimbals in the past, but always have up on them because they were overly bulky for the amount of use I needed.

This one hits a great balance of price, size and performance. Here are the setups I’ve tested; Fujifilm X-E4 w/ 16mm f2. 8: Balances better than the setups below since it is vertically much smaller. Functions well overall and feels like a good pairing to this gimbal.

Fujifilm X-T200 w/ 16mm f2. 8: Works mostly, but you can’t perfectly balance due to the height of the “prism” at the top. Issues prop up at very extreme angles and high speed/erratic movements. Fujifilm X-T20 w/ 16mm f2.

8: Very similar to experience w/X-T200 above. Used for B-roll for a wedding and had overall a good experience. Fujifilm X-T4 w/27mm f2. 8: Similar to above experiences, but the overall weight exaserbates the issues.

The 27mm lens is likely the only lens light enough to work with the X-T4 in any near-reasonable capacity.

I use the Crane M2 with my RX-100 when walking and shooting video and it does a great job at stabilizing the shots. It took a long while to get the buttons on the Crane to control the camera. The YouTube videos said this was automatic – it is not.

Also, the crane will not charge when plugged into my computer USB ports. It only charges when I use an adaptor plugged into the wall. That’s odd. I actually returned my first Crane because the battery would not charge.

Finally, balancing the camera on the crane was relatively easy and for this task the YouTube videos were a big help.

Boy has the price gone up on these! If Id known this was coming I would bought a hundred back when they were $40. Its like the stock market. Seriously though, I love my Solos. STILL. And I want equally to love this gimbal.

Honestly though its difficult to do so. Having owned close to a half dozen of these with only one fully working unit left , Ive come to the conclusion that there must be some inherent design flaws, or perhaps its just not protected enough.

Its been a long time since I had a hard landing and even longer since an out and out crash, but new flyers starting out will learn quickly that even the mildest of bumbs can send one of these gimbals into spasms if your lucky.

If youre not, they will break. Easily. So my First word of advice is if youre just starting out flying leave the gimbal off. Learn to fly manually and particularly how to land. Can you get that down add the gimbal.

When its working it works beautifully. When combined with the 3-DR solo controller and a good Ground Station app the shot options are limitless. And it Will deliver top grade cinematic footage. Albeit not like a RED camera will.

but definitely usuable professional grade footage. Im hoping that with the advent of OPEN SOLO and the evolution of ardupilot , green cube etc. that soon we will have other gimbal options available. but in the meantime this is the only choice we have.

Or is it?.

I bought it six months ago. Gimbal was well working at that time. After I flew it a couple of times, the app doesn’t deliver the air view anymore. I found the mini HDMI connect is detached from the gimbal base board.

I tried to fix this issue using resoldering but I didn’t make it becasue it’s too small. The mini hdmi cable connector has really BAD design! I think it would be happen again if I use it without added adhesive glue around the connector.

Anyway, I need to order it again. :(.

Seems from further research there was a problem during manufacture with the Mini HDMI connection. Lead free solder was used and the attachment was very weak resulting in a lot of problems with the HDMI mini connection coming off the gimbal motherboard rendering the video output useless.

Can not solder it back on because there is a row of hidden pins underneath the connection you need a special machine to reattach those pins back on to the motherboard. Some are ok some are not rool of the dice as to which one a person gets.

This device does provide a stable platform for the Hero5 but with a significant drawback if you want to use the audio. The gimbal motors generate a fair amount of white noise which override the otherwise excellent audio captured by the camera.

Also if you want to be able to reach the power on off button the camera needs to be mounted upside-down with the lens close to the vertical gimbal. That means you have to be conscious of the gimbal coming into shot at certain angles.

You can fire the camera up via the shutter button but it’s clunky. Other than those two limitations it works beautifully smoothly, providing wonderful steady cam like vision. Just don’t count on using the adio.

I have used this gimbal in my Camino de Santiago bike ride of 836 km. This stabiliser works VERY well. Did not have any problems with it and the resulting videos are top quality. I recommend this product.

I never used it under rain or water, so it is the only side of it that I cannot comment on. Everything else if of good quality. Battery life is acceptable, specially if you recharge it during the day.

It can be used while recharging.

Fantastic product at a great price Didn’t trust the product at its price until I got one, was seriously impressed. Great build quality, feels solid, not cheap and plasticky. Works well and reliably. Battery life is actually better than listed as I got almost 3hrs and only switched it off as i arrived at my destination.

Motors are a bit loud in film but gopro footage almost always has a soundtrack so shouldn’t effect Works fantastically with the app Use it almost daily for mountain biking, driving, hiking, and even took it jogging with me(alot harder than it sounds).

If you have less then 300 dollars to spent you shouldn’t be buying a gimbal, but if you do have the money, this is the best lowprice gimbal you will find. Besides looking very professional it also gives great quality.

I tried using my phone, a gopro and a DSLR and it works great with all of them. A phone gets shakey rather easely because of the small image sensor but this device removed almost all of the shake. You can control the motion with the joystick on the handle or even with your phone, you can program it to move automatically.

It comes with a normal 1/4 thumbscrew but without a quickrelease plate, you will HAVE to buy one to balance it with larger camera’s or if you dont want to screw it lose everytime. It has three additional female screw holes on the handle to mount it on a tripod or to attach a magic arm of somekind which comes in very handy.

It also comes with a handy case. I did find that it sometimes has trouble stabilizing when you’re doing large movements or movements to the side, and when the battery is empty it just drops the camera so you do have to be carefull not to brake your camera, and I would keep my hands close just in case.

Also in my opinion the battery takes rather long to charge but then I’m nitpicking. Overall it really improves all the motion from your camera and it’s definitely worth buying.

I was fearing the balance and setup of this gimbal, having read other reviews suggesting the instructions leave a lot to be desired. Well fear not. I had the gimbal perfectly balanced using my Nikon D750 in 20 minutes.

Admittedly I immediately slipped the instructions straight back from whence they came. Set-up proved to be so straight forward, I was shooting perfect walk throughs in minutes. The presentation in the case is really nice as is the high quality of the case with plenty of padding and a rugged zip.

The build quality of the gimbal is simply stunning. The features which include a pan and tilt button on the handle give so much control including a radial axis movement. Along with the built-in tripod stand which screws onto the bottom, this is one of the most versatile pieces of video kit I possess.

The outfit comes with two sets of batteries. For my purpose, I will probably never require the need to use the second set although I alway like to carry spares incase of a battery failure. So far, I couldn’t recommend this gimbal highly enough.

Don’t get me wrong. For the money, it’s ok. Liked: Sturdy product, good carry case, easy to set up, includes extra cables for connections. So no need to buy extra stuff for this. Also feature single and double hand operation which is very convenient.

Didn’t like: I put the Canon EOS 100D on it (at 400grams, way below the 1kg limit set in the specs) and I can’t say that it was flawless. I would rate the stabilization quality at 6, on a 1-10 scale.

With a heavier SLR (closer to 1kg) the results were not satisfying at all (closer to 4-5 out of 10). My point of comparison is the GoPro gimbal with the Hero 5, which I give a 9, to avoid exaggerating and giving a 10.