In today’s video I test three very popular 3-axis camera gimbals: DJI Ronin-S, Moza Air and Zhiyun-Tech Crane-2. They all have a pistol-type grip, meaning that they are meant for smaller cameras (7-8 lbs load).
So, all these gimbals produce smooth shots, which probably won’t surprise anyone. Nevertheless, there is still no perfect gimbal, although the Moza Air comes close, in my opinion.
Here is where you can get the gimbals (these are affiliate links; I appreciate your support):
DJI Ronin-S on B&H, Adorama, Henry’s, eBay, Amazon
Moza Air on B&H, Adorama, eBay, Amazon
Zhiyun-Tech Crane-2 on B&H, Adorama, eBay, Amazon
Monitor Mounting Ring for Crane 2 that I show in the video you can get on Amazon
Like I mentioned in the video, the DJI Ronin-S had disappointed me since I was looking forward to all the advanced features. However, at this time they are disabled.
The only cameras that the gimbal will consistently connect to are the Panasonic GH5, GH5s and GH4. On the GH5 and GH5s, you will be able to start and stop the video recording, and also use the DJI Ronin-S wheel to control the focus on a few Panasonic lenses. On the GH4 you can only start and stop the camera recording.
Since I work with various cameras I was hoping the gimbal would connect to all the cameras that DJI advertised it would, but it still doesn’t. DJI promises it will be fixed with a future firmware update. Things like the 360 degree roll is fun, but definitely not enough for me to recommend this gimbal over others, especially since other gimbals like the Moza Air already had this feature.
>>>and also use the DJI Ronin S wheel to control the focus on a few Panasonic lenses.
By a few lenses you mean 10 lenses out of the 29 lenses that Panasonic currently sell. And most of these 10 lenses are the popular lenses that Panasonic currently makes. All of my Panasonic lenses work, with the exception of my telephotos longer than 100mm focal length, which I doubt I would ever use on a gimbal.
I generally love your work Tom, but I think you should have mentioned that many of your DJI Ronin-S fails were caused by the current lack of support for Sony cameras.
…Or better yet, get a hold of a GH5 with one of the popular “workhorse” lenses ( 12-35mm f/2.8, 35-100mm f/2.8, 12-60mm f/2.8 – 4.0 ) and show how different things are when compared to your Sony cameras.
I already own the Zhiyun Crane version 1 mk2 gimbal, but I plan to buy the Ronin-S gimbal because of the follow-focus wheel. ( I hope to rig something to deal with the extra weight of the Ronin )
I expect DJI will add Canon camera and lens support next, then maybe if we are lucky they will go after Sony.