Non-Drone Gimbal

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OK, so I have two drones with gimbals (I1Pro and P4P) but for handheld video work using a Panasonic G85 (4K) or GH2 I did not have a gimbal but I just ordered one yesterday and expect to receive it on Friday. I ordered the EVO Rage which has a max camera+lens weight of 1200g and with the G85 or my older GH2 I can use all the lenses I have with it so the gimbal size should be good. I wish I had it a couple weeks ago on my trip.

I'll report back once I've received and had a chance to test it out...


Brian
 


Yeah, the Ronin MX is a MUCH bigger gimbal and twice the price of the EVO Rage. I'd considered it as it would be useful for my bigger cameras like the Nikon D800E, but since my use is almost exclusively for video and my best video camera is the Panasonic G85 there is no need for the larger and more expensive Ronin MX.

Now, if I had a Red then the cost of the Ronin MX would be nearly inconsequential.


Brian
 
OK, I received the gimbal today and have played with it a bit but I can see it will require some time to learn the best way to do things. The default mode, 'Pan Follow', is much like the follow mode on the drone but the response to turning or changing direction makes it a bit difficult to have it point exactly where I want and only the tilt control works. Pressing the four-way thumb switch once locks the heading but you can now pan the unit with the thumb switch and for me that seems more natural as I can more easily control the direction the camera is pointing. But, I'll have to play with both options more to see if I can learn to make better use of the default mode.

A nice thing is that this uses two 18650 batteries and since a have a bunch for my flashlights (not fleshlights ;)) and a single set should last 5 hours I'm pretty happy with that choice. Also nice is that they included two sets and also included small fitted cases for each set -- little details like that suggest they company cares. In addition to the gimbal I also ordered the cable to control my Panasonic GH2 and G85 as well as a tabletop tripod to make it easier to work with. I have not yet tried the cable for camera control, but the tripod is really cheesy and not very stable. Actually, it's not so much the tripod itself but rather the too small ballhead that mounts to it -- the ballhead is WAY TOO SMALL. I have a different ballhead on it for now and it is MUCH more stable so it looks like another ballhead will need to be ordered.

Lastly, another option they sell is a set of extension tube made of CF but that was another $50 so I passed on it. I have a monopod that has the 1/4-20 and can be extended from less than 2 feet to more than 4 feet which makes it more versatile than the tubes they offered.

I hope to get a chance to do some more testing tomorrow and will update...


Brian
 

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