The perfect Gimbal System Setup

  • By Vien
  • 14 March, 2018
  • Comments Off on The perfect Gimbal System Setup


When I was shopping for a gimbal systems, I had a list of requirements.

  1. small footprint, portable, lightweight, one hand carry
  2. able to hold mirrorless or dslr camera.
  3. needed to be able to make adjustment without tools
  4. Needed feet or a resting bracket.
  5. Under $1000

When I first started researching for the perfect gimbal, I came across the Ronin M.

I wanted this one for as long as I can remembered.  It met all of my requirement except one, It didn’t have a small footprint, it wasn’t light, can’t use one hand to shoot with.  But all of the big productions company are using it…  Well at this point I had to breakdown what kind of shooting I do mostly and with what camera.  If I was shooting with a Red camera or nice big Sony camera than it would be perfect.  But since I shoot video with Nikon dslr and Panasonic mirrorless.  I felt like the Ronin M was an overkill.

 

 

Well, what kind of shooting do I do? you might ask.  Well I like to shoot sports…snowboarding down the hill 100mph with one hand on a light weight gimbal.  Running around skate-park, up and down the bowl.  Walking around a balloon fest or fat bike race.  Also I like to shoot a short 30 second commercial or local short film contest.  I don’t like drawing attention to myself, so a small profile is a must!

 

 

So with that being said.  I decided to go with the Moza Air!  Its not perfect but it fit my style of shooting.  Once I bought the quick release plate and feet for it, it was great!    I attached the Panasonic mirrorless camera to it, due to the light weight and a Rokinon 12mm f2 lens.  It’s an amazing match-up with this Manual Lens!  It’s plenty wide enough for me.  And when I need low lighting setup I can use my Nikon D750 on the same gimbal.

This is the real deal, no more small gimbal on a gopro with a selfie stick, do you know how ridiculous that looked?  Come on man, you are supposed to be a professional cinematographer!

 

 

The Moza Air has a thumb controller that can tilt the camera up and down, I use this feature a lot.  There’s ton more feature which you can use if you connect it to your smart phone, which I will not get into.  Also if you plan to shoot with a heavy camera, I recommend using the double hand grip that comes with it.

I like that I can pack it on a trip and hike up any mountain and not worry about weight.  The battery will last up to 8 hours.

Here’s an example of a video I shot.  All of the shot was with the gimbal except the interview.  Notice how smooth it is!

 

Conclusion:

This setup is not for everybody, but I love it!  Good price also!  You must admit, it also look sharp and clean with black and red color.  I can take this setup anywhere and trusts it will do its job.  When I’m done shooting I just removed the camera from the quick release, and when I’m ready to shoot again, its easy to put it back on the quick release and knowing everything is balance.  What a time saver!  I can’t wait for the next vacation trip/project to use it on!

Tell us about your setup, do you go for heavy-duty or light weight gimbal?

 

 

 

 

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