3-Axis Gimbal Options and Thoughts

Graeme

Graeme

I've been looking at getting a 3-axis gimbal for some of my shoots. Mainly as I want to get away from Jib and Dolly shots given my often "on man band" on set (often 2 man band, me on the camera directing and 1 sound person); anything beyond sticks or limited handheld takes up too much time or effort to set-up, so I've often free-handed the camera and stabilized in post - not ideal but that is what I have right now.

I currently own a very basic FlyCamNano for my GoPro, it does the job but is very basic and requires a lot of balancing work and still a lot of post-stabilization in the computer (plus there is that lag issue on the camera when watching the clips etc). Great for some shots, but as I move "more cinematic" I want more control over my shots than the GoPro can provide (given the fixed wide angle slightly curved lens and small chip size for low light).

This summer I picked up a FS700, replacing my GH2 as the primary camera. A very sweet upgrade etc, but when I look at stabilizing it... well you start talking a lot of money, skill, experience with Steady Cams such as Glide Cam etc. Then along came Movi, and that is looking a lot more my style; but its quite expensive.

Fast forward about 6-9months and here we are with a multitude of 3-axis gimbals. Currently though I know that the Defy G5 and Movi M10 will work with the FS700 and I'm wondering what others might work? As there are a lot of out-croppings of companies that can do this but I'm new to this kind of camera stabilization?
 
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I've built a hexa copter (recently stolen unfortunately), and have done a lot of research looking into gimbals to fly a larger camera.

While I can't comment specifically on particular model, I do know you'd want to find something with 5000 or better series brushless motors, as the ones on eBay with 4000 series motors might not be strong enough of an FS700. There are a few listed for use with Red cameras, and that's what you'd want to look into.

Like this one here
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/pro...l-with-3pcs-8017motors/109347_1508909561.html

The one constant, whether it's a Movi or any other, is they are using AlexMos controllers. If you spend some time on RC groups, there is a bunch of info about tuning for your specific needs. That's all these companies, like movi are doing, is pre tuning. There are many Chinese companies selling hand held brushless gimbals, their just relying on the end user to do their own tuning. For between $1200 and $2200 you can get a gimbal that can fit your needs. As I said before, look for something with bigger brushless motors, that is listed for Red or DSLR.
 
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Don't forget that when filming with a gymbal, you'll be holding between 10 and 20 pounds in front of you. Shooting from a tripod all day isn't that hard, shooting with a gymbal all day, without help (assistent to take over when the shot ends?), will take some stamina.

So, you got 6 to 9 months to train your legs, back, belly and arms :P

BTW, I'd like to give shooting with a gymbal a try as well: so much possibilities :)
 
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So... a few months later and still no resolve.

Currently investigating options, right now looking at LeveFly, StableGimbal, Defy, Movi. They all have different price points and options/features but trying to figure out which is better for my system is a nightmare - mainly as they are so expensive there are no good review/comparison videos out there of the different system [for DSLR rigs/set-ups there are a few, but the FS700 and similar larger cameras the Youtube world is more sparse/lacking].

That all said the Movi5 hits the streets next month, not sure if the FS700 will be supported (just squeaks in for the Defy5) so I'm guessing to be competitive it will, and hopefully will push down the prices a bit more.

:(

The search continues (along with the saving up for this).
 
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Hi everyone, I took the time and compiled together a full page of references for you to read on if you are interested in assembling your own 3-Axis Brushless Gimbal, I decided to go with Came-7000 from Came-tv.com because their product is sturdy, their customer service is good, and I got the kit within 3 days. Even cinematographer Tom Antos feels this is the best within the price range (under $1k).

So if you plan to build your own gimbal, consider using this page as reference. http://www.mdifilm.com/2013/?p=1291

Enjoy!
 
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Monkey Gimbal

Im selling my Monkey Gimbal (http://monkey-gimbal.com/gibon-ff/) for half price, its a brilliant piece of equipment, I just don't need one at the moment and it was rarely used the few months I have had it.

The benefits of this model is that it can take both very small cameras and up to a 5D, I used a 7D with 15-135mm lens. And the clamping system makes it easy to balance which is not available on most of the cheaper alternatives.

Here it is in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrX5-C4RLqc
 
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FWIW, I just made a comparison video of two of the best GoPro handheld 3-axis gimbals:

http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=54777

For your GoPro, you should be ready to rock with basically either of the ones I review, and while they aren't cheap, they are great value for the money - and there's literally no tweaking like the non-powered gimbals, you just turn it on, and start shooting.

I built my own DSLR 3 axis a while back, but personally I think we're still in the infancy of the larger camera gimbals... Two years ago they didn't exist, one year ago you could build a 2 axis for your drone for a couple hundred bucks, now you can build a 3 axis for even less.

Thankfully many places are making these, and really only a handful are actually doing anything original, so it means there will be lots of pressure on price, and the prices that the larger ones can command now will be far less in the not too distant future.
 
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