5 Helpful Tips for Using a Gimbal

One of the greatest advancements in consumer video products in the last decade or so has been the appearance of affordable and portable stabilization devices. Handheld gimbals allow you to get smooth, professional footage in almost any situation, and this fantastic video tutorial will give you five tips to get more out of yours.

Coming to you from Jordan Cowan of On Ice Perspectives with B&H Photo Video, this helpful video will give you five tips for getting the best possible footage from your gimbal. Of the tips, one that is particularly easy to overlook is the importance of setting up your camera exactly as you plan to use it before you calibrate the gimbal, including even seemingly insignificant things like lens hoods and the like. When the gimbal calibrates itself, it essentially calculating its weight distribution in each dimension so it can apply the appropriate compensations to your movements, and if you change that distribution after you calibrate it, the device will not be able to accurately compensate for motion, and as such, your results will not be as stable as they would be otherwise. Check out the video above for a lot of helpful advice from Cowan. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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I saw one of his skating videos the other day and was completely amazed at how smooth the footage was. I just don’t see how he can skate so well close to them AND operate a camera. He’s awesome.