How to Choose the Right Gimbal for You

Videographers are pretty spoiled when it comes to gimbals, with a wealth of options available across a wide range of price points. If you need to figure out which gimbal best suits your needs, check out this short video.

Gimbals have transformed filmmaking over the last 10 years to the extent that there’s barely a static shot of B roll to be seen on YouTube these days. Chris Brockhurst runs you through some great options depending on the size of your rig, from the Zhiyun-Tech CRANE-M2 through to the DJI Ronin-S. Brockhurst also throws in one rather fantastic recommendation — which is surprisingly low tech — for eliminating the vertical bounce that can creep into your footage if you're not walking smoothly enough. With this piece of kit added to your gimbal, you can even jog without adding movement.

I've become hyper-aware of camera movements in short videos, as sometimes it seems that filmmakers feel the need to add some sort of movement to every single shot. Perhaps if you want to give your videos a unique style, it might be an idea to try something else, such as attaching a 10 lbs dumbbell to the bottom of your camera and staying handheld as a means of replicating the heavy cinema cameras that get used in Hollywood. If that intrigues you, check out this video from Cody Wanner.

Are you in the market for a gimbal? Which will you be buying? Let us know in the comments below.

Andy Day's picture

Andy Day is a British photographer and writer living in France. He began photographing parkour in 2003 and has been doing weird things in the city and elsewhere ever since. He's addicted to climbing and owns a fairly useless dog. He has an MA in Sociology & Photography which often makes him ponder what all of this really means.

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3 Comments

The Ronin S was too heavy for me but the Ronin SC is perfect balance of capability and weight.

Wow, product review in the dark. At least I could hear him ;-)

The Dh04 looks really useful...