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My Review of the Zhiyun Crane 3-Axis Gimbal


Mattias Burling
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Is 5D Mark IV together with the Sigma 20mm 1.4 Art (total weight 1890g) pushing the limits too much? Im not sure if the weight is enough center balanced or not. 

Also I'd like to remote control the 5D from a smart phone (focus,...). Anyone come across a mount that can be combined with the gimbal?

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2 hours ago, jonpais said:

Thanks for the heads up!

So with firmware version 1.50 5D RC2 the Cranes payload shifts to between 1200g and 1800g.

Why they didn't just allow the original lower threshold of 350g seems odd but perhaps, as the firmware name suggests, this firmware version is geared towards 5D body style users??

On 21/11/2016 at 1:22 AM, Eisber said:

Is 5D Mark IV together with the Sigma 20mm 1.4 Art (total weight 1890g) pushing the limits too much? Im not sure if the weight is enough center balanced or not. 

Also I'd like to remote control the 5D from a smart phone (focus,...). Anyone come across a mount that can be combined with the gimbal?

You could be pushing it there.

I notice on the Zhiyun page for the Cranes parameters ( http://www.zhiyun-tech.com/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=132&id=177 )

it mentions 70mm for the max. payload lens. It is not very clear but that could refer to the max.physical length of a lens.

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Zhiyun reached out to me immediately concerning the problem shooting with a GH4 after updating to firmware v1.50 5D RC2 and offered a quick and simple fix: go to this page, download and install firmware update Crane v1.51 and the stabilizer should work with lighter bodies again. Zhiyun's customer support is second to none.

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On 19.11.2016 at 4:39 PM, Alex Uzan said:

I've just received my Gimbal, son I can't really share my thougts about it, but one thing intrigates me :

There is two handle mode, normal and inverted, but can we safety flip from one to the other ?

Because when I do that, my unit doesn't seem to like it.

What is happening when you try?

Mine flips over without any problem, I don't even need to change mode or whatever – I just turn it upside down. Very impressed, actually.

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Hello all, 

I purchased Crane two weeks ago in US and have had same issues with 2 models. I am balancing Panny G7. Out of the box and after balancing, everything seems fine, but as soon as I put the gimbal in inverse mode, the pan axis keeps spinning. I've done the 30 second initialization and nothing happens. I have emiled their customer support but was curious if anyone here had the same issue. 

Thanks

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1 hour ago, 43md said:

Hello all, 

I purchased Crane two weeks ago in US and have had same issues with 2 models. I am balancing Panny G7. Out of the box and after balancing, everything seems fine, but as soon as I put the gimbal in inverse mode, the pan axis keeps spinning. I've done the 30 second initialization and nothing happens. I have emiled their customer support but was curious if anyone here had the same issue. 

Thanks

Could you share a video showing the problem? Here's mine, in inverted mode.

IMG_2074.MOV

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I have a question regarding balancing. All the videos show people balancing their cameras such that it 'stays' in any position you move it (before it's powered on). Is this what everybody is doing? Because I just balance it so that the camera just sits there level before I turn it on, and it's been working great for me. I figure if the natural weight of the camera is already somewhat balanced than the motors would have to do less work, similar to balancing a ronin. The camera does not 'stay' in position as I move it at all though. I'm just wondering if there is any real advantage to balancing it like Zhiyun suggests? In the past month or so of use I haven't seen any drawbacks to doing it my way, and its certainly easier to get right real quick. Just wondering the what the rest of you crane-users think. Thanks! 

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24 minutes ago, Parker said:

I have a question regarding balancing. All the videos show people balancing their cameras such that it 'stays' in any position you move it (before it's powered on). Is this what everybody is doing? Because I just balance it so that the camera just sits there level before I turn it on, and it's been working great for me. I figure if the natural weight of the camera is already somewhat balanced than the motors would have to do less work, similar to balancing a ronin. The camera does not 'stay' in position as I move it at all though. I'm just wondering if there is any real advantage to balancing it like Zhiyun suggests? In the past month or so of use I haven't seen any drawbacks to doing it my way, and its certainly easier to get right real quick. Just wondering the what the rest of you crane-users think. Thanks! 

If you're just placing the camera on the gimbal so it does't 'flop over' or something, it isn't balanced at all. It must be balanced on all axes, otherwise the motors are working harder, battery life will suffer. May I ask why you prefer not to balance the camera, when all it takes is just a couple minutes? If you want to check balance, just open the Zhiyun Assistant app, connect your gimbal via Bluetooth, and you will see if pan, pitch and roll are balanced. 

The Zhiyun Assistant app has gotten a new look, more features.

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1 hour ago, 43md said:

This is what happens when I turn the gimbal on. The same exact thing happened to both the first and second set that I purchased. I have a windows 10 and my computer does not recognize the gimbal, app keeps crashing. I may have the worst luck here.

Gimbal Issue.MP4

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app? 

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15 hours ago, jonpais said:

If you're just placing the camera on the gimbal so it does't 'flop over' or something, it isn't balanced at all. It must be balanced on all axes, otherwise the motors are working harder, battery life will suffer. May I ask why you prefer not to balance the camera, when all it takes is just a couple minutes? If you want to check balance, just open the Zhiyun Assistant app, connect your gimbal via Bluetooth, and you will see if pan, pitch and roll are balanced. 

The Zhiyun Assistant app has gotten a new look, more features.

I hadn't really watched any videos on setting it up when I got it, I had just assumed it was meant to be balanced similar to a ronin or other 3-axis gimbals I have used, and only recently saw in a few videos the proper way it was meant to be done, so I was just wondering, since I haven't had any problems at all with it in the month or so that I have been using it. I guess that shows how powerful the motors are, if it's been completely unbalanced this whole time and still worked just fine! 

I'll have to check out the new app update, thanks for the info. 

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On 29/11/2016 at 1:55 PM, Uli Plank said:

What is happening when you try?

Mine flips over without any problem, I don't even need to change mode or whatever – I just turn it upside down. Very impressed, actually.

Here's my two issues :

First, when I tilt too much, the Gimbal doesn't like it and reset its position.

Even if the camera is quite light.

 

Second, when I try to flip to revert mode, it's not smooth, as the arm try to maintain before suddenly change the position.

Sorry for video quality :)

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