Gimbal Buying Guide

The handheld gimbal is actually a derivative of the drone gimbal. This kind of device is a bit like a shortened version of the selfie stick. The top of the stick is equipped with a gimbal that can meet three degrees of freedom. The main purpose of mounting the drone's gimbal to the selfie stick is also to prevent camera shake when using a mobile phone or action camera. 

What's a Handheld Gimbal？

Gimbal is a video capture device steadily fixed at a given angle and prevent any kinds of shaking in video equipment, which is a support equipment that used to install and fixed camera. 

Generally, a SLR tripod is equipped with such a gimbal. Its main function is to meet the multi-angle adjustment of the camera, such as level, tilt or pitch. Therefore, such a gimbal generally allows three-axis rotation adjustment in space. When gimbal is applied to aerial drones, its main function is to prevent camera shake. At first, aerial drones fixed the camera directly to the drones. The disadvantage of this method was that when the flight status of the drones changed or even a slight shake occurred, the camera's picture would also be shaken synchronously, which greatly affected the shooting quality. 

With the maturity of gyroscope technology, drones have begun to develop, and the working principle of drone gimbals is to use the principle that drones use gyroscopes to fly smoothly. When the drone is tilted to a certain angle, it will be sensed by the gyroscope, and then the algorithm will be used to quickly strengthen the motor power in the direction of the tilt angle, so as to restore the drone's balance. The principle of stability of the gimbal is the same. 

Generally, the drone gimbal can meet the three degrees of freedom of the camera: rotation around the X, Y, and Z axes, and a motor is installed in each axis. When the drone is tilted, it will cooperate with the gyroscope to strengthen the power of the corresponding gimbal motor in the opposite direction to prevent the camera from tilting with the drone, thereby avoiding camera shake. This device currently has two main forms. One is DJI’s handheld gimbal camera: represented by DJI OSMO and DJI pocket. This handheld gimbal camera has a built-in camera, which is installed on the handle as a display of the shooting screen or a built-in camera. 

The other is a handheld gimbal without a built-in camera, such as the Feiyu Tech G4 series handheld gimbal, which requires an action camera or mobile phone to be mounted on the gimbal as a camera and viewfinder. Whether it is a DJI handheld gimbal camera or Feiyu Tech's handheld gimbal, the main function is to stabilize the video image (but not suitable for taking pictures). 

If you directly holds a mobile phone to record video, especially during the chase shooting, the picture will shake very badly, but this type of handheld gimbal solves this problem. Since the gimbal basically supports three-axis 360-degree rotation adjustment, the response speed is extremely fast. When the hand shakes, the gimbal will quickly make shake compensation to improve picture stability.

Features of a gimbal

2 VS 3 Axis Stability

The gimbal can stabilize the camera by actively powering a set of brushless motors around 2 or 3 motion axes. The 2-axis gimbal can generally stabilize the tilt and roll axes, while the 3-axis gimbal can add stability to the translation axis. The advantages of the 3-axis gimbal are that it will get more smoothness when shooting dynamic moving lenses, and you can use multiple stabilization modes to create different styles of lenses. 2-axis gimbals are usually cheaper, but because the benefits of 3-axis are much better, it is not so easy now. 

Quality

Most entry-level gimbals are made of injection-molded plastic, with different results: if a gimbal made of ABS plastic is used frequently or in harsh conditions, it will be cheap and less durable. Some gimbals are made of aircraft-grade aluminum, which provides higher durability for action shooting and dropping. 

Battery

t is divided into two types: non-detachable built-in battery and detachable rechargeable battery. Pay attention to the size and capacity of the battery. The larger lithium ion battery can have a longer running time and facilitate continuous shooting for a long time. Weight At present, there are pocket gimbal and handheld gimbal, if you prefer to portability, we will recommend to buy pocket gimbal, if you need professional photography and high requirements for shaking, you can buy a large professional handheld gimbal for shooting. 

Compatibility of Other Accessories

Using industry-standard tripod threads, so you can mount the gimbal on a tripod, extension, or other products. APP Software Features For example, PhoneGo mode, story mode, motion mode, panoramic shooting, etc. are differentiated for different groups of people. 

5 things to consider before buying gimbal

Compatibility

When choosing a gimbal for your camera, the first thing to consider is compatibility. You need to consider the weight that the gimbal needs to bear. This includes not only your camera, but your lens and other items that the gimbal needs to support as well. You also need to look at compatibility, application features, and any special features that the gimbal may provide to make sure the gimbal works with the type of camera you plan to use, and be sure it provides the features you need for shooting. 

Operating with one hand or two hands?

You need to determine if you prefer to operate the gimbal with one or two hands. The one-handed stabilizer can support smaller camera settings and fewer functions, and requires smaller areas for better results. If you want to follow your talents in a small space, the one-handed stabilizer is the perfect choice. Although most smartphone gimbals have long been designed for one-handed operation, but recently that one-handed designs began to support larger, heavier mirrorless and digital SLR cameras. Larger two-hand stabilizers can accommodate larger units and carry heavier loads. Despite newer stabilizers (such as DJI Ronin-S and Zhiyun-Tech Crane 2 , you will still find a two-handed gimbal for large movie cameras such as RED cameras, system, or if you plan to use a heavier lens. 

Easy to Use

Easy operation should be considered when selecting the gimbal. Hard-to-use controls only make it harder to get the lens you want. Depending on the camera you intend to use, some gimbal can provide special features and camera controls. If these features are important to you, please make sure to carefully check compatibility before buying. 

The battery life

The battery life is related to the capacity and weight of the battery. If you only want to shoot daily for 2-4 hours, and the focus is on portability, you can buy a pocket gimbal. If you need more than 10 hours of shooting, you can consider handheld gimbal. One uses regular alkaline batteries that require regular replacement, and the other uses rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. In these lithium-ion models, run times tend to be shorter. 

Software

Most Gimbals have utility software installed. Please make sure the gimbal you purchased is compatible with your computer, camera and smartphone.

3 best Gimbals in 2020

Now we have begun to enter the video sharing information era, all kinds of short video arises at the historic moment, with the development of mobile phones, more and more people have the interest in filming, a mobile phone can make a wonderful video shooting. However, if you want to get a professional and stable picture and video, some equipment you will be used to achieve this, such as handheld gimbal. Now, we have choose 3 best gimbals on Gearbest, all of them have an excellent performance on video shooting. Each one has its advantages, so as you can choose the best one based on your own needs.