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The new modular Zhiyun Crane 3S gimbal is built to handle big beefy cameras

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Zhiyun has just announced their new Zhiyun Crane 3S motorised gimbal, and it’s a bit of a monster. It’s based around the design of the Crane 3 LAB, but the Crane 3S is a very different animal indeed. For a start, the weight capacity has been raised to an impressive 6.5kg, thanks to newly engineered motors. It’s not a replacement model for the Crane 3 LAB, but more a higher capacity version of it.

To account for the bulk of the larger weight capacity, the Crane 3S is also modular, allowing you to reconfigure it in different ways to account for different cameras. It features a whopping nine mounting points, has a couple of removable handles, and comes with an arm extension to handle cameras as large as the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro G2.

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The camera in Vivo’s new APEX concept smartphone features a built-in “gimbal”

It’s amazing how small they can make tech these days. Vivo has unveiled its latest update on the APEX concept line. Famous for showing off some pretty insane concepts for future phones, many of their predictions have come true. Popup selfie cameras, under-screen fingerprint readers, and almost completely button-and-bezel-free designs.

In Vivo’s latest concept device, the front-camera has come back, sitting underneath the display, but the main rear-camera also sees a pretty significant new feature. Taking optical image stabilisation (OIS) to the next level, they’ve essentially built it into a gimbal.

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Watch these techniques to shoot smooth handheld footage on your iPhone without a gimbal

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Smartphone gimbals are pretty commonplace today. There are countless models from companies like Zhiyun, Moza, Feiyu, and a million other brands. It feels like we’ve had them forever, although they’ve only really been around for about four years. And sometimes, even today, we need to figure out a way to live without them.

You’re not always going to have it with you when you see something cool and want to whip out your phone to grab a sequence. Or perhaps, as filmmaker Brandon Li mentions in this video, carrying a gimbal defeats the whole purpose of using your phone. Putting his money where his mouth is, this 10-minute video shows us how we can get gimbal-like shots without a gimbal.

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DJI has patented a land-based rover with a built-in gimbal and camera system

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I have to admit, I’m surprised it’s taken this long for DJI to get into ground rover territory. But according to new patents released by DJI, two new products may be coming in 2020, one of which looks like a radio-controlled vehicle of some kind featuring a built-in gimbal and camera. The other appears to be a gimbal along similar lines to the Freefly Movi Pro and DJI’s own Ronin 2, but utilising one of DJI’s own Zenmuse cameras instead of your DSLR or mirrorless camera.

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The DigitalFoto Ares eliminates Z bounce in your gimbal footage

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I first saw the DigitalFoto Ares 4th axis stabiliser a little while ago, but I really wanted to see one in person to see how well it performed. When we found out DigitalFoto were going to be at IBC 2019, we decided to pay them a visit so we could take a look. They also had something new with them, too, the Thanos Pro stabiliser kit, which includes a vest and arm system for stabilising those really heavy camera rigs.

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The Osmo Mobile 3 is DJI’s new folding gimbal for your smartphone

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DJI’s last two iterations of Osmo Mobile handheld gimbal for smartphones have been pretty popular. But like most smartphone gimbals, they can be a bit big when not in use, not that easy to transport. So, for the new Osmo Mobile 3 announced today (nope, it wasn’t a drone announcement), DJI has gone foldable. As well as being physically smaller than the Osmo Mobile 2, the price is a little smaller, too, at only $119 for the basic package.

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Ten things not to do with your gimbal

A gimbal is a handy tool which can add so much to your filmmaking. But, there are also some things that you shouldn’t do with it once you start using it for filming. In this video, Alex of We Talk UAV talks about ten things you should never do with your gimbal if you really want to make the best of it.

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It looks like DJI are getting ready to announce a new DSLR/Mirrorless gimbal tomorrow

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The DJI Ronin-S has been a very popular gimbal ever since it was first released. But one of the biggest complaints against it is its weight. After trying the Ronin-S side-by-side with my Zhiyun Crane 2, I can certainly sympathise with those complaints. But it looks like DJI might be getting ready to announce a newer, lighter gimbal for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.

The teaser image at the top of this page was posted to the DJI website with a link to sign up for notifications. It obviously shows a gimbal with a DSLR mounted on it and the claim “Lighter and Smarter than Ever?”. A short teaser video was also posted by DJI to Twitter.

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Watch this gimbal starter guide to get you shooting cinematic video quickly

Gimbals can be wonderful filmmaking tools, and they’re ideal for adding interesting movement to your shot with the minimum of fuss. But they’re not always easy to get to grips with instantly. To get the best out of them, you need to practice and experiment. If you’re very new, though, just searching on YouTube for gimbal tutorials can get overwhelming. Many of them cover advanced techniques without really showing you the basics.

In this video, Jason Vong goes through some gimbal basics to get you shooting cinematic footage as quickly as possible. And he not only talks about the techniques he uses but also his lens choice to get the most impact.

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5 easy shot transitions you can make using a gimbal

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Gimbals are fantastic tools for filmmakers. Personally, I’m quite partial to Zhiyun, having a Smooth C, Crane 2 and Crane 3 LAB at my disposal. In this video from Mango Street, we see five shot transitions that you can only really get easily if using a gimbal. They’re using the DJI Ronin-S in the video, but you can apply these transitions to just about any gimbal these days.

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