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Zhiyun

Zhiyun Crane M3S and Weebill 3S add new functionality for creatives on the move

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Zhiyun has refreshed its lightweight gimbal lines, announcing two new gimbals at once. The Zhiyun Crane M3S (buy here) is an update to the Zhiyun Crane M3 (buy here), which supports heavier cameras than its predecessor while still able to be used with lightweight smartphones. The Zhiyun Weebill 3S (buy here) is the update to the popular Weebill 3 (buy here), allowing for easy switching between landscape and portrait without having to rebalance your gimbal.

Zhiyun says that both gimbals have been “carefully developed” to simplify the technical aspects of filmmaking and using gimbals so that you can concentrate on the creative side of things. The Crane M3S is targeted towards vloggers and content creators that need to stay as small and mobile as possible. The Weebill 3S, while also small, is targeted towards more advanced content creators that need extra accessories.

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Product photography with the Zhiyun Molus G60 and X100 LED lights

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At NAB 2023, Zhiyun announced two new LED lights; the Molus G60 (buy here) and X100 (buy here). While not the company’s first LED lights, it is a new market for Zhiyun, and on in which they’ll face some tough competition. To see what the new LED lights could do and have a look at some practical applications for them, we went back to the Zhiyun stand to speak with product photographer Oleksii Hurinenko.

Small LED lights like the Zhiyun Molus G60 are often a product photographer’s best friend. Quite regularly, you need lights that are fairly small, as the products are typically quite small themselves – at least compared to what you’d need for portrait photography. But while the Molus G60 and X100 are small, they are also powerful with 60W and 100W outputs.

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First look at Zhiyun Molus G60 and X100 LED lights

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Zhiyun started expanding out into LED lights a little while ago now, but their range is still quite small. Last month, Zhiyun announced that they were expanding their lighting range but sticking with small, with the new Molus G60 and X100 LED lights. And by “sticking with small”, I mean that these lights are tiny. The Molus G60 (buy here) and X100 (buy here) lights offer 60W and 100W capacity, respectively, but come in a much smaller form factor than you might be used to.

We went to speak with Zhiyun’s head of PR, Ryan Wang booth at NAB 2023 to check them out in person and learn more about them. Despite how small the published dimensions are, nothing really prepares you for just how small these things are in person, given the amount of light the two models put out.

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Win a Zhiyun Weebill 3 Gimbal

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We teamed up with our friends at Zhiyun to give away one of the best tools any filmmaker needs – a Zhiyun Weebill 3 Gimbal.

Gimbals, as you probably know, are one of the first tools you should buy as a filmmaker. It adds that magic that allows you to take long, moving, smooth shots. It should probably be your next purchase after getting a camera, a lens, and a tripod. And the Zhiyun Weebill 3 has the perfect combination of features and size for most mirrorless/DSLR videographers. Hit the jump to join the sweepstakes.

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Zhiyun MOLUS G60 & X100 LED lights are tiny-tiny powerful LEDs

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Zhiyun just announced two new small lights: the Zhiyun MOLUS G60 and the Zhiyun MOLUS X100. Both of those lights are incredibly small for their output and feature unique designs. I find it quite interesting how Zhiyun are expanding into the lighting lines. They are not doing it by copying the “standard” COBs but by trying new things like the Zhiyun FIVERAY F100 (review) and M40 lights. Definitely not the run-of-mill lights.

And coming up with new types of lights does carry a risk. “Standard” COBs are safe. You know there is a market. On the other hand, this is also a very competitive market, so you have to do something to stand out. And Zhiyun are definitely doing things differently. Let’s dive into this new announcement:

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Zhiyun F100 review: a new kind of light stick

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The Zhiyun F100 RGB light stick is somewhat of a hybrid between a light tube and a more traditional bar. If you are familiar with the YN360 stick, you will find the form factor pretty familiar. But, unlike the YN360, the F100 is a significantly brighter light. In fact, the power draw is so significant that Zhiyun added a fan array for heat management. Between the battery, fans, and electronics, you are looking at quite a heavy piece of gear – almost a full kilo.

Let’s dive in

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Holiday Gift Guide – The best new tripods, sliders and gimbals of 2022

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It’s December again, which means lots of us are sitting there wondering what to buy for ourselves or the photographer in our lives this holiday season. We’ve been saving up all year to get that something special, but we don’t want to deal with in-store queues – or maybe we’ve just slacked on our Christmas shopping this year. We want to stay at home where it’s nice and warm and see what we can find online that gets delivered straight to our door!

So, this means it’s time for the 2022 DIYP Holiday Gift Guides. It’s Day 4 today, so we’re going to be going through the list of our favourite new tripods, sliders and gimbals that have been released during 2022. Keep visiting back this week as we release our other guides, including cameras, lenses, lighting, accessories and gadgets.

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Holiday Gift Guide – The best new photo and video lights of 2022

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It’s December again, which means lots of us are sitting there wondering what to buy for ourselves or the photographer in our lives this holiday season. We’ve been saving up all year to get that something special, but we don’t want to deal with in-store queues – or maybe we’ve just slacked on our Christmas shopping this year. We want to stay at home where it’s nice and warm and see what we can find online that gets delivered straight to our door!

So, this means it’s time for the 2022 DIYP Holiday Gift Guides. We’re on Day 3, so it’s time to look at lights. These are some of our favourite new LED lights and flashes that have been released over the last year. Keep visiting back this week as we release our other guides, including cameras, lenses, tripods, sliders & gimbals, and accessories and gadgets.

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Zhiyun expands its lighting range with the new Fiveray F100 and M40 LED lights

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Zhiyun has announced a couple of new lights today. One is the Fiveray F100, which is essentially a much brighter upgraded version of the Zhiyun Fiveray FR100C released earlier in the year (which is currently on sale for Black Friday, btw). It boasts a higher LED brightness, with a peak output of 20,708 lux in MAX mode. Like the FR100C, the F100 sports cooling fans to prevent overheating and offers a CRI>=96 and TLCI>=97.

The Fiveray M40 is a little smaller, but still plenty bright. It’s a pocket-sized 40 Watt ultrabright bicolour LED panel boasting 14,000 lux at max output. You only get half an hour’s use from it while running off its internal battery, but it can be charged quickly over USB-PD and you can also use it at maximum brightness while it’s charging.

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Zhiyun enters the lighting market with the Fiveray FR100C portable LED light stick

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LED lights seem to be the 2022 version of 2021’s wireless microphones. Every company seems to be jumping on them. And while they didn’t release a wireless microphone, Zhiyun has entered the LED market by releasing the Fiveray FR100C LED light stick. They say it’s “5x brighter than the alternatives” at 100W and it has a built-in 6-cell (22.2v) 2600mAh battery.

It was actually announced yesterday along with the company’s new Weebill 3 gimbal, although it seemed to slip largely under the radar. But it’s both bicolour and RGB, offering a colour temperature range between 2700K up to 6300K and full RGB control over high, saturation and brightness using the HSI full-colour mode.

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