SonyBug

I want to buy a gimbal for my a7iii and hopefully will also fit my rx100vii. Looking for a unit under $450 with excellent reliability. Does anyone here have experience that would let you recommend one. Need to buy now as I have an important, to my wife, need for it. Thanks for your help. I posted this request in video but no responses for a few days so thought I would try here.

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

I have a DJI Ronin-S, which I have used for various documentaries for TV. I have no experience with others, but the DJI is certainly top of the class, though just a bit more than you want to spend.

But you need to understand that this is not just a "take it out of the box and use it" piece of kit. First, you need to learn how to balance it on three axes, and it has to be rebalanced whenever you change lenses, and if you use a zoom lens that extends, then every time you change the focal length. Rebalancing takes at least a couple minutes to do correctly, once you get the hang of it. You can use it with a certain amount of imbalance, but it both strains the motors and reduces performance.

Then you need to fine tune the motors for the weight of the camera and the type of shooting that you intend to do. The DJI does an auto calibration which works well to set motor strengths, but you have to set the motor stiffness and deadband, which will determine how soon the camera moves after you start to move and how quickly it moves. This needs to be done on three axes. There are various modes too: for instance, you can have the camera locked on a point, and it will stay on that point no matter how you move, until it can't. Then you can have the camera move, with a certain smoothness (settable as above) to always point at what is directly in front of the camera.

All this is doable, but it take some time and experience to learn how to use it. And remember that basically you cannot touch the camera while it is on the gimbal. You either need to use autofocus or get an auxiliary focus gear. Pretty much the same with setting exposure. You can lightly touch the lens ring, but you're not going to be able to set anything on the camera while you are filming.

I would say that it took me about 10 hours of use before I felt that I had a real handle on it. YMMV

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Too slow for birds in flight.

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

Not good for following anything quick or with unpredictable movement and not very useful with lenses over 50mm generally speaking. It's good for smoothing out traveling shots on foot or in a vehicle. Pans are like having the camera on rubber bands: smooth in the middle but difficult to initiate and stop cleanly.

SonyBug

kymarto, thanks. I have a small gimbal for a phone so have some understanding of it. Good advice on the set the camera and don't touch it. I probably will just shoot always at 50mm, and have everything set for that. The shoot for my wife will be in a church with fair lighting. The camera will be the Sony a7m3, to the light response will be good on that sensor. Again, thanks for the tips, being semi quarantined gives me lots of time to play with it.

DennisC. Loc: Antelope, CA

The DJI Ronin-S and the Moza Air 2 are both excellent. It does take practice to balance them and get good results, I have both of these gimbals and use the Ronin the most. The Moza Air 2 is on sale now.

johnny1950 Loc: Palm Coast, Florida

I just purchased the crane plus. So far so good. All the advice above is very important especially if you change anything. Even the position of the screen from flat to out or leaving the lens cap on when balancing. You did not say if you would be shooting stills or videos.

jrm21

I have a Zhiyun Crane Plus and love it. Using it on a Sony a6400. Your FF camera is a little heavier and I'm not sure if the plus can handle it well (check the specs if you are interested in that model). Either way, the Crane Plus is now discontinued, so I wouldn't recommend it.

What seems to get some very good reviews is the Zhiyun Weebil S (newer/improved version of the Weebil Lab). Currently about $100 less than your budget.

Many love the DJI Ronin, and DJI makes some good products. Based on my personal history with DJI products, I prefer Zhiyun gimbals.

If your "important need" is due to shaky video (one of my problems) a gimbal, along with working on some better technique, will definitely help.

Gimbals are very easy to use. The only tricky part is learning how to balance the camera. After one or two tries, that can be done in under 30 seconds.

SonyBug

Thanks, I did order the Zhiyun Weebil after a recommendation by a BH expert. Looking forward to it!

johnny1950 Loc: Palm Coast, Florida

Wish you the best of luck. I am very satisfied with mine I use it with my Sony A6400 will eventually try it with my Sony A7RII.
Johnny