The state of gimbals....

[adanac]

I'm moving toward a multirotor purchase that will allow me to fly a DSLR or mirrorless (most likely a GH4) and I feel I'm at a crossroads. When I started with multi's last year I kept hearing about what would amount to a "brushless revolution" that would bring many new gimbals to compete with the Zenmuse.

However, recent queries with individual pilots seems to indicate that there is still nothing as reliable as a Zenmuse, that the others are unreliable and fiddly.

If Zenmuse is still the way to go then I'll probably end up with an S800. If there are other great gimbal options now then I may choose another platform.

Your thoughts?

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

I'm moving toward a multirotor purchase that will allow me to fly a DSLR or mirrorless (most likely a GH4) and I feel I'm at a crossroads. When I started with multi's last year I kept hearing about what would amount to a "brushless revolution" that would bring many new gimbals to compete with the Zenmuse.

However, recent queries with individual pilots seems to indicate that there is still nothing as reliable as a Zenmuse, that the others are unreliable and fiddly.

If Zenmuse is still the way to go then I'll probably end up with an S800. If there are other great gimbal options now then I may choose another platform.

Your thoughts?

We've been hearing about the 'brushless revolution' ever since the Zenmuse came out. I personally went with the Zen because it just works, and great!

You don't need an S800 to lift a Zen. I'm sure many aircrafts will lift them. You will need a Wookong though.

 

[jimmygixxer]

Zens are good but have some crazy problems sometimes like all gimbals, But the setup, install, and user friendliness of the unit is so good.
I went Zen and not much compares to it in my eyes.
I fly a Vulcan 900 hex and also use a S800 sometimes.

 

[sk8brd]

yup- have yet to see anything as good as zen or movi results. people claim otherwise but the simplicity of a zen's setup and how stable the results are make it the benchmark among every other gimbal. i keep hearing of "awesome results" or "were almost there" but in reality the results are filled with jello and loss of horizon on their raw clips. not taking away the results from people that do the diy thing at all i realize it's a lot of work!! The repeatability of the zenmuse to obtain great results on an assortment of crafts everytime meaning no pid tuning- really is in a class of it's own. the zen was the only gimbal to freak me out and think i was looking at a still photo on more then one occasion during a hover on video's i have seen. On a craft with good balanced motors and props and proper gains you got one the best setup's there is imho. *For me personally i don't want to stabilize at all really nor mask vibration or shakes buy using slow motion- it's possibly to get good results on other systems by using warp stabilizer and motion tracking for horizon loss but not everyone has the real estate to do so like you can on 4k cam's. the true test will always be raw results no slow motion and the zen doest that best.

 

[Carapau]

I use a Zen and a Movi on my Skyjib. Whilst the Movi is awesome for being able to carry a variety of cameras and gives you massive flexibility, it comes at a cost, a flipping huge cost. The Zen however, is every bit as good as the Movi and at times I have even felt it is better but then you are limited to just the one camera and a very limited number of lenses. Bang for you buck, nothing, absolutely nothing comes as close as a Zen.

 

[sk8brd]

the abilty to use variety of cam's is really where dji is lacking, if they allowed this they would take over the whole market including freefly cause their stability is top notch and prices more reasonable. i have seen amazing result's by freefly so not taking anything away from the m10 but their cost's are a "bit" inflated on their products imo.

 

[gtranquilla]

For each camera axis, i.e., two or three, there are several adjustments required including a torque or deadband parameter and the typical PID loop control.
And PID loop control is the most common and practical application of calculus..... so that is a clue as to the potential struggle and confusion to get these working correctly.

 

[sk8brd]

is there a specific reason that dji was first to develop reliable brushless gimbal in 2012 before anyone else that performed better. was it cause they had resources or were just extremely talented people were working on it? i'm just wondering why not too many companies can deliver a product just as good.

 

[gtranquilla]

Seems to me I read somewhere that DJI started out in a University supported business incubation program that really took off big time and the amount of high tech engineering and automation resources available at some universities can be quite extensive. As far as PID loop control .... that's been around for about 45 years from the university automation engineering departments so it is all so easy from their perspective.

is there a specific reason that dji was first to develop reliable brushless gimbal in 2012 before anyone else that performed better. was it cause they had resources or were just extremely talented people were working on it? i'm just wondering why not too many companies can deliver a product just as good.

 

[Carapau]

I think it is more to the point that DJI has taken a pretty different tack to other gimbal producers ie they are building gimbals for 1 specific camera and lens combo (although other similar lenses can be used). Everyone else has tried to make gimbals hold various different cameras which is where difficulty in production climbs by an order of magnitude. Well, that's my take on it.