Hey ATOMWA Brains Trust!
I am just starting enquiries about purchasing electronic gimbals for DSLR cameras for Yr 10-12 Media & Film students to use in their productions.
Anyone have suggestions from experience of good/ bad brands/ suppliers, things to consider/ watch out for, or observations about students using them in their classes? Keen to hear.
Also, I am considering purchasing some LED light bars and/ or ring lights for my Photography classes, for use in product photography/ portraits/ etc. Anyone have any feedback, would appreciate it.
Thanks!
Kind Regards,
Simon James
Teacher
Hi Simon,
I use the Feyutech ones – I think they’re good quality. I have the small one for phones, medium for the mirrorless, and the larger one for the DSLRs. The only hassle with gimbals is the balancing for the cameras, but once done, they work a treat. Purchased form PRA.
Cheers
Hi Simon,
Gimbals are great, but they need a fair bit of understanding how they work and how to set them up. Additionally they can be tricky with dealing with focus or changing focal length (they need rebalancing if you zoom because the weight shifts).
We have two Crane 2s and they are excellent. Battery life is fantastic and they are robust and relatively easy to balance. They have some neat features like being able to focus the camera manually and adjust settings.
Saying that, while we have an Osmo X3, I personally have an Osmo pocket and think that is a great great entry point into having a gimbal that takes all the hassle out of using them. No balancing required. Unlike the X3 it can be used with and without phone and when using with phone plugs in directly so no wifi to have to deal with. Image quality is basically the same, but the X3 chewed through batteries while the Pocket lasts for ages. You can also get underwater housing for it which is handy to have. We already have gimbals so will probably add a couple of pockets for our uses.
For lighting I dunno about models, but try to get the biggest panels you can get. The small panels are pretty weak once you add a bit of diffusion to them and they look pretty nasty without / direct. Something big enough to bounce would be ideal I think. But if it’s for photography, better off getting proper strobes IMO. They have have much higher output and easy to get modifiers for. We have some strobe replacement type LEDs that fit big soft boxes and are massive, heavy and still have nowhere near the output or light quality. They are however excellent as high output bounce film lights.
Back to gimbals, the Ronin S should be a bit better than our crane 2s, it was a different story 2 years ago. They’d be the ones I’d be looking at, but beware they are pretty weighty.
Good luck with your hunt!
Hello Simon,
We have two Ikan 3 axis gimbals https://ikancorp.com/shop/gimbals/horizon-one-3-axis-handheld-gimbal-stabilizer-e-image/ and I admit I am not a fan. It is possible that we got an earlier generation to these but they are frustrating in a few ways.
They have American plugs to charge them and need an Australian adaptor
The device looks like it has a port to plug in and charge but this actually does not work and you have to remode the device to gharge it
Balancing it is actually very very difficult – the plate that attaches to the camera has a few different compnents and small screws and I am amazed that none have been lost yet (touch wood)
With regards to balancing it we can really only have any success when using the lightest kit lenses (ahhh the 18-55) – the better quality cine lenses that are more weighty are near impossible to balance.
We have 2 of these DJI osmos https://www.teds.com.au/dji-osmo-with-x3
film quality is quite good
the device connects to a mobile phone app that is frustrating as students have to download this to their phones in advance and set up an account. I’m not going to let students run around school with my phone!
We looked at getting a system like this pro 3 axis gimball – I remember Camera Electronics had one ex-demo going cheap a few years ago https://www.teds.com.au/dji-ronin-3-axis-stabilised-handheld-gimbalbut decided against it as it was just too bulky and also quite tricky to balance. We borrowed one and tried it with a few students and they all said that they wouldn’t want to borrow it. Visions of lugging it home on the train haha.
Sooo we have not found a great solution for the gimball – I’m tempted to try the ones where students can just click in their phone or a gopro and try those instead. It is possible tghat the DJI Ronin gimball is better than the Ikan… I have heard good things about this. But balancing them is still a lesson – and I’d want to know students can do this on their own before loaning equipment to them to take home.
Regarding lighting we have some great little square aputure LED lights https://www.aputure.com/ I see they have a new kit that has 4 lights and fully colour adjustable which is cool. We also have some large round edgelights https://www.teamdigital.com.au/shop/studio-lighting/studio-lighting-edgelight-led/lishuai-led-edgelight-520mm-circular-panel-variable-color-te/ which are stunning. Though you do need a weighty stand and a sand bag for security. Team Digital also sell the LED bars which I haven’t played with much. In my photog classes I don’t tend to use LED as I prefer 3 studio flash light kits (old school haha). Elinchrom, Bowens or random Ebay Brand.
For lower school we even have good old Bunnings outdoor LED floodlights for the green screen work.
For suppliers:
Team Digital
Leederville Cameras
PRA
JB Hifi
Though be aware that anything that needs to be ordered in is taking aaagggggeeeeesssss because of Covid.
Good Luck!
Kind Regards
Kristyn Bowtell