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THIS CRANE IS INSANE: ZHIYUN CRANE 3S

Hey guys how’s it going, Will Dano here from Origin Films and today I’m going to explore with you the Crane 3S from Zhiyun and try to find out what kind of beast this thing really is. To start off, obviously this gimbal has shooting modes we all love, like lock mode, where both your pan and tilt are locked, or follow mode where both your pan and tilt are enabled, an app to help you dial settings in, a joystick, follow focus wheel, interface buttons to help you change settings right on the gimble and it never ends.

What Makes It Different?

There’s a specific feature that sets this gimbal apart for me personally that other gimbals can’t really compete with, especially in the same price range. That feature is its fourteen-pound weight capacity, which is insane. Before, when I used to want to shoot with a cinema camera like a C300, FS7, Red Epic, whatever it is, I resorted to renting really expensive, really high-end and difficult to travel with gimbals just so that I can get a few smooth shots using a cinema rig. They’re big, they’re expensive and it’s hard to travel with them. The Crane 3S comes with a comparatively smaller case than a lot of other gimbals. Everything is pretty easy to set up. It’s so much more affordable and it can still lift all the rigs that I would need it to lift like a red epic with a V-Mount battery and a long zoom lens and a follow focused kit, while leaving clearance for going to under slug mode, which is something that most other gimbals, if not all other gimbals, cannot do in this price range.

Screen Shot 2020 10 31 at 11.00.47 AM min 300x159 - THIS CRANE IS INSANE: ZHIYUN CRANE 3S

Something To Keep In Mind:

The crane 3s is five to four pounds heavy, which means at the end of a long shoot, you might have some pretty serious bicep action. That’s not really an issue because you can rig this gimbal to look and work however you want it to look with additional handles and a whole lot of accessories that will make shooting a lot easier. It’s still pretty easy to shoot without any accessories, but if you want to rig it further and make it a complete set, you still can. The great thing is that actually, if you’re working with a really big bulky setup, regardless of his weight, even if it’s really light or pretty heavy, you can actually just unscrew one of the parts here in the actual gimbal, make it a little bit bigger, and then screw the part and it will give the gimble more clearance to hold bigger rigs.

Screen Shot 2020 10 31 at 11.03.50 AM min 300x160 - THIS CRANE IS INSANE: ZHIYUN CRANE 3S

The reason this is cool is because they actually give me the option to rig it to be bigger for larger rigs or to rig it back down to a smaller size. If I’m using a smaller camera with it or I want to make it a little bit more compact for travel. To the fact that they give you the option to either keep it a little bit smaller or to increase the size. There’s a really big plus for me. I don’t even have this heavy of a camera to test this properly. The heaviest thing I have and tried is my Panasonic GH5 with its kit lens and a shotgun microphone on top, which is actually pretty long and a little bit difficult to balance with most gimbals, but this was really smooth.

Screen Shot 2020 10 31 at 11.04.30 AM min 300x167 - THIS CRANE IS INSANE: ZHIYUN CRANE 3S

I did this even without extending the arm and it worked perfectly great. I can’t go under slug mode with the shotgun microphone attached. For that I’d have to just increase that little arm that I told you about. But sometimes I don’t even go in under slug mode, so I don’t have to spend the extra time to make the arm larger.

Another Handy Feature:

You can use this guy right here to transmit the image from your camera to another monitor on set,

Screen Shot 2020 10 31 at 11.01.32 AM min 300x159 - THIS CRANE IS INSANE: ZHIYUN CRANE 3S Screen Shot 2020 10 31 at 11.05.18 AM min 300x163 - THIS CRANE IS INSANE: ZHIYUN CRANE 3S

and it conveniently clamps right to the bottom of the mount. This actually makes it easier to operate gimbals because usually, the main problem with gimbals is when you’re moving, it’s a little bit difficult to pull focus yourself. And so you’ll have to rely on autofocus. But with this makes it a lot easier to transmit your image. Have someone else pull focus for you while you get the actual shot operating the gimbal. I have just a few test shots for you guys. Nothing special, but you can take a look at the stabilization that you can get from this gimbal. Again, I had this with a Panasonic GH5 with the 12 to 16 millimeter F2.8 – F4 and a shotgun microphone on top without extending the arm, take a look on our youtube video to check out the results.

Final Thoughts:

So what can I conclude about this gimbal? It’s literally the strongest gimble that you can buy for the most affordable price possible, and it’s also smaller and easier to use than a lot of other gimbals that you’ll probably have to spend way more money to either buy or rent out every time you have a shoot. Also makes it easier because I don’t have to switch gimbals all the time. I can just use one gamble for really big 12, 13, 14 pound setups or strip it down to something that I could just use with my Panasonic GH5 or any other Mirrorless or DSLR camera. All right. I hope this was as fun for you guys as it was for me. If you have any questions about this gimbal, please put them down in the comments section below and I’ll be sure to answer every single one of them. And I’ll definitely see you in the next one.

Also, make sure to check out our blogs page to learn more tips & tricks and upcoming news.

By |2020-10-31T16:26:30+00:00October 31st, 2020|Gimbal Tutorials, Upcoming News/Products|0 Comments

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About the Author:

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Origin Films INC. is a fresh, innovative and growing Video Production company based out of Toronto that focuses on Commercial, Corporate, Weddings, Real Estate, Events and Film & T.V. Productions. Since our start in late 2016, we’ve produced over 100+ projects and built an Instagram following of over 100 thousand followers. We’ve worked with companies such as Tourism Thailand, Remax Realestate Center and K-Swiss and have helped produce multiple short films.
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