In-body picture stabilization, or IBIS, has develop into fairly good at offering stabilization for images at reasonably low shutter speeds. However IBIS just isn’t nice for handheld video, and that’s the place video gimbals are available. These handheld gadgets use a lot bigger motors to supply further stabilization, which means a lot smoother video. I just lately examined one in every of DJI’s newest gimbals, the DJI RS4 Mini, which is among the inexpensive choices that also suits a full-size mirrorless digital camera. How did it carry out?
Video Gimbals Defined
Video gimbals stabilize video footage and excel when the digital camera is shifting, panning, and tilting in a wide range of dynamic angles. They appear to be difficult sticks on which you connect your digital camera:
DJI has develop into an enormous title within the video gimbal trade just lately. A few of their gimbals are small and meant for lighter cameras or telephones; others are heavy-duty, high-end gadgets meant for rigorous use with giant cameras and lenses. Even their drone cameras are stabilized with gimbals. The RS4 Mini is someplace in between and helps as much as 2kg of digital camera tools, which is a lot for many customers.
Fundamental Options and Construct High quality
My first impression was that the RS4 Mini is a sturdy gadget. It’s fabricated from plastic and Teflon-coated steel, and the knobs and locking switches are strong. Nothing feels free or wobbly, together with the mini tripod and the briefcase deal with.
The digital camera attaches to the gimbal by way of an Arca Swiss plate system. There are easy-to-read measurement ticks on the axes that mean you can place your digital camera precisely, and to be aware of the measurements so that you don’t must re-balance your setup each time you turn to a unique digital camera or swap lenses.
Talking of – as soon as a digital camera is mounted on the RS4 Mini, you must steadiness it alongside every axis to ensure that the gimbal to work correctly. The process is fairly straightforward, and there’s a last fine-tuning characteristic that improves the efficiency by routinely adjusting tensions of the axes. It’s additionally bought a tremendous adjustment knob for the digital camera itself, which helps for balancing a bigger load.
The choices on the gimbal could be accessed from the contact display. From there, you possibly can management the responsiveness of how the gimbal follows movement, the pace of the pans, and the capabilities of a number of the buttons. There may be additionally a devoted swap on the suitable aspect that controls which axes are locked – so you possibly can, for instance, management whether or not the digital camera ought to tilt or not if the gimbal is tilted.
The RS4 Mini additionally has just a few buttons to manage the digital camera. To make use of them, you’ll want to connect with the digital camera utilizing a cable or bluetooth. The supported cameras are listed on the gimbal’s internet web page – though it isn’t complete, as the unique Nikon Z6 labored correctly however just isn’t listed. In case your digital camera isn’t supported, and you plan to make use of these buttons, chances are you’ll have to buy a customized cable individually. (That stated, all newer cameras with a USB-C port will work with the offered cable.)
When you join the digital camera, the report button on the gimbal will begin and cease video recording. With many digital camera fashions, you may as well pull focus utilizing the dial on the entrance of the gimbal. Whilst you might nonetheless management these capabilities on the digital camera itself for those who want, touching the digital camera or lens whereas the gimbal is in operation will wreck the smoothness of the video.
Observe that for pull-focus, you will have to make use of a cable, as a result of pull-focus doesn’t work by Bluetooth. Newer mirrorless lenses will work superbly with pull-focus as a result of the AF motors of such lenses are usually designed with video in thoughts. Then again, most older tailored DSLR lenses will seemingly be troublesome to make use of pull-focus easily with the distant management resulting from their jerky motors.
Other than utilizing it for pull-focus, you may as well configure the entrance dial on the gimbal to vary ISO, shutter pace, and aperture as effectively, or simply preserve it for controlling the pan or tilt of the gimbal itself. Personally, I discovered the aperture management to be very helpful, because it’s one of the vital incessantly modified settings in video.
The gimbal has one giant set off on the entrance too, which can be utilized to lock the present route that the digital camera is dealing with. That is helpful whenever you wish to method some topic after which lock the digital camera within the route of your topic. Urgent the set off twice will reset the gimbal place.
Briefcase Deal with and Mount
The DJI RS4 Mini comes with an additional attachment referred to as a briefcase deal with. This little accent is a should for a lot of forms of photographs the place you modify the peak of the digital camera. You possibly can alter the angle of the deal with utilizing a rosette-style locking system, which could be very helpful.
The hande itself is an efficient measurement and works effectively. You employ it by holding the gimbal with one hand and the deal with with the opposite. It helps stabilize the system any time you wish to maintain the digital camera at waist-level or decrease. In any other case, it’s very troublesome to carry the gimbal, which turns into roughly horizontal.
Even with more easy photographs, the deal with is beneficial for lengthy intervals of taking pictures. It’s extra comfy to have one hand on the deal with and one on the underside of the gimbal, as proven within the picture above. Observe that the mount for the deal with is an ordinary NATO mount, and thus it will also be used for different equipment like a light-weight or microphone.
Clever Monitoring
The clever monitoring system of the RS4 Mini is a cool idea, and one not current on many gimbals. It’s a small digital camera module that may be connected to the gimbal that has fundamental human subject-recognition. As soon as connected to the gimbal, it can routinely transfer the unlocked axes to trace the topic throughout the body.
Its monitoring could be personalized. You possibly can management its observe pace and whether or not to maintain the present composition or middle the composition. It will also be activated and deactivated with hand gestures, in order that the individual in entrance of the digital camera can activate it.
I discovered the module to be fairly good at monitoring, even once I examined it indoors with a really dim lamp. It aids in following topics that you simply’re filming, and it will also be helpful for filming vlogs with the gimbal mounted on a tripod.
Stabilization System
As soon as I balanced my digital camera on the RS4 Mini, the stabilization system felt excellent even once I moved the digital camera round in pretty weird pans, tilts, and rotations.
The footage I bought was fairly easy, but it surely did take some apply to discover ways to use this gimbal. It’s not as easy to make use of as a easy video fluid head, and also you’ve bought to stroll as easily as potential, too. That’s true of all video gimbals on this smaller measurement class, but it surely’s price figuring out.
The RS4 Mini additionally has some controls that ought to make dynamic forms of footage simpler. For instance, you can also make it rotate for pan and tilt utilizing the small joystick. The movement right here was very easy, in my expertise. And since the gimbal is moved by easy motors, it’s even simpler to pan than a good fluid head, like my Manfrotto Nitrotech 408.
Talking of motors, the gimbal itself is silent. Which means if you’re utilizing a small on-camera microphone, you gained’t get additional background noise from the gimbal operation – though in the most effective of instances, a microphone ought to ideally be off-camera anyway. However past the priority of microphones, it’s extra enjoyable and fewer distracting to make use of a silent gadget like this.
The RS4 Mini additionally has two useful modes:
- Orbit Mode: A mode that makes round and arc actions smoother
- Sport Mode: A mode that will increase the observe pace of the gimbal so to extra simply observe quick and erratically-moving topics. Will be very good when used along side increased framerates like 60fps or 120fps for slow-motion. It may be activated by merely clicking a button.
The said capability of this gimbal is 2kg, however in apply, it’s all the time greatest to remain slightly below that weight as a way to maximize the gimbal’s efficiency and battery life. The utmost weight I used was about 1kg with my Nikon Z6 + FTZ II + 50mm f/1.8 + Variable ND filter, and it labored very effectively. Nevertheless, for those who recurrently get very near 2kg or possibly even wish to surpass it slightly, the bigger DJI RS4 can be the gimbal for you; it has a capability of 3kg. For the actually heavy-duty customers, the DJI RS4 Professional helps 4.5kg.
Weaknesses
It was exhausting for me to seek out any weaknesses of the DJI RS4 Mini, because it labored effectively each time I picked it up. Nevertheless, I do want for a detachable battery. The battery life wasn’t dangerous – it solely drained to 55% after 4 hours of fixed use – and for most individuals, it may very well be used all day with out charging. However an interchangeable battery would mean you can preserve taking pictures even throughout longer journeys the place charging isn’t an choice. And ultimately the battery, like all batteries, will get previous and never maintain a cost as effectively.
One other factor that may very well be improved is the position of the monitoring module on the gimbal. On smaller cameras, the monitoring module blocks the strap eyelet so the digital camera can solely go to this point within the plate. This makes changing the digital camera barely harder if you need to take it off.
If obligatory, you would take away the strap eyelets in your fundamental video digital camera. And even for those who don’t, you possibly can nonetheless use any digital camera with the gimbal. Simply bear in mind that the digital camera could must be rebalanced when the monitoring module is connected (which is a good suggestion anyway, because the module barely modifications the burden distribution of the setup).
The one different detrimental level is that the gimbal requires activation utilizing a smartphone app whenever you first get it. It’s true that after you activate it, you by no means want to make use of the app or a telephone once more, however for my part, there is no such thing as a motive to require customers activate the gimbal within the first place.
Aside from that, you don’t have to be an knowledgeable to set it up. You need to use it just about instantly, and it doesn’t require earlier expertise taking pictures with a video gimbal.
Conclusion
The DJI RS4 Mini is a superb video gimbal. If I wanted to make use of one phrase for the RS4 Mini, it could be: enjoyable! It’s a formidable piece of apparatus for videographers. And though it takes up extra space than one thing like a DJI Osmo, it’s good to get the additional video high quality from utilizing your bigger digital camera setup. If I had been occurring a visit and making a video about it, I’d undoubtedly carry the RS4 Mini alongside.
Should you’re considering shopping for the RS4 Mini, contemplating buying it at B&H by our affiliate hyperlink beneath, which helps fund opinions akin to this one: