Summary [ Click On Topic To Jump To It ]
Gimbal stabilizers are an important accessory for those who strive to achieve high quality photography and videography. If you have reached a point where you feel that a gimbal stabilizer is necessary for your work, it is best to understand the different options available in the market.
Types of Gimbals
Electronic vs Non-Electronic
Gimbals can be broadly divided into 2 categories, electronic (or motorized) and non-electronic (or weighted mechanical system). With electronic gimbals, servo motors are used to stabilize the camera. The added benefit of motors is that if the camera is not perfectly balanced, the motors can compensate for it. Of course, the electronic gimbals come at the cost of extra energy requirement (extra battery for gimbal) and sometimes extra maintenance for the servo mechanism.
The other option is the non-electronic variant. Weighted mechanical gimbals do not have motors so the balancing of the camera needs to be accurately adjusted at the counterweight mass of the gimbal and vice versa. However, with mechanical gimbals you do not have to worry about carrying an extra battery, recharging their battery, etc. This type of gimbals is relatively cheaper than the motorized ones but, as the price of electronic gimbals continues to drop, this starts to become less important when deciding between electronic and non-electronic variants.
Specialized forms of Gimbals
Normally, gimbals are used with standard cameras like DSLRs but there are gimbals available in the market that are especially designed for use with small cameras, such as the GoPro, and smartphones. Some gimbals are quite versatile as they can be used with both cameras (big and small) and smartphones as their mounts can be adjusted through attachments.
Features of Interest
The features discussed below are mainly focused on electronic variants of gimbal stabilizers.
2-axis vs 3-axis: Most electronic gimbals come with 3 motors which can rotate the camera in 3 different directions. The trade-offs for 3 motors include increased weight and battery consumption. However, some gimbals are limited to 2 motors and, as a result, offer less degree of freedom to the rotation of the camera. 2-axis gimbals are very rare these days as they have been phased out by the 3-axis models.
Payload limit: Before buying a gimbal, do consider its weight limit. It is important to think about the weight of any attachments, like your preferred lens, and the batteries as well. Going over the payload limit may cause excessive strain on the motors and may lead to abrupt failure.
Build quality: Build quality becomes important if you intend to use the gimbal in rugged environments. Qualities like water resistance and toughness are essential for harsh use. To obtain these features, there are additional costs as they are normally found in higher-end gimbals.
Battery life: Battery life is an important feature when it comes to gimbals. Normally, they can survive 8 – 20 hours of work on a single charge. This amount can significantly drop due to the improper balancing of the camera because the motors will need to work significantly harder to keep the camera stable. It is always handy to have removable batteries as you can simply swap them out with a spare which prevents interruptions due to charging breaks.
Final Word
There are numerous factors that will help you decide whether a gimbal stabilizer is needed or not and, if it is needed, which one will suit your line of work. Every gimbal will excel in some areas but may lack in some others. Explore the market for different options at your desired price point. It may feel a hassle but you will end up making a better and informed decision which leaves no regrets about your purchase.
In order to help you simplify your purchasing decision, we search an insanely large number of articles and reviews with the help of our smart Artificial Intelligent and Machine Learning platforms, process the results, analyse them and send them to our professional tech experts for further screening, to compile the golden shortlist, as we call it, with the overall Best Gimbals.
In order to come up with the Best Gimbals, our smart platforms and experts have taken many factors into account such as product fitness for use, features that meet consumer needs and give customer satisfaction, freedom from deficiencies or defects, conformance of standards, value or worthiness for money, reliability and dependability, quality of design, quality conformance to needs and regulations, safety, actual user satisfaction and many others. It is important to note that we prefer not to rank our selected products as different consumers have different needs (i.e. budget, storage space, functionality etc.). However, in the shortlist that we compiled, you can certainly find the overall best ones regardless of your needs.
Our intelligent platforms and dedicated experts work hard to provide you with the best product options. We believe that our review analysis can help you simplify your purchase decision and choose among the very Best Gimbal Stabilizers.
