DJI Osmo Mobile 2 and Ronin-S: Two Feature Rich Gimbals
DJI is already a well-known name in drones, but it is also the brand referred by photographers as the producers of stabilizing gimbals. The recent launch of DJI Osmo Mobile 2 has further solidified the reputation of the company as a gimbal manufacturer. This has come as a follow-up to the original Osmo which the company produced earlier. This new one actually came with a more affordable price tag of just $129. But that is not all. The company also has come up with a new stabilizer for both DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.
What Osmo Mobile 2 offers?
The Osmo Mobile 2 has many similarities with the previous gimbal launched by the company though it has been revamped with several positive changes as well. It is basically a three-axis gimbal just like the predecessor allowing steadiness of the camera countering shaking movements and practically allowing smooth and shake-free movement of panning and tilting of the camera.
Exceptionally handy and lightweight
The best thing about this new gimbal is obviously it’s exceptionally handy and lightweight design. It is made using high-strength modified nylon giving the whole thing a lightweight built. It comes with a mobile clamp on two sides to help to capture both portrait and landscape mode images. The entire gimbal comes with a folding design to help packing it into backpack more easily. There is also an additional 1/4-inch universal screw mount for ensuring further ease in stabilising the camera.
Easy to reach controls
The easier positioning of camera controls is another great attribute of this new gimbal. You have easy to access and simple camera controls right on the handles. From the handle itself, you can manoeuvre all controls including shutter speed, ISO, etc. While these controls were there earlier as well, right now with the new gimbal, you have a zoom slider as well. According to the company, this zoom slider offers additional support for more movie shooting techniques such as dolly zoom.
Awesome battery life
With the new gimbal, battery has also been upgraded and has been given more capacity than ever before. The Osmo Mobile 2 battery is capable to last for as long as 15 hours at a stretch which is around 3 times greater than the earlier gimbal. Moreover, the USB port also allows you to charge your camera or smartphone in case you need to charge them.
More features with DJI GO app
The gimbal also comes with a companion DJI GO app offering some useful features. The ActiveTrack feature allows you to lock onto a subject and follow it. The Motion Timelapse, on the other hand, offers support for as much as five different positions for the camera. The Hyperlapse mode allows you to blend timelapse videos with camera motion. There are also other modes such as Panorama, Long Exposure, and LightTrail. On top of all these, the same app also allows you to stream video live on social channels and YouTube.
Ronin-S is another offering
As the company is likely to target CES 2018 to showcase its user-friendly gimbals, there is also another product in the lineup called the DJI Ronin-S. This one is basically a single-handed stabilizer that has been purposefully built to work with DSLR and mirrorless cameras instead of the smartphones. It will help preventing shaking movements to cause glitches in the image and video shoot.
Just because compared to smartphones cameras are larger in size and bigger in weight DJI has decided to bring Ronin-S with two different frame options, respectively for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. Each one comes with high-torque motors, and according to the company, these gimbals can even do the task of stabilising bigger cameras such as Canon 5D or Sony Alpha cameras or Panasonic GH series cameras.
Setup with this camera gimbal is quite easy. There is a push mode to adjust the pan and tilt by hand while there are axis locks to do the whole thing quickly. It also comes with dedicated buttons for camera and gimbal control along with a joystick that can easily control the framing. Additionally, you also have a sports mode allowing faster camera movement. The connected companion app comes with all the different modes as available with the app of the Osmo Mobile 2.
Final verdict
Both gimbals scheduled to be shipped from February this year seem to deliver the most affordable and feature rich gimbals at a very affordable price tag.
Dhruvil is a Writer & Marketeer for Nimblechapps, joined in December 2014, based out of Sydney, Australia. He has worked briefly as a Branding and Digital Marketing Manager before moving to Australia. At Nimblechapps, he worked on Social Media Marketing, Branding, Email Marketing and Blogging. Dhruvil studies Business at University of Western Sydney, and also handles Operations for the company in Australia.