Inside of here we have the brand new Zhiyun Crane 3s.
And this is exciting for a couple different reasons.
First thing I ask when I see a new gimbal,
What can it fly?
Is it made for phones?
Is it made for mirror-less cameras?
On the packaging itself, there's a photo of a red
with an Angenieux EZ Cine lens on there.
Not a small setup.
(grunting)
This is the gimbal I usually use to fly the red.
So as you can imagine, having something this small,
packed into a suitcase, awesome!
So, already I'm already impressed
at the size and weight of this thing.
And also, price point.
Right now they're selling this kit here for 739 bucks.
And it looks like if you don't care to have
this rear grip here, you can get it for 649 bucks.
Comparing that to other gimbals
that can fly a package like this,
that's not bad at all.
Now this is gonna be more of a first impressions video
because it's actually my first time setting it up.
And Zhiyun is sponsoring this video,
so there's going to be a really dope giveaway coming up.
So we obviously have our gimbal itself here.
And this has a three-eighth inch screw.
So bigger than your typical quarter-inch.
We got a latch and that just slides into the back here.
And we're going to lock that in.
As always, love 18650 batteries.
They're easy to come by,
they're powerful, they're inexpensive.
And then we have our baseplate.
Not 100% sure if this fits a Manfrotto tripod.
We also have two little rods here for follow focus.
This actually looks like it's a little bit smaller
than your standard 15 millimeter rail.
Something to keep into account.
This looks like a lens support.
So, that could be nice with heavier lenses.
And also, I noticed that this helps
stabilize the camera on this baseplate sometimes, too.
We also have what looks like a little block
to elevate your camera on this baseplate a little bit.
This is kind of a must have
for a lot of mirror-less cameras.
Now this little accessory is something
I don't think we'll be needing
because we have this external arm here.
But if you don't have this arm, then this comes into play.
And this is an extender for the arm.
So that is actually pretty interesting.
Apparently we're going to be able to extend out
this arm here when you have a bigger,
longer camera setup.
So that's definitely something
we're going to have to try out in a bit.
Kinda want to test the limits of this.
This claims a 6.5 kilogram payload.
What's 6.5 kilograms in pounds?
- [Siri] the answer is 14.33 pounds.
We'll just start small with out Canon EOS R
and work our way up.
We got to start off by installing
this block onto this plate.
And we got to do that because the lens
is a bit bigger than the camera itself.
So, here's the bottom of the camera and it will hit.
So by attaching this block it's going to
give the lens a little bit of clearance.
Nice touches, all the quarter inch screws
that they give you have a slot for an allen wrench.
So you can go in and crank it down tighter,
with one of these.
It's especially useful when you're using this block,
because when you try to go and tighten a camera
with this screw, you have to reach through this slot.
And a screw driver wouldn't really fit in there,
but this does.
And it is also the same size screw as
what Peak Design has been incorporating
into a lot of their mounts.
So that's cool.
Alright, all nice and secure.
And I'm just going to leave this microphone on here.
I mean we're way in the clear in payload
so, why not, right?
It looks like we're all balanced,
pretty straight forward.
And just like Zhiyun's other gimbal,
I like how you can lock all the axes.
It's useful when you're transporting it,
so it's not flopping around all over the place.
And it could also help with balancing,
because then you could just focus on balancing
one thing at a time.
So you could lock everything in like this
or you could also make it a little bit slimmer
for transportation, something like that.
And each of these locking mechanisms have three stages.
So this is obviously loose.
And then you could also flip it down
and it basically stays loose
until it locks into its position right there.
So now it's in tight.
And then there's a fully locked position,
so it's not going anywhere.
Wow, you can definitely feel the strength of this thing.
Not bad.
And it already feels good.
They've definitely done a good job
with their algorithm lately.
So out of the box, it feels very fluid.
You don't really have to go in and adjust much.
It actually feels real nice having overpowered motors
with even a set up as small as this.
Because let's say I want to leave
this microphone on here.
There's a lot of gimbals that can do it,
but as soon as wind starts blowing against it,
I start to see the camera struggling a little bit
to try to fight it.
(leaf blower noises)
I say this worked pretty well.
(laughing)
And also, with all the lenses that extend
in and out as you zoom,
this should be plenty to be able to
support the difference,
so you don't have to re-balance every single time.
Like this is my current go-to gimbal.
This is the Weebill-S.
And this is usually what I'm using
when I'm shooting with this EOS R.
Although, I do take off that top microphone for that.
You can already see the difference in size,
but there's definitely a difference in weight.
This seems perfect for mirror-less cameras
and this EOS R with this, pretty large lens,
it balances it perfectly.
But anything bigger than that,
is probably when you want to start looking at the Crane 3.
Now, we are doing a giveaway with this Weebill-S.
So for a chance to win, drop a comment down below,
within the first 24 hours of this video going live.
I know you'll love it.
It's my personal favorite gimbal for small cameras.
So far, so good.
But no surprises there.
I mean it's an EOS R,
of course it's not going to have any problems.
Let's go put on some bigger packages.
So here's the C300 MKII, with the Sigma 18 to 35.
It's actually feeling pretty good on here.
Now this is just a small thing,
but I appreciate the little things.
The lever you use to loosen up the baseplate,
it also presses up against the safety release button.
So, in one motion, you can release the camera.
It's simple but it works,
and it makes your workflow just that much easier.
It does bump that eyepiece right there,
like it does with the majority of other gimbals.
So, let's try installing the extender arm
to try to give it a little bit more clearance.
So here's the extension piece.
I'm going to slap that into right here.
Good news, it's actually very easy to do.
It's just a matter of taking off four screws,
attaching the extension part,
throwing in this rubber sleeve to cover up the cable
and then attaching the head on the other side.
Oh yeah!
Now that is what I call clearance.
Look at that!
No problem at all.
Next I'm just gonna try to try to attach this bigger lens,
it's the Sigma 24 to 70.
Anyone that's tried to balance a C300 MKII
on other gimbals before, you're jealous right here.
Look at that eyepiece.
(movement noise)
Lots of clearance.
This is definitely going to start burning your arms
pretty quickly like this.
But when you're under sling mode,
I could probably do this all day.
All right, so we have the red setup on here
and first of all, it fits, it balances.
And this is kind of crazy to me
because every time I put this on a gimbal,
I have to strip it way, way down.
Meaning, everything that can come off the camera,
should come off the camera.
And attachments, you have to keep everything very minimal.
But I literally just bunched everything on here,
including the monitor, we have a Nucleus follow focus here
and a Teradek here.
Now Zhiyun does have their own follow focus system,
but I wanted to put the setup
that I usually use on my jobs, on here.
Like the Teradek.
I'm going to weigh this setup afterwards,
and here's how much it ended up weighing.
It's on the heavy side for sure.
(groaning)
The gimbal seems to be strong enough,
I'm not strong enough though.
And look at this though.
(excited noise)
Clearance!
Okay, I'm impressed.
I got to admit, I'm impressed.
Now this is Zhiyun's wireless transmitter,
which can just click in right there.
It's a good low profile solution.
This can wirelessly transmit your video feed
from your HDMI to receiver,
but also to the app, so your phone, or iPad.
I believe it's up to three devices
and it stays nice and tucked down here
out of the way of all this going on up here.
I also think it's interesting that this transmitter
has a built in battery in here.
Up to an hour and a half, I believe.
So, you can take this off of here,
put it onto hot shoe of a camera.
And of course all this works with the ZY Play app.
So I'm going to go ahead and connect to it with Bluetooth.
And that's how I can wirelessly control this
through the phone.
There's also the sync motion option.
So, as soon as I activate that,
that is going to synchronize with my phone movements.
Pretty cool!
So definitely some cool things to explore there.
But let's go take this out and shoot.
(calm music)
I got a couple of test shots with the C300 MKII.
Now, I want to say this is a pretty ideal camera
for this setup.
It's got that great dual pixel auto-focus in there.
And weight wise, it's not a lightweight camera
but it's also not a heavy camera.
So, it's reasonable to run around with it for a little while
and get your shots that you need.
Now, they weight definitely started getting to me
after a little while.
If your shoots are the type where you can get a few shots,
put it down, get a few more shots, and then put it down,
then you'll probably be fine with this.
The shots come out looking smooth and it's predictable,
but the weight definitely will get to you
if your shoot is a type where you have to keep it up,
you have to move around for 20 minutes at a time,
like no way.
I asked Zhiyun about this.
They said there's a whole bunch of stuff
already in the works.
Now the simplest way is to shoot inverted,
and you can either hook something up
to this three-eighth inch right here,
or you can clamp something down to this handle.
But that's more of a temporary fix.
One of the accessories they're working on with SmallRig
is a ring design.
So you can hold it on the sides,
you can attach an easy rig to the top.
So, that's gonna be one of the first things
I'd want to get for this setup here.
Also, this company called Digital Photo
reached out and said they have an accessory
that will work with this.
So, I'm excited to test that out.
But again, this is more of a first impressions type of deal.
I definitely want to follow up with a full,
in-depth video with this,
after I have a chance to beat it up a little bit,
take it to spaces.
So, make sure you're subscribed to see that,
when that comes out.
But first impressions,
really impressed with this thing considering
what it can do for the size and price.
Anyways should we wrap this up
by reading a few comments from my last video,
which was all about the Samsung S20 Ultra camera phone.
What's interesting is that that camera shoots 8K.
Which is kind of the overrated spec.
Glen says, "Honestly, I'm not that impressed
with the image out of that thing.
Too much processing going on, in my opinion."
Yeah, I agree with that.
I mean, that's the thing with cameras, right?
Just because it's 8K,
doesn't mean it's going to be an amazing image.
You really need good lenses, a good sensor,
just everything to be good for it to work out.
"When you realize your first phone did not
have a camera at all.
Damn, I'm getting old."
Yeah, isn't that crazy to think about how special it is
just to have any sort of camera in your phone?
My first phone wasn't even a flip phone.
I wanted a flip phone,
but it was just like some Motorola, black like block.
It had snake on it, so that was dope.
But then I got the Razr for a little bit,
that was like, the (beep).
One of the videos that I thought would be fun,
is to do the original iPhone versus the iPhone 10,
or iPhone 11.
So, I got one and I was going to use it
to shoot video clips.
Then I realized that phone didn't even shoot video.
So I never ended up making that video.
(laughing)
"I liked how you had the cinematic sequence going
and Sam opened the door to a bunch of McDonald's trash.
Mcdonald's and Tesla, oh my God."
(laughing)
You guys are so observant.
How did you guys even see that was McDonald's?
But anyways, that's all I got for today.
Thanks for tuning in.
I'm going to start testing this thing, heavily.
Beat it up a little bit,
and we'll be back with a full review.
(calm music playing)