- Hey guys, Jonathan here.
Today I'm showing off what is my favorite
gadget of 2018 so far.
I realize there's plenty of time left in the year
but there's been nothing that's given me
this much fun at all this year.
It's actually what is being used
to record this video right now, the DJI Ronin-S.
Now also quick shout out if anyone wants a chance
to win a brand new LG G7 ThinQ,
make sure to check out my Instagram,
get a chance to win your very own.
(upbeat music)
So while that footage was captured
on the Ronin-S and Sony A7 III
and if you come by my behind the scenes
on the Elon Musk MKBHD interview,
everything there was also captured using this setup.
The Ronin-S is a motorized three-axis gimbal
meant to stabilize DSLRs and mirrorless cameras
so again in my case, I have a setup with the Sony A7 III
but it'll take a payload up to eight pounds.
So in this case, Mr. Brandon Havard
has a 1DX balance which is a pretty heavy setup.
Next, I am by no means an expert
but here are some tips that I found helpful
when balancing the camera.
So the number one tip I can give you
is make sure this bottom plate is properly tight
and you don't want this loose and falling around
because that will 100% screw you up.
First step is to make sure this is unlocked right here.
We're going to slide that in
and the way I've kind of done it
is the first step is I will balance it this way.
So I'm gonna hold this with my hand and kind of just
use that to kind of feel out the balance.
Once I get somewhat close, I'll kinda lock it
and then see how that goes.
So that's good from there.
The next thing I wanna do is see how it balances
pointing up so looking at that, it's a little bottom heavy,
so what I'm gonna do is give it just like a little
slight adjustment and that's really the key here.
It's just like the game of like minute adjustments.
I'm gonna lock this back up.
See how that works and see, now we're top-heavy
so give it just like the little bit of adjustment.
That's pretty good.
I'm gonna go back to the front and back, that's solid.
And the next thing I'm gonna check is the side to size.
So we're definitely leaning to the left
so the way I'm gonna compensate is here, unlock
and if it's going this way, this is the way we wanna go.
You gotta have a lot of patience for this
like any little small thing will throw you off
and now I'm going to the right.
So that seems good.
That's not bad.
So again, the goal here is to get it as balanced
as possible with the motors off.
That way when the motors are on,
they're gonna do minimal work
and that's really the way you wanna go.
Now for a lighter setup like this
or if you're using a ZEISS Batis,
I would say this part here for the most part
is going to be all the way down
and then from there, now we can power on the motor
and things should be good to go.
Now there's a Ronin app that you're gonna wanna
download to your phone, this is gonna help
make sure we balanced everything correctly.
There's a built-in balance task which is really helpful
and that way if you happen to be off on your tilt,
your roll or anything else, it's gonna let you know.
So head over to configuration, settings, more,
balance test and then it's gonna
kind of auto do its thing and make sure
everything is uniform and working perfectly.
So here we can see tilt excellent, roll excellent,
pan excellent, so if you were off, it would let you know.
Next from there, the next thing I wanna do
is head over to motion parameters, select auto tune
and that's just kind of my rule of thumb
for every time I balance this with a new setup,
if you're going for like the same setup again,
I wouldn't do this too much
but just showing you what works for me.
So we're locked and loaded, ready to go.
One of my favorite moves with this is the parallax
where you try to focus on the object
in the center of the frame.
You can take it a step further and kind of go
for that 360 vibes which I'm gonna show you now.
So Rich is our lovely demo I got him locked in the center.
And you really wanna be like light on your feet.
I got a pull so I'm gonna try to stay around that.
And again, I'm just trying to get better with this
but it's good practice, just pick an object,
keep it in the center of the frame,
be light on your feet,
and you're good to go.
Now quick tip with this,
if you ever wanna get back to the center point
or your starting zero point, just double tap this
it's gonna bring you there.
If you wanna do straight moves,
not kind of go for that parallax move,
hold it while you're walking into the subject or away
so again, I'm gonna demo Rich, walk back here.
Find where he is at, I'm gonna hold it, lock it,
and then I'm just gonna walk in there.
So I got Rich locked and loaded, I'm going to walk back.
Tree, walk forward, and yeah that is so much fun.
This wide-angle lens is like kind of crazy on here.
Now this is 4K 24 frames per second
but if you were rocking slow-mo,
that's like a whole different beast and way, way more fun.
Now this video is kind of like a two in one,
yes the Ronin-S so far is my favorite gadget
but it's also kind of paired with my
maybe second favorite gadget, the Sony A7 III
which for the money, I think is honestly
the best camera of 2018 so far.
Next, I'm gonna hop over to S&Q mode, 120 frames per second
is 1080 but it's really sharp.
I'm gonna show you the difference there.
Now with this trigger too,
if you wanna swing it into low mode,
hold it, swing it down, and then let it go
if you wanna do the parallax.
And again, now I'm gonna flip
this screen out just a little bit.
Rich, you got some beefy calves.
(upbeat music)
Or if you just wanna go for a push in.
Money.
Wooh, it's hot man, it's like a 100 degrees
and it's humid out here.
- [Man] What kind of camera you have?
- [Jonathan] A7 III.
- 'Cause I have the A 65. - Okay.
- [Man] I'm about to shoot right now.
- Okay. - Is it a big difference?
- The biggest difference if you're getting
a full frame with that.
- [Man] Thank you, last question, sorry to bother.
- [Jonathan] Oh you're good.
- [Man] Which one do you recommend, the R III or that one?
- [Jonathan] If you're doing video, just save the money
and get the three.
The biggest difference with the R is the megapixel count
but actually for video, the A7 III
is technically sharper 'cause it shoots
like a 6K sensor and then down samples it into 4K.
so the biggest difference with the R
is you're getting more megapixels which is for photos
but for video, yeah, just save the money,
put that in the lenses.
- Thanks man. - Yeah.
- [Man] I appreciate, do you have a YouTube channel?
- [Jonathan] Yeah, just if you search TLD,
it'll come up T Tom Larry David.
- Sorry. - No, you're good.
- T? - TLD, Tom Larry David.
So if you follow me on Twitter,
I haven't had the greatest luck with bigger gimbals,
actually like smashed myself into a rock recently.
Now I'm gonna kind of walk down the stairs
and see how that rolls.
(upbeat music)
How you doing, Rich?
So yeah, I've had so much fun with the Ronin-S.
The price for what it does is amazing.
I think my only complaint is
that it's nearly impossible to buy right now
because everybody wants one.
It is technically a B&H exclusive
so if you pre-order one, I think the wait time
is about one to two months.
So hopefully, they get on top of that
because I think anybody who shoots with a DSLR
or mirrorless camera needs one.