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By Jason Bean
Here at Torqued Magazine we’ve had the opportunity to put some of the industries best technological devices through their paces. And we love technological marvels. DJI has continued to produce industry leading tech that can only be described by one word, “WOW.” Over the last few months we’ve had our hands on the DJI Ronin S a feature packed camera gimbal. How did it do, read on for the details.
First off, explaining what is a gimbal.
Camera gimbals are devices built to stabilize handheld cameras for smoother shots while the camera is in motion. This would include action shots such as tue camera operator following behind a skateboarder for example. Gimbals typically use two or three axis points to achieve stabilization of the camera while in movement. These include pan, roll and tilt. The DJI Ronin S is a 3 axis gimbal which gives you the best ability to stabilize hand held shots through whatever movements you may encounter through filming.
The DJI Ronin S is DJIs 4th offering in their Ronin series of Gimbals. The Ronin S is their most compact offering yet. The Ronin S is geared to be handled by one hand which the other Ronin Models are for two hands. The Ronin S is more maneuverable also with it’s smaller size and lighter weight.
When we refered to feature packed earlier, we meant it. Here are some that stood out to us.
Battery : DJI is always producing industry leading battery tech, The Ronin S battery is no exception. The battery has a stated 12 hour lifespan on a full charge. Also the battery is actually the handle you use to hold the gimbal so its integrated right into the device.
Control: All within a fingers reach on the Ronin S’s handle are the controls. A single joystick, which is butter smooth controls all 3 axis of the gimbal with your thumb. Right next to that is the focus knob. And around the front for your index finger is the gimbals trigger. A tap on the trigger resets the camera to its original position, a double tap turns the camera around and puts it into a selfie mode so the operator can film themselves. And lastly, holding the trigger down puts the camera into full stabilization. While holding down the trigger you can roll, tilt, pretty much move the gimbal in any postion and it will keep that camera straight and upright. Which is the whole point of a gimbal, straight and upright smooth shots.
Adjustments: The Ronin S is capable of carrying various sizes and weights of DSLR and mirrorless cameras. With that versatility comes the gimbal adjustments. Each arm of the three axis has adjustment levers that simply loosen and tighten the arms. Each arm is labeled with a series of measurements thus helping you to adjust the gimbal to correctly hold and stabilize each cameras weight.
Ronin S App: The Ronin S has a dedicated app that is available for IOS or Android users. Unlike most apps for devices we’ve seen, this is in our opinion is where the best tech for the Ronin S comes from. First, after making your manual adjustments on the gimbals arms you can go into the Ronin S app and it will tell you how well your adjustments are for the carry load of the camera. It will literally tell you if you have too much weight out of balance.
The app also has a multitude of adjustments you can make to the gimbal such as the motors. You can control how each motor on the gimbal acts and handles the weight of the camera and your movements of the gimbal on your hands.
That’s brilliant in our book. There are so many features in the app its downright crazy. You can even setup the gimbal on a stationary point and setup parameters for the gimball to move you camera ever so slowly to film a panorama photo or video.
The Ronin comes with a tripod attachment that screws into the bottom of the handle to help you capture photography from a stationary non-hand held point. What is beautiful about this is that you then can control the gimball with the Ronin S App using a virtual joystick on your phone or tablet.
Versatility: The Ronin S comes included with multiple cables that can attach it to a variety of cameras so you can control the record, and focus options of the camera right on the gimbal. It comes equipped with a slide plate that easily attaches to various cameras and is setup with a quick release enabling you to effortlessly remove the camera from the gimbal when needed.
These are just a few of the features that stood out to us during our testing. As with all DJI products they think of everything and more when it comes to their devices. All features are well thought out and well placed on the device.
During our testing we filmed multiple action shots and stationary shots with the Ronin S. It worked perfectly as desired. We even used it in the mountains on a cold snowy negative temperature day and again it worked like a champ. It exceeded all of our expectations of what a handheld gimbal is and could be.
If you’re looking for butter smooth handheld shots, amazing tech and easy to use functionality the DJI Ronin S deserves your attention.
