I was recently sent the Zhiyun Crane M2 for review. This is an electronic gimbal meant to help you get more stable footage. This gimbal is smaller and lighter weight so it’s meant to be used with smaller cameras like smartphones, action cameras, point and shoots, and if you’re micro 4/3, APS-C or full frame camera is small and light weigh enough, you can also throw that on the M2. I was actually pretty excited to get this but after essentially my first use, I can tell that there were some issues and annoyances that no one seems to be pointing out. Don’t get me wrong, this thing works and functions as it should but I think it’s overhyped and you should be aware of some things.
First, let’s look at the design. One thing that other reviewers really like to highlight is this gimbal’s ability to lock up so it doesn’t move around during transport. This was something that I was really looking forward to, until seeing how it is implemented in person. At the base of the pan axis is a physical switch to lock this axis in place. This lock works flawlessly.
Then we get to locking the other axis. Unlike the pan, there is no physical lock anywhere else. The upper section of the gimbal is held in place by a series of cutouts that line up with each other and a pin that holds the camera carriage in place. Storage mode is basically accomplished by utilizing friction and male/female alignments. The problem with this is that over time, the surfaces that require direct contact will get absolutely destroyed. Say goodbye to that nice black finish. Another problem with this is that because you have to go out of your way to take the gimbal out of balance to put it in storage mode, you’ll have to re-balance the gimbal every time that it is utilized.
But wait, another thing about the M2 that is overhyped is the memory lock. This is essentially a stopper that you can set so that when you throw the gimbal out of balance, you can easily move the adjustment point to where the stopper is and know that that is where it should be to have a balanced gimbal. That’s wonderful! It works well, but it’s only available on 1 of the 5 adjustment points. It’s only available on the roll axis. Thank you for making my life easier on the point that’s easiest to adjust and not anywhere else!
Another thing that people seem to be hyping quite a bit is the quick release plate. This can be extremely useful but here, it’s pretty stupid. This isn’t new. Many other gimbals use a quick release plate system but with those, you actually get a functional system. They use plates that are common like the Manfrotto or Arca Swiss style. Here, we get a proprietary plate. This means that you either have to have a camera dedicated to this gimbal or be prepared to switch plates as you move from this gimbal to something else and of course, be prepared to rebalance every time because the camera carriage ajustment point is the same as the screw that holds the camera in place. On the more thought out gimbals, these would be two independent things. Because these two thigns use the same screw, the screw has to be big enough so that people can put enough torque on it to tighten it in place. This makes putting the camera with the plate down on a flat surface impossible. I just think that the entire camera carriage section was poorly thought out.
Finally, from someone who uses a lot of gimbals and makes instructional videos on balancing them, the Zhiyun Crane M2 is probably the hardest gimbal that I’ve ever had to balance. A lot of this has to do with it’s overall size. Because it’s made for smaller cameras, the gimbal and it’s adjustment points are smaller. When I balance this gimbal, it seems like I’m often extending the adjustment points to their max. It seems like with any adjustments, the parts start to hit each other and cause cosmetic damage. For the small size of the gimbal, we give up proper clearance for balancing. This may also be an issue for come cameras as the cameras may bang up against the gimbal during balancing and in use.
Even with these complaints, if you were to ask me if I would recommend the Zhiyun Crane M2, the answer would have to be yes. For the price of this gimbal, it’s going to be hard to find something as feature packed and versatile. This is a great gimbal but some of its features were just overhyped. I received this product for free for review. I would assume that other reviewers who made early reviews also did too. I just wonder if these other reviewers really did not notice these issues/annoyances or they just chose to keep their mouths shut in hopes of getting more free products in the future. Again, this gimbal is recommended but don’t think that it’s the perfect gimbal. Some of the designs could use improvements but this is probably the best that we have right now.
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