ripper2020

Hey thanks! I ended up keeping the big crane and got it balancing now so it's great. I did do the firmware update but I believe that test footage was shot at lower bitrate...maybe even mpeg. I shoot in aperture priority, DRO Lv4, vivid creative style with +2 contrast, -1 saturation, -1 sharpness. I'm extremely lazy and I like the footage directly from the camera with those settings.

Awesome, ordered it! It's a lot cheaper than the other options I've been looking at too. Thanks!

So, I got the hotshoe adapter and added the nuts included with the adapter and it now balances perfectly. Thanks to all for the suggestions and information! Now, I'm looking to get a mini / tabletop tripod to 1) be able to setup and balance the crane on and 2) use as regular mini tripod with my camera. Any suggestions? Ideally, I'd like to get a quick release plate that would let me switch between the two quickly - e.g. use one plate on the crane and similar one on the tripod.

I did some very basic test footage of my son. Strangely, to me, the unbalanced setup with the crane seemed more stable than the perfectly balanced setup (same exact setup) with the crane m. Here is footage from the perfectly balanced setup on crane m: https://youtu.be/e6B3bsB8njQ Here is the non balanced footage from full size crane: https://youtu.be/X1II_b7E7wY When I say not balanced, basically the tilt and roll axis roll back to level shooting position instead of staying put. I may just keep the full size crane and keep working to get it balanced...or just use unbalanced.

I believe this is my issue. I have the slider pulled all the way backwards (when camera is pointing up) and the lens still falls forward. The camera is not all the way to the front, but pretty far up. I think that's why it's so confusing for me, as moving the slider plate forwards and backwards and the moving the tilt bar both affect the tilt balance. I ordered a hot shoe adapter someone recommended a few posts back and I'll try adding some weight to the top. I received the crane m today and was able to get a perfect balance with both of my smaller lenses. However, I don't really like the feel of it as much - it's hard to explain but it feels like the camera is too much for it. I'm going to shoot some video and see how it turns out.

@gsenroc Thanks, awesome explanation. I'm a complete amateur so I have no idea what I'm doing and your instructions are very clear and easy to understand. I will try your steps when I get home from work tonight. Coincidentally, I have the crane M coming from amazon today so I'm also going to give that a shot. 90% of my video shooting will be with setup that weighs less than 600g.

version 2 uses two batteries. Not sure about the old batteries if that's what the 18650 is . Thanks, I'll give that a shot!

@gsenroc Hmmm...now I'm thinking I could try to add some weight to my camera, but not sure how. I was thinking a quick release plate, but all the ones I've looked at on amazon don't seem to sit perfectly flat on the bottom. Do you think the weight needs to be added to the top? Or, just the camera in general?

@gsenroc Thanks so much for the pics. Forgive my ignorance but, is the small ballhead the thing attached to the top of your camera? Also, any idea what the weight is of your camera setup? I'm thinking weight is definitely related to my balance problem. I ordered the crane M from amazon. My plan is to try that out and see if it balances. If it does, I'll probably return the crane. If it doesn't, I'll probably just give up on my dreams of stabilized video

@gsenroc Your setup sounds very similar in weight to mine. Do you mind posting a picture of where your camera is mounted and the tilt axis adjustment. Also, do you know if any of the motor settings affect balancing when the gimbal is off? I'm trying to get my a6000 balanced and ready to send the gimbal back as everything I've tried hasn't worked so far.

Okay, Here is my first video. Sorry about the crappy footage, all I have is my phone to record. https://youtu.be/eKbsrQSNTxE You can see that with my sel55210 I was finally able to get the tilt axis working so it stayed in position when I let go. The next video is trying to balance at all with the simga 19mm - https://youtu.be/wRE0M3pKWVQ. There is only one small spot in terms of moving the mounting plate forwards and backwards where the camera will sit anything close to level. If I want it to point up to the ceiling, I have to move it all the way to the front and push the tilt axis adjustment all the way up. However, then when I tilt the camera down, it swings back up. Let me know if anyone has any tips. I'm basically just trying to figure out if it will work with my setup or I'm just doing something wrong.

@jonpais I'll try to get some video on my phone today after work. @Axel The a6000 is quite a bit lighter than a6500 - it's less than 350g for body only. I guess my question is, should I not use this gimbal if my setup is less than 600g? I.E. is it physically impossible to balance a setup that weighs less than 600g? I was thinking about getting the crane m which seems to support lighter cameras. I'm mostly going to shoot with primes so my total weight will almost always be less than 600g. Lastly, I have the "notify me of replies" option checked when I reply in this thread but I didn't receive any notice in my email. Is there something specific that has to happen to trigger that notification? Thanks again.

Axel, New to gimbals and just got zhiyun crane v2. I spent about 6 hours this weekend watching videos of how to balance / setup the crane and trying it myself. I could not get it to balance with my sony a6000 and my sel3518 or my sigma 19mm. Both of these combos are well under 600g ( I think about 450 ) but I thought this would work based on zhiyuns minimum load of 350g. Also, there seems to be a lot of youtube footage of the a6000 with kit lenses which I think are pretty light ( I don't own any ). After finally finding this forum and reading your posts, I added my largest zoom lens and I was finally able to get the tilt axis to balance. However, then I tried to get the roll axis to balance and could not. Would this also have to do with the weight of my setup? Even with the zoom lens the weight of the setup was ~650g. So, does this mean I should go for the smaller crane m? Or, am I just doing something wrong? I tried to follow your instructions above in this page but couldn't follow. If I can balance the tilt, does that mean the roll should work as well? Thanks in advance for any advice.