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Zhiyun Crane V2 - XT3 & 10-24 f4 compatible?


Dustin
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So I’m renting a Fuji 10-24 f4 for a few days to do some real estate photography for a friend. I purchased a gimbal in the title the crane v2 back in March. I’ve only toyed around with it slightly. Last night I was so frustrated I’m about ready to sell it. I followed several videos on how to balance the gimbal and it appeared to be sitting level on my stand yet when I fired it up the camera would be level, yet as I started walking its like I lose control of the direction. I’m not telling the gimbal to pan but as I walk the camera will make these micro movements to the left or the right. I also notice the camera ever so slightly bouncing up and down when walking sometimes. Could it be that this combo is too heavy for this gimbal? Why won’t the camera stay locked unless I tell it to pan? It’s hard too describe but it just feels like the camera is controlling the gimbal and the gimbal can’t handle it.
 

I’m definitely a gimbal noob but I’m thinking about selling if I can’t figure this out. 

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I’ve since read that the maximum weight capacity of the v2 (not the 2) is 3.9 lbs? The 10-24 I’m renting feels like a couple pounds alone. Perhaps it’s either just a bit too heavy or I just don’t have it balanced enough. 
 

Shouldn’t the gimbal keep the camera steady from moving unless you tell it to? Isn’t that the whole point of a gimbal? Like when I use it with the mode where it will only pan with the zhiyun joystick on the back; even then the camera seems to slightly veer left or right and I can definitely see the camera moving subtley. Any advice would be appreciated 

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Wound up just doing photos on this job. Couldn’t get the gimbal balanced without the described behavior above. I looked up the approx weight of the xt3 and 10-24f4 but totaled, the weight shouldn’t be more than the advertised Crane V2 capacity of 4lbs? Does anyone else think perhaps the crane v2 couldn’t handle the weight or did I just set up the gimbal wrong?

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I wish I can help you on this.... the biggest problems I’ve faced in the past is balancing.... you need to be next level passionate about it.... once you get it, you have to keep practicing with different lenses and stuff. I bought into one, used it once and it wasn’t even properly balanced (spent 4+ hours before I said fuck it.... it’s good enough) thereafter I started hiring other people who were good at gimbal work (time is money and if I can allocate my time elsewhere - where I’m not spending the time to balance). The guy that I hired often got it down to 5 to 10 min. any camera and any lens.

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1 hour ago, mkabi said:

I wish I can help you on this.... the biggest problems I’ve faced in the past is balancing.... you need to be next level passionate about it.... once you get it, you have to keep practicing with different lenses and stuff. I bought into one, used it once and it wasn’t even properly balanced (spent 4+ hours before I said fuck it.... it’s good enough) thereafter I started hiring other people who were good at gimbal work (time is money and if I can allocate my time elsewhere - where I’m not spending the time to balance). The guy that I hired often got it down to 5 to 10 min. any camera and any lens.

I appreciate your thoughts man. I’m just trying to wrap my head around the why. Just seems that if the gimbal was properly balanced I shouldn’t have had it acting on its own.. 

 

Anyways, this is a hobby for me not my nine to five so I will either keep trying to give it a go but you may see a crane v2 for sale on eBay soon...

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I have a Crane 1 and a Weebill s.

Whenever you have a problem, you should definitely try to calibrate the gimbal. Now, i've never had a Crane V2, but I would certainly imagine that it has the ability to be calibrated.

On the Weebill S (and I think on the crane one) you use your phone to connect to the gimbal and start the calibration process.

It is best to be near a computer with a video about calibration on the computer since the images on your phone will most likely be too small.

Hope this helps. 

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53 minutes ago, Mark Romero 2 said:

I have a Crane 1 and a Weebill s.

Whenever you have a problem, you should definitely try to calibrate the gimbal. Now, i've never had a Crane V2, but I would certainly imagine that it has the ability to be calibrated.

On the Weebill S (and I think on the crane one) you use your phone to connect to the gimbal and start the calibration process.

It is best to be near a computer with a video about calibration on the computer since the images on your phone will most likely be too small.

Hope this helps. 

What I'm talking about! Thanks man. Found this video and will give this all a shot.

 

 

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  • 2 months later...
On 9/22/2020 at 3:35 AM, Mark Romero 2 said:

Let us know how it works out. 

Hey Mark, curiously I wound up just now trying to balance my XT3 with the Kit Lens. For whatever reason - when trying to calibrate...I just can't seem to get the calibration tool to work. Pretty much ready to put this thing up for sale, unless anyone else has any ideas or success in calibrating their Zhiyun Crane V2 gimbal on MacOS? For whatever reason - the gimbal and the software were not picking each other up. Also you never see the V2 gimbal on the Zhiyun site, only the Crane and Crane 2. 

When balanced, the gimbal as-is with my XT3 just isn't calibrated. Barely moving the gimbal a few inches forward for instance, causes it to struggle to figure out where the field of gravity is and it starts going left/right etc. Just not reliable as-is. Again, if anyone has success in calibrating a Zhiyun Crane V2 Gimbal on MacOS - let me know 🙂

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Alright so after fooling around with the blasted computer app that wouldn't connect to the gimbal... I finally decided to try the phone app. (yes I know there are several reviews against this app but I took a chance). The app seemed to connect and I was able to "recalibrate" my gimbal by walking it through the 6 steps. Unfortunately, the behavior stays the same using just my Xt3 and Kit lens. Maybe I'm understanding gimbals wrong here but when I walk it's not supposed to randomly pan slightly right? Isn't the point of a gimbal to isolate the camera for smooth motion? Meaning if I'm trying to walk forward I don't want it jerking. 

Perhaps this is all user error. I did balance the gimbal after recalibrating to the best of my ability. Maybe I'm not the best gimbal balancer. Probably am not. Either way - this is too much work to deal with and I've been trying to use it all year. This thing is going up for sale very soon I'm giving up. Any other gimbals on the market that are EASY to balance that aren't $500? (I think I paid $190 for this back in march)

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