In case you haven’t been paying attention, there’s a revolution going on in camera stabilisation.
For five of the past six years I have used, loved and travelled with a Glidecam HD-4000 to every wedding I’ve filmed. Now, with electronic gimbals like the Movi and the Ronin, it’s looking more and more like the Steadicams and Glidecams of the world are on their way out. Weights, muscles and basic physics are being replaced by motors, algorithms and computers.
Not the muscles, actually. Electronic gimbals are plenty heavy too.
So when the Ronin-M came out I bought one and spent a few months putting it through its paces at real weddings. Does it live up to the hype? Is my Glidecam gathering dust?
Where The Ronin Wins
On simplicity and ease of use it beats the Glidecam handily, and it isn’t close.
You can hand this thing to almost anyone and they will produce a shot that looks great, because it removes most of the technical skill a Glidecam demands. That is genuinely remarkable.
It’s also easier on your body. With a Glidecam the entire weight of the camera hangs off one arm and it gets tiring fast. The Ronin spreads it across two, so you can hold it for longer without the same upper body strength.
Where It Loses
Setup time. This is the one that matters for weddings. The Ronin takes something like ten minutes, and it has to be packed into a case whenever you’re not using it. The Glidecam takes about ten seconds. At a wedding I rarely have ten minutes spare. I’m usually running around like a madman trying to get to the next thing.
You cannot put it down. Not without a stand to rest it on. That sounds small until you’re holding it and need a hand free.
Price. Build the Ronin out with all the parts you actually need and you’re spending roughly triple what an HD-4000 costs, which makes it hard to justify.
Battery life, which is not as good as the Glidecam’s, on account of the Glidecam not having a battery.
When Would I Buy One?
Two clear cases.
If I weren’t strong enough to work a Glidecam all day, because of how the Ronin distributes the weight.
And if I shot more film sets and corporate work. Anything where I have time to arrive, set up, calibrate, balance, and do multiple takes to get the shot. That is the exact opposite of a wedding day, where I’m moving between locations constantly and cannot stop for electronic calibration or battery swaps.
The Verdict
I think gimbals are the wave of the future and Glidecams are on the way out, in the same way self-driving cars are the future. They’re just not quite there yet. The technology will get better, the apps will get smoother, they’ll get more stable and grow more features.
For now, though, I would settle for a gimbal that simply lets me put it down without a stand. Is that too much to ask?
So: for all the witchcraft and magic DJI have managed to fit into the Ronin-M, I’m going to be selling mine and keeping the Glidecam. I know at least one wedding filmmaker who took a Ronin-M to Iceland, hiked halfway up a mountain with it to film a couple, and had a great time. It works for plenty of people. It just doesn’t work for the way I shoot a wedding day.
When somebody makes a gimbal that’s smaller, lighter, faster to set up and can stand on its own, I’ll seriously reconsider.
All the gear I use is on my gear page.