The RS 3 Mini is without a doubt my favorite gimbal I have ever used, and if you are someone like me who prioritizes having a lightweight filmmaking setup above everything else, you are absolutely going to love this gimbal. Spoiler for this review out of the way.
My name is Matt Johnson, and today I am reviewing this gimbal from the perspective of a wedding filmmaker and telling you why I think DJI absolutely knocked it out of the park with the RS 3 Mini. So if you film weddings or documentaries or real estate, or you are just wanting a lightweight and affordable gimbal, this review is for you.
Also, for the sake of ethics, I want you to know this video is not paid or sponsored by DJI in any way. They do not even know I am making it, and I bought this gimbal with my own money. Well, technically I bought it with DJI credit I had built up because I have bought so much stuff from them in the past, and they give you credit whenever you buy through their website. So I did use my own money, but it was more like a gift card than cash.
Gimbals Are Finally Shrinking
In the world of gimbals, it feels like manufacturers like DJI and Zhiyun were chasing a need they saw to make bigger and beefier gimbals with bigger and beefier motors, like the Crane 3. Heads up: this link goes to the newer Zhiyun Weebill 2 Pro. And do not even get me started on the DJI Ronin-S. Heads up: this link goes to the newer DJI RS 5. That gimbal was stupid heavy, and you can comment below if you remember the arm workout you would get from that thing.
My point here is that things were just getting too heavy whenever it came to gimbals. Thankfully, in the last couple of years it feels like we are finally seeing a shift in the other direction. DJI released the incredibly popular RS 3, which has a ton of carbon fiber and comes in at a svelte 2.8 pounds, which was such a welcome change. But most importantly, even with that lighter weight, these new gimbal motors are still powerful enough to hold heavier cameras. It is the best of both worlds, lighter gimbals that are still powerful.
This trend of lighter gimbals has now continued with the announcement of this little guy, the DJI RS 3 Mini, and look at how tiny it is. Heads up: this link goes to the newer DJI RS 4 Pro. I love it! DJI has managed to make this gimbal even smaller and lighter than any of their other offerings, but at the same time it still has powerful enough motors to hold most camera setups these days.
If I had to compare how using this gimbal feels to something, whenever I was filming a wedding with it recently I was filming with my friend Justin Porter, who you may have seen from TikTok, and whenever he held this gimbal he said it felt to him like he was holding a DJI Osmo. You know what I am talking about, one of those little baby gimbals DJI makes that holds a cell phone. Now granted, Justin works out, he lifts. But I agree with him. This gimbal is super lightweight at 1.8 pounds. It almost feels like something that should be used to hold a cell phone, not a bigger camera.
Motor Strength
That said, the motors are still quite strong. In my testing the RS 3 Mini unsurprisingly easily held my a7S III with a 24mm lens. It also held a heavier 24-105mm lens, which did strain a bit due to how much that lens extends.
As a plus, I was even able to balance a Sony 70-200 f/4 on it as well. Keep in mind though, that lens was total overkill. I actually had to mount the camera to the gimbal instead of the lens, like you traditionally would, to get the center of gravity to work properly.
So my point here is that even though this gimbal is tiny and feels more like an Osmo, it is still easily strong enough to handle the vast majority of mirrorless camera and lens combinations you can throw at it today.
That said, I do want you to be aware that this gimbal does have some limitations in regard to motor strength if you are used to coming from a bigger gimbal, with the biggest difference being that if you are using a zoom lens like the 24-105 I was using, and you need to zoom the lens while it is on the gimbal, this gimbal’s motors are not strong enough to hold the camera steady while you use the zoom ring, and the gimbal’s arms are going to want to rotate. This is not a huge deal, I just wanted you to be aware of it.
Battery Life, And It Surprised Me
The small size of the RS 3 Mini coupled with its relatively strong motors is a huge pro. Whenever I bought it I was concerned the motors might not be strong enough, but I was pleasantly surprised.
That leads into my next area of concern, because unlike its bigger brother the RS 3, I was worried that because this gimbal is so small its battery life may suffer, especially whenever you consider that it only has an internal battery here in the handle and that battery is not swappable. Unlike the larger RS 3, which has a detachable handle you can swap out if you need to change the battery, with the RS 3 Mini your only option is to charge the gimbal if it runs out.
And if you watched my review of the Zhiyun Weebill 2, which was another gimbal billed as being smaller and also did not have a swappable battery, one of my biggest complaints about that one was that it only lasted about half a wedding day before I needed to charge it to make sure I could get through the rest of the day. So in a word, the RS 3 Mini’s small size and relatively smaller battery made me nervous.
Thankfully, I am so happy and excited to tell you that my fears were completely unfounded, because I was frankly shocked by the battery life I got from this gimbal. I tested the RS 3 Mini in a real world scenario, filming a wedding from 9:30 in the morning until 10 at night, with my camera on the gimbal the majority of the time, of course also being mindful to turn it off whenever I did not need it.
By filming that way on and off for over 12 hours, I ended the wedding day with the gimbal reporting its battery percentage was still at 54 percent. Yes, over half the battery was still remaining, and I used this gimbal all day at a wedding. If the battery had been down to 30 or 20 percent I would have been getting nervous, but heck, at 50 percent I could have gone out and filmed another entire wedding day without charging it. The battery life is awesome on the RS 3 Mini.
Of course, in a perfect world I would still love it if the handle was detachable or the batteries were swappable, just to give me that extra peace of mind as a professional who stresses about battery life a lot. But I understand DJI wanted to make this a simple and affordable gimbal, so it’s cool, and I think you can trust it for even a long day of filming.
Power On Speed And Settings Memory
I am not done telling you what I love about this gimbal, because we need to talk about some other cool features, starting with power on speed. The RS 3 Mini starts up in a few seconds, which I feel is on par with most gimbals these days, and I have no complaints about how quickly you can get it up and running.
More importantly though, one thing I love about this gimbal, which I am sure is present on other DJI gimbals but which for me, coming from Zhiyun, is great to see, is that this gimbal remembers the settings you were using whenever you start it up.
What I mean by that is that I am a big fan of using pan tilt follow mode on a gimbal, meaning that when I use it I not only want the gimbal to pan side to side whenever I rotate the base, I also want it to tilt up and down. In the past, with my Zhiyun gimbals, every single time I would turn the gimbal off and back on it would default to basic pan follow mode where the gimbal would not tilt, and that was a huge pain because I would always have to go into the settings and change it. Of course it was only a button press or the flick of a switch, but it was still something I had to remember every single time.
Thankfully the RS 3 Mini remembers the setting I was using whenever I turned it off, so every single time I turn it on it saves me a second. It’s the little things.
Accessories, And Why I Do Not Recommend Them
There are other features the RS 3 Mini supports as well, like mounting points on the side here for a briefcase grip, as well as the ability to connect your camera to the gimbal with a control cable so you can start and stop recording.
For me though, I am a simple man. Whenever I am filming a wedding, the last thing I want is for my camera to be connected to a gimbal with a cable, because I am taking the camera on and off the gimbal all the time. If you film weddings or film fast like I do, I am sure you understand. You get a shot with your gimbal, but then immediately after you want to go handheld, so you put the gimbal down really quick to take off your camera.
While you’re here, take a look at DJI RS4 Mini Review: The Best Small Gimbal Gets Better.
If you are filming all day on a gimbal and never taking your camera off, by all means, get a camera control cable to use with the RS 3 Mini. But if you are like me, you do not want any of that extra stuff. You want a super simple gimbal that will get you stable footage, and if you have to reach up and press record on your camera instead of moving your thumb to press a button on the gimbal, that takes maybe half a second longer. It is not a big deal.
So that is my general stance on accessories for the RS 3 Mini. I am sure they are nice, but I have not personally used them, other than plugging in the camera control cable from the gimbal into my Sony camera to confirm for you that it does work and that you can start and stop your recordings from the gimbal.
Wishlist
If I had some wishes for the RS 3 Mini that I could dream they might include in an RS 4 Mini, then as I already said, I would love it if the batteries were swappable, or if the handle was at least swappable. That would put it more in line with the RS 3 Pro.
Another feature I would love the RS 3 Mini to take from the bigger RS 3 would be the auto locking arms. I was talking to Justin Porter about this and he was telling me how he thought the auto locking arms were a gimmick on the RS 3 until he used them, and now he cannot go back.
Lastly, I would love to see a different quick release plate for this gimbal. In a perfect world it would be the same as the Manfrotto quick release plates I use on my cameras, but those are pretty big. I just wanted something a little more standardized than what DJI went with.
All that said though, if any of these additions, in the form of an extra battery or auto locking or a different plate, were to add weight to this gimbal, I would not want them added. Because I know I said it earlier, but I need to reiterate, I absolutely love how lightweight it is. If you are someone like me who films weddings or other events where you are filming for 12 plus hours at a time, like I did when I tested this gimbal, I was so thankful it was lightweight, because usually halfway through a wedding my arms are killing me from carrying a heavy gimbal around. With the RS 3 Mini it was a joy to use all day, and I do not want to see DJI screw that up by adding weight to a successor.
In fact, here is one more thing I would like to see DJI do with a successor to the RS 3 Mini. Make it carbon fiber like the RS 3. Make it even lighter. I’m fine with that.
The Price, And Should You Buy It?
Of course, carbon fiber could make it more expensive, but that leads into us needing to talk about the price of this gimbal, which is frankly ridiculous in the best possible way. At the time of making this video, DJI is charging 369 bucks, which is easily the cheapest price I have ever paid for a gimbal, and that makes me really happy.
Like I said earlier, this gimbal almost feels like it is in Osmo territory whenever it comes to weight. But seeing that price tag, it is close to the Osmo in price as well. I am telling you, the RS 3 Mini is dangerous, because it is almost in impulse purchase territory for some filmmakers. I have plenty of friends who are going to look at that price and say, oh, only 300 something bucks, I’ll buy it right now.
So should you buy it? Well, like I said at the start, the DJI RS 3 Mini is without a doubt my favorite gimbal I have ever used, and if you are looking for a super lightweight gimbal with absolutely stellar battery life that you can film all day with and not feel like you did 500 bicep curls the morning after, I think you are going to absolutely love it, and I highly recommend it.
You can buy the DJI RS 3 Mini at B&H, at Amazon, at Adorama or at Best Buy.
Other Recommendations
Speaking of things I recommend, you have got to check out my color presets. If you like the colors in this video and you want colors like them with your cameras, regardless of whether you film with Sony or Canon or Panasonic or Nikon, you are going to love them.
I am also going to link my free Edit Videos Like A Pro guide. This guide walks you through some of the biggest things that took me years to learn as a video editor, and it is going to help you level up your editing fast. You can check it out for free.
Here is my full list of filmmaking gear too.
Thanks so much for reading, and have a great day!