Zhiyun
Professionals get that smooth-as-glass look from their video by using a three-axis stabilizer — a handheld gadget that flattens out all the jitter from your video no matter what kind of side-to-side, up-and-down or back-and-forth movement you make. It’s a modern version of the Steadicam, and is an essential tool for stepping up your video quality (just ask any social media influencer). These gadgets can get pricey, but the Zhiyun Crane M2 is usually priced at $269. Right now, you can get the Zhiyun Crane M2 for $161 when you apply discount code CRM2DPLS at checkout. That’ll save you $108.
You can find this gimbal at a variety of retailers, though this is the best price I was able to find by a wide margin — it’s full price at B&H and selling for $199 on Amazon.
The Zhiyun Crane M2 is designed for smaller cameras; it’ll accommodate most smartphones, action cameras and compact cameras up to about 1.5 pounds. It offers a full 360-degree pan, 210-degree tilt and 324-degree roll and the battery will last for about six hours between charges, which is pretty much a full day of shooting. It has built-in Wi-Fi to sync with Wi-Fi enabled cameras, which lets you remotely operate the zoom, shutter and video start/stop control from the gimbal without touching the mounted camera. It also has Bluetooth for connection to a mobile app, which gives you access to additional features, such as time-lapse, panorama and slow-motion capture.
The Zhiyun Crane M2 gets generally good marks at various video production sites and on Amazon, though several users note that the motor struggles with heavier cameras that get close to the gimbal’s max weight limit, so you’re better off getting the M2 if you want to mount your iPhone 11 Max Pro or a lightweight action camera.
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