March 18th, 2020

The Zhiyun Crane Lab 3 Review!

Today we are reviewing the Zhiyun Crane 3 LAB.

I won't get into every feature, but might highlight some of them in this review. My review is more on a gorrilla style of shooting.. as in a freelancers perspective.

Let's get into it. 
Before i get into the explanation of what i do and don't like, let me tell you whether i like it or not. 
I had the Crane 2 and I regret selling it to get this one. I recommend you buy tje crane 2 or the weebill s.

Now let me tell you why.

Here are things I love about the lab 3.
I totally dig the locking feature for all the axis altough the bottom one is finixy. It makes it so easy to balance the gimbal, it speeds up the times by about a minute or so. 

I appreciate the features that it has, you can add a follow focus motor, a zoom motor which can open up plenty of great opportunities for some dope shots. I like that it has a wireless video transmitter for your phone. So you can plug the hdmi connection and transmit a wireless video signal to your phone.
I also like the 10 pound capacity and that it has a Re-center button to re-align your cameras horizon. 

Now, let's talk about the bad.

The battery life drains so fast, especially since the wifi signal turns on every time you power on the gimbal, the signal drains the battery even quicker. If your planning on powering your camera with the gimbal and using the wifi to transmit the wireless signal expect it to last maybe 3 hours. When i used it and only had the camera being powered by the gimbal, it was at half the battery life in just an hour. That shocked me, i could film about 4 hours with the crane 2 and only drain half the battery life. Having extra batteries will be a must if you are wanting to use the crane 3 for a long period. 

The handling and button layout is horrible. its awkward to hold especially if you are zooming the lens or trying to do anything else with you hand. With a heavy set up it gets to you quick. The button lay out is pretty bad, the RE align, POV and Follow buttons are in the back, and it's hard to see which one you click while shooting, but the worst part is that the pan only and lock buttons are in the front.

It's awkward, i rather have the click and double click to switch modes instead. the buttons in the front are a horrible idea. Everytime i would try and use the full follow mode from the back i would accidentally hit the lock mode or the pan only button, which would f**k up some of my shots, especially while following the subject. 

So ergonomically, its so bad, and bulcky, it does however make you look professional. People know you are the deal when you show up with this as opposed to other  small gimbals.

The gimbal comes with a foam carrying case which i think is ok, useful to put the gimbal away, but not useful to carry from location to location.

And there you have it!
Those are my thoughts about this gimbal. I do really regret upgrading to this gimbal, the crane 2 was just fine. Yeah you lose the locks for the axis and video transmission, but you gain the ergonomics.

The handle feels cheap and it just doesn't last for long shoots, maybe i'd be happier with it if I used a heavier set up or really used it for more short films. The video transmission feature is what sold me to get this gimbal, Sadly it's too time consuming to set up. and with the battery draining fast, this gimbal is not worth the upgrade.

So if you're looking into a gimbal for event videography, consider the crane 2 or weebill s. if you do mostly youtube videos or shorts. then this bad boy is for you.
Thank you for reading and sorry about the errors, I'll get a grammar app soon lol

Let Me know what Products you would want me to review next or what subject you would like me to talk about on the next blog and video.
Until then, remain calm and stay blessed!

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​The Video Review