Zhiyun Skull M2 3 Axis Stabiliser Crane M2

Product Information

The M2 S is a good balance between build and features, especially when you consider the price, and the fact that this small gimbal has the power to provide stabilisation for most compact mirrorless cameras with a lightweight lens. Switching on and the gimbal comes to life; in the case of the action camera and Camera, which were both balanced OK before switching on, everything worked fine. The Smartphone while not perfectly balanced levelled out fine, and any worries that the slight imbalance would upset the gimbal came to nothing. Overall the build quality and attention to detail are excellent; the buttons and switches on the handle are plastic for the most part but don’t feel overly plasticy. The main gimbal arms are all metal and very high quality giving a good balance to the build and design. Please also note that if your camera body of choice is not listed, the Zhiyun Crane M2 will still be able to provide you with some excellent level image stabilization but some of the features controlled via the gimbals handgrip such as auto-zoom will not be available. Zhiyun is releasing firmware updates on a regular basis to increase the number of supported cameras so by the time you read this it is likley that the list above will be out of date. Smartphone App

Film like a pro by tilting, panning and even rolling your camera smoothly. (Image credit: George Cairns) Tremendamente compacto, con unas dimensiones de solo 259 x 69 x 135 milímetros. Su sistema de bloqueo inteligente facilita su plegado y transportePantalla OLED para comprobar rápidamente el estado de parámetros como el Wi-Fi y el Bluetooth o la carga de la batería Thankfully, with Zhiyun being Zhiyun and not really being a fan of competition in a gimbal niche, they have decided to upgrade pretty much everything on the original Crane M and release the Zhiyun Crane M2. The new M2 has only been available on the market space for a matter of months at the time of writing but it is already dominating the sub-two pounds of payload weight class market and has managed to earn itself an outstanding reputation amongst videographers. Unfortunately, with the minimum load capacity of the Zhiyun Crane M2 being 0.29-pound you may struggle to mount some action cameras to it due to the majority of action cameras coming in under its minimum load capacity. If you do own an action camera and want to use it with your Crane M2 in addition to your heaver camera bodies you can sometimes increase the weight of your action camera by putting it in its waterproof case prior to mounting it to your gimbal to get it over the minimum weight threshold. That said though if you are looking for a gimbal exclusively for an action camera, something like the Hohem iSteady Pro 2 is definatley a better option as it is a great little action camera gimbal stabilizer.

At the price, I like the ZHIYUN M2 S a lot, it’s worth every penny for what it does, and the build is suitably solid and offers plenty of flexibility. The M3 may be a better choice if you’re filming with smaller mirrorless with small fixed focal length lenses, smartphones and action cameras. However, if you mainly shoot with a smartphone or action camera and sometimes with a small mirrorless the compact size, price and features of the M2 S make it an ideal solution. Effective image-stabilisation is a big selling point in smartphones and action cameras these days but nothing quite beats the fluidity and professional look that a motorized gimbal can bring to your video. If you are planning on using a mirrorless camera body with your gimbal on a regular basis then we would highly recommend that you seriously consider going with the Zhiyun Weebill S over the Zhiyun Crane M2. It is a much better gimbal stabilizer for mirrorless and DSLR cameras and in our opinion is one of, if not the best 3 axis gimbal stabilizer made to date. That said though, if you know that you will only ever be using the lighter point and shoot cameras then the Crane M2 is ideal and the perfect gimbal in our opinion.Grandes opciones de control con la aplicación gratuita ZY PLAY, que permite manejar remotamente el estabilizador y acceder a funciones tan interesantes como el time-lapse, la captura panorámica o la función de cámara lenta The final point that we want to make about the Zhiyun Crane M2 is that the handle grip is excellent. It is comfortable to minimize aches and pains during use for those longer sessions while also being very easy to grip even if your hand is wet or cold. This makes sure that you always have a firm hold of your gimbal and minimizes the risk of you accidentally dropping it when in use. Our Verdict The gimbal performs well, holding a GoPro, Smart Phone or smaller mirrorless with the kit lens without issue. For something so lightweight, this is impressive. Performance is impressive. Motion was kept smooth and steady whether I was standing still, walking or even jogging with the gimbal held in one hand. It’s smoother than the built-in stabilisation of even the best smartphones and, more importantly, a mile better than the stabilisation you’ll get with most compact and mirrorless cameras.