Zhiyun Skull M2 3 Axis Stabiliser Crane M2

Product Information

Going for something a little lighter such as the 35mm f/1.8 does give a little more headroom on balance and the speed of reaction. Couple this with a Smartphone or action camera, especially the Insta360 One R and you have a powerful filming rig. It’s incredibly easy to balance and use, and while I did use it with a Sony A73, I found that it’s coupling with either the iPhone 11 Pro or Insta360 gained the best results. Sitting between the superb ZHIYUN M3 and Smooth 5, the M2 S is the perfect balance of the two in every respect. Design-wise, it’s very similar to the M3, yet in size, it’s closer to the Smooth 5. Pantalla OLED para comprobar rápidamente el estado de parámetros como el Wi-Fi y el Bluetooth o la carga de la batería Zhiyun has also done a solid job of making sure that the Crane M2 is as robust as possible to ensure that any bumps coming its way while being used or during transit will not cause any long term damage. With the gimbal space becoming more and more competitive as more and more people look to add some image stabilization to their camera accessories gimbal brands are doing everything they can to make their gimbals as robust as possible without hiking the price tag up or adding too much weight to their products.

The main goal behind the gimbal was to make it the perfect travel gimbal so using a smaller, lighter battery was an obvious option. On the flip side of this though, even with the newer technology, a smaller battery results in a lower maximum battery life. In addition to this though, more and more content creators have started to add a decent USB power bank to their collection of camera accessories too.As you’ll see from our test footage, the Crane M2S can swoop your smartphone around smoothly and effortlessly. However, when we mounted a Panasonic GH5 with a 15-35mm lens the gimbal went to sleep within a few seconds, indicating that it wasn’t happy with the heavier camera load. 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. Tremendamente compacto, con unas dimensiones de solo 259 x 69 x 135 milímetros. Su sistema de bloqueo inteligente facilita su plegado y transporte El estabilizador más versátil del momento, capaz de soportar equipos de 130 a 720 gramos, como un teléfono móvil, una cámara compacta o de acción, o incluso cualquier cámara de óptica intercambiable y sin espejo con un tamaño y peso moderados

The first thing you notice about the M2 S is the weight; it’s incredibly light and a complete contrast to the original single-handed mobile gimbal stabilisers such as the Crane that only appeared a few years ago; this means that it’s more suitable for the masses and easier to use over long durations. The ZHIYUN M2 S gimbal only weighs in at 549g. Film like a pro by tilting, panning and even rolling your camera smoothly. (Image credit: George Cairns) El Crane M2 cuenta con hasta seis modos de funcionamiento, incluido el modo POV (para planos con movimiento sincrónico de 360 grados en los tres ejes), el modo Vortex (para giros continuos de 360 grados) y el modo Go (para capturar escenas a gran velocidad)There’s also a red record button, but this will only trigger a mirrorless camera that’s physically attached to the gimbal via the supplied cable. For a smartphone you need to tap the onscreen record button manually. Provided the output level of your power bank is high enough you are able to charge your camera and gimbal while out and about away from a regular power outlet. More and more gimbal brands are starting to reduce the maximum battery life in their gimbals across their whole range to reduce size and weight due to so many people investing in these high output power banks.

The clips in the sample video above have all been captured with a camera mounted to the Zhiyun Crane M2 and in our opinion at least offer a great example of showing off exactly what the gimbal is able to provide for you. As you can see, the image quality is outstanding due to the great professional level of image stabilization that gimbal is able to provide for you. This can help ensure that no matter what you are up to, you are capturing your adventures as best you can without having to break the bank with an expensive gimbal. However, when carrying our iPhone 13 Pro Max the Crane M2S performed perfectly. We enjoyed experimenting with the various modes, especially with the drone-style floating movement produced when shooting in POV mode. Modes such as Follow or Go cause the gimbal to pan and tilt, so you can intuitively produce interesting camera work that tells a story in a few seconds. Verdict This isn’t a huge issue, and the performance from the small gimbal is superb. If you’re wondering why you would bother to use a gimbal with the action cameras when their stabilisation is so good, one point would be the comfort of holding the cameras. The gimbal enables an easy change of position to get low or high angled shots. You also have the advantage of knowing the camera is always pointing forward rather than up and down. Of course, there’s the follow-me mode and vortex, which are just difficult to do handheld, however good the stabilisation.Moving on with the functionality of the Crane M2, we come to the battery life of the gimbal. Now, this is probably the only feature on the gimbal where the original Crane M outperforms the Crane M2 but it is for good reason. Although the original Crane M has a maximum battery life of around twelve hours and the Crane M2 supports around seven hours, this is by design to try and keep the size and weight of the M2 as small as possible. On top of this, the new versions of the two leading point and shoot cameras on the market, the Canon G7X III and the Sony RX100 VII have also just been released onto the market. We have already noticed an absolute ton of people reaching out for advice on what gimbals they should be considered for each of these outstanding little cameras and as you can probably guess, its the Zhiyun Crane M2. It is almost as if Zhiyun had inside information on the release of these new cameras and timed the release of the Crane M2 to coincide with their release. Performance And Functionality

In our opinion, the Zhiyun correction and detection system is the best system available at the time of writing. Although the DJI system is solid and the Moza system has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years to make it into the top three, we feel that the Zhiyun is ever so slightly ahead still. Although the gimbal sensors and motors on the Crane M2 are smaller than the ones used on their higher load capacity gimbals, it still uses the same, lightning-fast balancing algorithm.If you are involved in a niche like travel vlogging or travel videography then this allows you to easily add the Crane M2 to your kit bag without taking up much space. In addition to this, the lightweight of the gimbal also helps to ensure that you can stay within your baggage allowance while traveling too and not get charged any heavy luggage fees. 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.