Zhiyun Crane-2 Works Well with 5d3 Magic Lantern 1.23 crop_rec_4k June 2018

Started by jmanord, July 13, 2018, 03:20:04 AM

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jmanord

I've never used a gimbal, but decided to try out the Zhiyun Crane-2 after the new price drop and included servo follow focus. I saw one video showing no functionality between the Crane-2 and 5d3 with Magic Lantern, but was thrilled to find the combo actually works well (at least with the setup described in the subject). Being able to start/stop recording, adjust ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and focus with manual lenses from the crane-2's grip is very convenient. The only downside so far is the weight.

50mm1200s

Those gimbal stuff is pretty neat. I'm about to buy a Glidecam, but this Zhiyun is so good and easy to use that I'm considering it. My only concern (besides money) is the weight. I uses old manual lenses and they are pretty heavy. The set is probably 3kg...
Thanks for sharing you experience with it.

dtr

It does and it doesn't:

I have regular 2018 ML on my mk3 (x2) and bought Weebill S instead of Crane 3S or 2, but they are pretty much the same for connectivity.

To begin with no camera controls worked. I started doing some testing. First I uninstalled ML on 2nd 5D and presto controls were operational. After fresh ML install it was still active. After configuring a few minor options and enabling video it was suddenly gone. It was time to disable things one by one. Virtual Level off did it for me. Controls were back. 2nd one was clearly more customised, so I had to disable focus range display. So it appears any additional display items except histogram are interferring with the gimbal

Perhaps it doesn't matter much anyway. Follow focus is not very effective and behaves very badly with 16-35mm f/4. 100mm macro is a tiny bit better but works in tiny steps which may be both good and very bad depending on the situation. That expensive add on would be the way to go really. So it's just a convenient way to start and stop recording depending how you hold it. It's not that hard to reach the camera itself.

I realise the lack of autofocus is major roadblock for a video beginner such as myself. It's not an issue with wideangle lenses (for example real estate) or at higher f numbers... Luckily the ML RAW makes the 1080p video acceptable for the day.