The DJI RS3 Mini gimbal and the Sony ZV-1 look like a natural pair, but mounting and balancing a small camera on this gimbal is not as easy as it seems. I’ve used this setup for a month, so here is what I found, plus some tips if you’re about to buy one or already have it.
Learn the knobs first
The gimbal has knobs on all sides. Push one up and it frees one of the axes. My advice: play with them before you shoot anything and get a feel for each axis. That helped me more than anything else.
Balancing the ZV-1
- Balance it so the camera stays wherever you put it.
- Make sure the ZV-1’s lens is fully extended while you balance. If you balance it with the lens retracted, it won’t be balanced once the lens comes out.
- It doesn’t have to be perfect. A close balance makes the gimbal much easier to use and takes weight off the motors, so they don’t work as hard and you can shoot for longer.
Bluetooth, zoom and the record button
You can connect the camera over Bluetooth and zoom from the gimbal. I wouldn’t, because zooming changes the weight distribution of the lens. Starting a recording from the gimbal didn’t work for me at first. In the end I found you just have to press really hard, and my battery was almost empty at the time, which made it more annoying.
If you use the DJI mics with an iPhone, keep the iPhone unlocked. It didn’t work for me when the screen was locked, and I don’t know why.
Using the fold-out screen
You can fold the display out. The motors have to lift a bit more, and the setup isn’t balanced for it, but with a camera this small it makes little difference. Be careful: don’t turn the camera to extreme angles or you can break the screen off.
Stabilization settings I used
I locked the horizontal axis in PF mode and shot a few pans through a house for a real estate test. The camera was in Active mode, so the in-camera stabilization combines with the gimbal. I added extra stabilization in Final Cut Pro, which crops in, but that’s fine for a test. I also shot at 100 fps to slow shots down and used speed ramps for smooth, buttery results.
Vertical mode
The manual describes a vertical mode: you take off one piece and mount the bracket directly onto the other piece. That’s a relief, because real estate videos for Reels are often shot vertically.
Limits for real estate work
The ZV-1 does not have a wide enough lens to make rooms look bigger, and that’s hard to replicate. I’m considering upgrading to the FX30 later, but only once client work justifies it. For now this setup is good enough for my client projects, and stable shots make a huge difference. The gimbal wasn’t expensive either.
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