Video stabilisation technology has taken something of a quantum leap in recent years. With gimbals from the likes of DJI and Zhiyun offering ever more advanced functionality these devices can let even casual videographers create professional-looking footage that would otherwise be impossible.
The Ronin S is one of the most affordable of these gimbals. It's designed to help videographer professionals, YouTubers and filmmakers capture smooth camera pans, tracking shots and dollies on the move. While it's not a practical solution for vlogging with the need to face your subject it's ideal for capturing those cool looking dynamic moving shots of extreme athletes doing parkour and the like.
DJI's always impressive stabilisation algorithms give the Ronin S the ability to shift your camera up and down, left and right, and side to side, and still shoot stable footage. It will follow your subject's movement, or track it as they run if you set it to do so. It's not a full fledged follow focus system as seen on the likes of the DJI Phantom or Zhiyun Crane 2 but it will do the job with a bit of patience.
Pairing the gimbal with your smartphone via the Ronin app expands its functionality beyond the basic gimbal settings. It adds Auto Tune which simplifies the process of setting up the gimbal for a new camera and lens and it also lets you customise the joystick speed by creating three customised user profiles that can be switched between at the touch of a button. Panorama mode is a breeze to use too, asking you for the sensor size and focal length of your camera before shooting a set of photos for a predesigned panoramic frame.
