The best gimbals for mirrorless and DSLR cameras are the only reliable way to produce super-smooth camera movements in your videos. Built-in stabilization systems can be useful, but they don't compare to the level of smoothness offered by a dedicated physical gimbal. For any serious videographer, it's an essential investment.
Gimbals are especially effective for 'run and gun' style filming, where both you and the camera are physically following your subject. Here, I've listed the best gimbals that the DCW team have tested on our own video projects, with different options for different applications, use cases and budgets.
This guide is for heavier-duty gimbals capable of supporting the best DSLRs, the best mirrorless cameras, and, in some cases, the best cinema cameras. If you're using a lightweight setup, you may want to instead consider our separate guide to the best smartphone gimbals.
Gareth is the Reviews Editor at Digital Camera World, and the person in charge of approving all the latest camera-related tech. With years of experience as a photographer and videographer, shooting for some household names, he has learned a thing or two about working with cameras and the photography industry. Outside of this, expect to find him cycling around London, or deep in a Netflix binge.
The Quick List
This gimbal goes the extra yard by working with loads of up to 4.5kg, with plenty of controls to help you achieve a comfortable balance.
This pro-grade gimbal can handle DSLRs just fine, while motor lights on each axis help balance your camera setup quickly.
If you want a gimbal that can handle a small camera and a phone, then the DJI RS 3 Mini is the smallest gimbal in DJI's lineup but with DJI's stabilization smarts.
DJI RS 4 gimbal effortlessly handles up to 3kg payload, with easy balancing and automatic arm locking, but may encounter roll arm slipping during long shoots.
An adjustable sling-grip and ergonomic wrist support your arm during long shoots, and you can create a two-handed grip for heavier setups.
If you’re using a DSLR or an equivalent-sized mirrorless camera, the Zhiyun Cinepeer Crane 4E will take the weight without breaking the bank.
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The Scorp 2 provides an affordable way to get your mirrorless camera to make professional moves. The built-in AI sensor makes it stand out from the gimbal crowd!
Best DSLR and mirrorless camera gimbals
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Best gimbal for heavy loads
Balancing a heavy DSLR and lens payload is one of the most challenging jobs when it comes to using a stabilizer, but DJI’s RS 4 Pro has a few tricks up its sleeve to take the boredom out of balancing.
A handy knob on the tilt axis enables you to balance your camera with ease and precision. The new RS 4 Pro’s tilt axis also features a Teflon coating, which makes it easier to reposition when you’re trying to balance a heavy payload. The roll axis has dual sliding bearings that enable you to make adjustments comfortably while balancing a DSLR.
Unlike some competing gimbals, this one locks and unlocks the axes automatically, so you don’t get frustrating error messages when you forget to manually unlock on of the three axes.
Read more: DJI RS 4 Pro review
Best premium gimbal
If you want a gimbal that can cope with your larger camera setup, from DSLRs and mirrorless all the way to small cine camera setups, then look no further than the Zhiyun Crane 4. This polished design includes a sling grip and a wrist rest, to make even heavy cameras feel comfortable and balanced as you shoot. Motor warning lights on each of the three axes help you find the balance for your camera quickly after you mount it. There’s also a comprehensive smartphone app to provide you with remote control options.
Read more: Zhiyun Crane 4 review
Best for a light payload
It’s hugely impressive to see that many features from its larger counterparts are included in the DJI RS 3 Mini – although if you've previously balanced the RS 3, you might find yourself missing the knob for fine-tuning the tilt axis. While there aren’t automatic power locks, they are not critical either. You do still have the option to use a briefcase handle thanks to the NATO expansion port.
For first-time users (or those upgrading from the Osmo Mobile 6 or DJI Mini 3 drone), prepare for a bit of a learning curve—the transition from portrait to vertical isn’t as straightforward as pressing a button. Familiarizing yourself with all the available options may take some time, but they can be easily reset, and the menu is user-friendly (even more so than many mirrorless cameras!).
In the end, this is a solid tool offered at a very attractive price point. If only the balancing process could be a bit more precise, it would surely deserve that fifth star.
Read the full DJI RS 3 Mini review
Best gimbal for mirrorless cameras
If you own a mirrorless camera and a selection of lenses then you’ll need to be confident that you buy a gimbal that is capable of panning, tilting and even rolling a heavy payload. The DJI RS 4 can do so effortlessly up to a payload of 3kg - though we only tested it with a Sony A7 III mirrorless camera with a Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 Di III lens that weighed in at 1.4 Kg.
Some gimbals can be a challenge to balance as you have to apply force to slide each axis arm back and forth until your payload is balanced. The Teflon coating on the RS 4’s three alloy axis arms enables you to slide them more easily, plus the tilt axis arm has a fine-tuning knob that makes it even easier to move the arm into a perfectly balanced position.
Another issue many gimbals have is that the 3 axis arms need to be unlocked when the gimbal is operating. It’s very easy to forget to unlock one of the arms, causing the gimbal to power down or shake. The RS 4’s 2nd generation locking system ensures that all arms are locked (for transport) or unlocked for action automatically. This is a very welcome design feature. We did encounter an issue with the roll arm slowly slipping during a long shoot and becoming unbalanced, but it was a quick and easy matter to re-balance it.
See our full DJI RS 4 Combo review for more details
Best gimbal for comfort
Weighing only a couple of pounds (just over a kilo) and providing plenty of handling options, the Weebill 3S is a delight to use. We particularly like the way you can rotate the sling grip to be closer to the grip handle so that you have a comfortable two-handed grip, ideal for heavier loads or longer shots. We tested the gimbal with both a Sony A7 III and a Canon 650D DSLR, both with standard zoom lenses; neither setup gave any indication of straining the gimbal motors, and we got some delightly smooth footage.
Read more: Zhiyun Weebill 3S review
Best gimbal for DSLRs
While this gimbal isn't too hard on the wallet, it's capable of holding DSLR-sized payloads. It's therefore a good choice if you're shooting with a popular video-focused DSLR like the Canon EOS 90D, or a similarly sized mirrorless camera. The Zhiyun Cinepeer Crane 4E is essentially a slightly slimmed-down version of Zhiyun's Crane 4, missing a few nice-to-have but inessential features like balance indicator lights and the built-in fill light, but offering better value for money.
With a quick-release plate, the Cinepeer Crane 4E allows you to quickly and easily switch your camera to a vertical position for portrait-oriented footage – something that videographers are increasingly required to do. It also ships with its own mini tripod that allows it to be free-standing, as in the image above – enabling you to freely perform pans, tilts and swoops via the joystick.
Read more: Zhiyun Cinepeer Crane 4E review
Best budget gimbal
If you shoot on a mirrorless camera system such as the Sony A7RV then you won’t need to pay a premium price for a heavy DSLR lifting stabilizer such as the DJI RS 4 Pro. The Feiyu Scorp 2 can effortlessly carry a payload of up to 2.5 Kg (and our Sony A7RV and lens only weighed in at 1.5 Kg when we tested the Scorp 2.)
The Scorp 2 also has an ace up its sleeve in relation to tracking a subject. The DJI Ronin-SC needs a smartphone app to make that gimbal track your moves. The Scorp 2 has a built-in AI tracker that makes the gimbal tilt and pan to follow your every move after you make an ‘OK’ gesture. When you’ve finished recording stick your thumbs horizontally together to stop the AI tracking feature. This should be an attractive feature for YouTube self-shooters who want to add some camera moves to their ‘talking head’ performances.
As with most other gimbals in this guide, the Scorp 2 is supported by a smartphone app - in this instance the Feiyu Scorp app. This enables you to change shooting modes or calibrate the 3-axis motors from the comfort of your smartphone’s display (rather than fiddling with the gimbal’s smaller 1.3” OLED touchscreen.) One fun feature of the app is the ability to sync it to your smartphone’s gyroscope so that you can pan and tilt the gimbal remotely via Bluetooth. This behaves just like the DJI Ronin App’s Force Mode when using it to control the RS 4 Pro.
Personally I’d file this type of remote control under ‘gimmick’ as it’s hard to get smooth and steady pans and tilts when waving your smartphone about like Harry Potter with his wand.
Read more: FeiyuTech SCORP 2 review
How to choose the best gimbals for DSLR and mirrorless
Gimbals come in different sizes, weights, and payload capacities. Every gimbal has to be 'balanced' for the camera and lens combination you're using so that its weight is centered over the axes of movement and the gimbal motors are not overloaded. Even with balancing, you need to make sure that your camera kit's weight is within the gimbal's payload capacity in order for it to carry out its full range of movement.
Gimbals use gyroscopic sensors and motorized pan, tilt, and roll axes. They offer different shooting modes for Pan Follow movements where the camera stays level, Follow modes where the camera can tilt up and down and POV modes where you can create deliberate roll effects too. Even as an amateur filmmaker, you'll instantly notice the difference in your footage when shooting with a gimbal.
Most mirrorless cameras now come with in-body stabilization systems (IBIS), but these systems can only compensate for camera wobbles in a limited way, and even with 'active' digital stabilization, they can't match the smoothness of a gimbal.
How we test gimbals
When it comes to accessories like gimbals, we do as much testing as possible in the field. We commission experienced reviewers who have used these products before and know exactly what to look for and where any weak points might be. For gimbals specifically, we look at stability, ease of setup, smoothness of operation and portability. We test how smoothly the camera moves, how securely it is held and whether there are any design niggles that prevent it from working as it should, like different parts knocking into each other when the camera is moved to certain positions.
Find out more about how we test and review on Digital Camera World
