Zhiyun Crane 3 LAB - First Impressions (What I Liked and Didn't Like)

What's up everybody my name is Alex Cheung and today I'm giving you my first impressions of the as of right now unreleased Zhiyun Crane 3 Lab. So a couple weekends ago I got the chance to try out the Crane 3 and test it out and give them feedback on this gimbal. So big thanks to Zhiyun for letting me try it out it was a really unique experience and I can't wait to try out the officially released version. So one of the first things that you'll notice with this gimbal is the new design that it has that's very different from the Crane 2 or the DJI Ronin-S. The new addition of the front grip on the Crane 3 still makes it really easy for you to get steady shots when you're holding the camera upright. But now if you want to get those low angle shots it's so much easier to do because all you need to do is just lower down the gimbal and use the front grip as a handle so you can get those steady low angle shots. Zhiyun has moved all of its camera controls to this front grip as well and what's really cool is that now there are dedicated buttons for each of the different modes that you want to go in. So no more double tapping or single tapping on the mode button like you do on the Crane 2 or the DJI Ronin-S to get into like a certain mode. There's also a dedicated reset button now that allows you to click once on the button and the gimbal arms will revert to its original starting point. The Crane 3 also has some really cool features such as the dedicated zoom control for your zoom lenses if you have the follow focus accessory attached. Another great feature is the phone go mode which allows the gimbal to move the camera really really fast on all three axes to follow your movement. It's a really super useful feature if you're trying to get those whip pans or really quick tilting movements or any sort of like really quick high action movements and you don't need to recalibrate your motors in order to do so. Speaking of the axis, the way the three arms are positioned is the same as the Crane 2. However, you'll notice that now they've taken a page out of the Ronin-S and lowered down the roll axis arm just a little bit so that you can see your camera screen a little bit better. But one of the best new features in my opinion is the lock system that allows you to lock all three arms in place when you're balancing the gimbal or if you're traveling around with the Crane 3. All you have to do is just flick the switch so that it won't become a wobbly mess as you're trying to balance the gimbal. The Crane 3 still has the follow focus ring on the side of the gimbal but personally for me I have never used it on the Crane 2 or the DJI Ronin-S and it's just so hard for me to pull focus at the same time as I'm trying to balance and operate the gimbal. The joystick is now down at the bottom near the tripod feet and it is honestly for me the most annoying thing about the Crane 3. It is definitely not a great place to have it because I would have to use my left hand to operate the joystick as I'm trying to balance the gimbal with my left hand as well and it's just not that intuitive for me because I'm a right-handed person and using my left hand is not as familiar as it is with my right hand so I wish that the joystick was actually on the front grip as well so that all of the camera controls could be on one hand and you can just operate it so much easier and I feel like that's probably my least favorite thing about the Crane 3. Another thing that I didn't like about the Crane 3 was the wireless transmission from the gimbal to your phone. Zhiyun has made a new accessory that allows your phone to be clamped on the side of the gimbal and you can use it as a monitor. Once you connect a compatible camera to the Crane 3 you're able to open up the ZY app on your phone and you'll be able to see a 1080p image of what you see on the camera. However, since I was using a beta version of the app the wireless transmission was actually lagging about three to four seconds behind the camera and it made it completely unusable which was really unfortunate but I have since talked to Zhiyun and they've told me that since it was a beta version of the application that they'll have it fixed for the official release of the app. However, overall I was really really impressed with the new design of the Crane 3 and how easy it was to adapt to it and get great footage. So thank you so much to Zhiyun for letting me try it out. I can't wait to get the officially released version of the Crane 3 lab. But that's it for me. I would love to know your thoughts about the new Crane 3 and how you like it and how it looks to you, your initial thoughts about it. So leave a comment down below. I hope you guys like this video. If you did, hit the like button and make sure to subscribe to my channel for more filmmaking and photography tutorials. My name is Alex Chung and I'll see you later.