Hey, Just a quick question guys: Do you guys usually have to rebalance the gimbal after zooming completely in or out with a zoom lens that extrudes, like most DSLR lenses? or is it not significant enough of a change to bother with? alternatively maybe some people set balance to half-way zoomed in and leave the balance there for all zoom ranges?
Always better to rebalance. The M5 makes it so fast, it’s hardly even worth discussing anymore. I even rebalance if I attach an ND or polarizer.
That is true. Rebalancing is always better, I am just curious what people generally do and if they think it's worth it as in opposition to just letting the gimbal work a little harder and then sacrifice on battery time versus potential shooting time. It's either way pretty insignificant. On the M5 it's pretty fast to rebalance, perhaps the story is a little different with the M10.
I mostly film live events so I pick a range on the zoom lens that I will be using most of the time. I do not hesitate to change the zoom without rebalancing and have had no major issue. The gimbal will work harder for the short times that I have zoomed but overall the footage still comes out great. This was tested with the Canon 24-70 f2.8 which is a pretty heavy lens for the M5. I would rebalance if the time was available.
I balance with the zoom in the mid-position to minimize the load on the motors if I need zoom in or out. As Nicolas says, the M5 (and the M10 for that matter) seem quite comfortable with the smaller cameras (e.g. 5D Mk III). Others will need to post regarding the heavier cameras. Andy.
A note to those doing this (whether you rebalance or not): beware zoom creep! Many zoom lenses will not hold their position, especially if the gimbal is tilted downwards. A small bit of gaffer’s tape will usually suffice to hold the lens in place whilst it is flying around.