I have been operating the MōVI since before it was released to the public and love the technology. I also however have been somewhat "pinholed" as a gimbal operator and got stuck with the DJI Ronin a couple times in the past month, including a full length feature and a 3-day large scale event that called for me to operate all day each day. In my opinion the differences in performance are very obvious. I did an event with the Ronin for Google's Top Coder Open, which called for me to operate hours and hours on end while covering the event. I was flying a Sony FS700 as well as a 5D Mark III and both got very heavy after a while. The gimbal itself is much harder to control as you can see the jumpy electronic moving look (which I hate) every time it pans and tilts no matter what the settings are like. Another big problem that was very frustrating was the handles, they never seemed to full lock and would constantly slip while trying to tilt, ruining the shot. I also had to deal with alot of unwanted movement while tilting, resulting in the gimbal getting stuck tilted to far up or to far down. This is just bad performance and very frustrating, especially considering how heavy it is. The rig always resulted in me being super frustrated, hot, sweaty, and a little grumpy (secretly) because I couldn't get the shots I wanted. Later that month when I shot the feature with the Ronin I experienced the same problems the whole time, except this time I was flying a Red Epic. It was the most grueling Gimbal setup i have come across so far. Needless to say when I went back to operating MōVI it was a huge breath of fresh air, literally. Above all else the footage is untouchable when comparing the MōVI to The Ronin. Just sayin... Dustin Poteet MōVI Operator Phone: 805.338.9322 Email: dpoteet@rocketmail.com
I'll say something about this Suitcase mode and inverted on the Ronin seem like they are working but when looking at playback the shots aren't even close to steady and basically turns a temperamental half usable system to legitimately unusable when using suitcase mode or inverting. The inversion on the MōVI however, is just as flawless as using it right side up, and I use it all the time. Just sayin
Ronin user issues are mostly due to inexperience or unwillingness to work around some of its quirks. Its true that the Movi is a more robust and overall superior system but if you have talent you can get something out of anything. In the hands of a real pro, both allow you to get the shot needed. Each have different steps to get it. ...but I do understand why people feel the need to support their purchases
I can see that side too for sure. I feel like its just a different system with different "quirks" than the MoVI i guess, and becomes a new ball game when trying to figure them out. The main problems that I had with it revolved around the way the camera moves when stabilizing. Ronin gives the footage a different look than MōVI, a little jumpier I would say. I still enjoyed operating it its just more of a hand full. I shot an entire feature as well as a big event (very long hours). In retrospect on both jobs if i had less issues to deal with, my product would have been better overall, but wasn't bad by any means. Its definitely alot more difficult to get the hang of because no matter how you set it, it will still drift on you a little when trying to do quick pans, or tilts. I think this may have something to do with the GPS, or lack there of. Also once the gimbals are out of wack to much they just freewheel which is ridiculously dangerous for the camera especially something like a red because its weight causes it to spin very fast making it into a kind of trebuchet situation, with the end result being the camera smashing into the gimbal (not cool) haha. Nonetheless its still an amazing piece of equipment and love it, just love MoVI more because its flawless in my opinion.
This is our K130 with Ronin and Red. Using the U7 Motors and T80A ESCs running 18.55 props and it can lift up to 66 lbs. With the Red on there it only comes out to 45 lbs. We also swapped out the stock landing gear for the Tarot Landing Servos and custom skids to give more stability and a wider stance. We also moved the ESCs to mount on the boom arms closer to the body to protect them incase of a tipper, plus the power wires are now shorter so they don't warm up as much now. We are running 2 16000mAh Lipos with it but we are going to test it and see if we can run just one Lipo and drop 3.8 lbs...
One thing to be careful of if you drop to one battery is the total amp draw and voltage drop / sag. You may be better to run 2x8000 instead of 1x16,000 if you have that option. Weight should be about the same. From what I remember, those U7 can draw a lot of power. Good luck with it!
I have yet to see ANY aerial shots with a Ronin that impressed me. I do hear tons of complaints about it not holding horizon however along with the added weight killing flight times.