Zhiyun Crane-M3

Small, light and suitable for action cams, smartphones and mirrorless cameras

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Price: £369/$369

Website: www.zhiyun-tech.com

Zhiyun offers a series of gimbals for smartphones and for mirrorless or DSLR cameras. The Crane-M3 spans both of these and also adds action cams to the mix. It’s one of Zhiyun’s smallest gimbals and at 700g, under half the weight of the Zhiyun Weebill 2 that we reviewed in issue 244.

The Standard kit comes with everything you need to use the Crane-M3 with a mirrorless camera, plus a short tripod for balancing. At £449/$449, the Combo kit adds a chunky phone clamp, a tripod that can act as a handle extension and a smart little backpack to hold everything. Stepping up to the Pro Kit £649/$649 adds an Expansion Base (which has a 6.55mm microphone port), a handheld shotgun microphone and a mic cable.

Being comparatively small and light, the Crane-M3 can’t be used with large DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, but it’s compatible with small full-framers, such as the Nikon Z6 II or Sony A7 III, as well as some APS-C format models and compact cameras. However, thought should be given to the choice of lens – interchangeable lens cameras as short primes make a better choice than zoom lenses.