I got my Ronin S some days ago and I'm testing the different creativ modes now. As far as I see it works pretty well except the timelapse mode. The final footage is shaky. It seems as if the gimbal would make small movements during taking the pictures (but it's not visible). I used a Nikon D850 with a Nikkor 24mm/1.4, put the gimbal on the DJI Ronin S tripod, on my own tripod, inside and outside. What ever method I used the fixed parts in the footage are always shaky ... I've found this video on youtube where you can see the same effect (time 2:37). I'm absolutely sure that the gimbal is balanced perfectly and no other effects were influencing the gimbal.


Has anybody made the same observation and what could be a solution for it?

could be the shutter cuase micro vibrations in the gimbal? Can you do timelapse video mode?

There is no way to prevent these micro movements between exposures because the camera is not held in place mechanically, like on a sturdy tripod. Proof of that is that this was shot indoors. Imagine how much worse it would be in windy conditions. The only solution is to try and stabilize the resulting video through use of stabilizer in your NLE. Motionlapse might work better, since the gimbal works through shoot-move-shoot, but I have my doubts that the footage will track smoothly, due to the same limitations inherent in gimbal motor stability.

Alessandro Garabaghi Posted at 2018-7-10 05:22
could be the shutter cuase micro vibrations in the gimbal? Can you do timelapse video mode?

It must be the gimbal because it does not appear when the timelapse is done on a usual tripod.

rbendjebar.mac Posted at 2018-7-10 06:57
There is no way to prevent these micro movements between exposures because the camera is not held in place mechanically, like on a sturdy tripod. Proof of that is that this was shot indoors. Imagine how much worse it would be in windy conditions. The only solution is to try and stabilize the resulting video through use of stabilizer in your NLE. Motionlapse might work better, since the gimbal works through shoot-move-shoot, but I have my doubts that the footage will track smoothly, due to the same limitations inherent in gimbal motor stability.

Thx for your input. I see it exactly the same way!

Sorry for the troubles with Timelapse, just to verify, what steps have you tried? Like Auto Tune, System Calibration, Pressing the Trigger button four times and hold to begin joystick calibration or restoring the gimbal settings to default?

DJI Mindy Posted at 2018-7-11 04:27
Sorry for the troubles with Timelapse, just to verify, what steps have you tried? Like Auto Tune, System Calibration, Pressing the Trigger button four times and hold to begin joystick calibration or restoring the gimbal settings to default?

Hi, thanks for asking! I did the auto tune, calibrating the motors and check on the Ronin app if the balance is fine (it was "excellent"). Nothing else. I guess that the load of the gimbal (Nikon D850, Nikkor 24mm/1.4) is too much to keep the gimbal in the exactly same position over all the time until the timelapse is finished; although the setup is less than 3.7kg. During the time the pictures were taken I could see absolutely no movement of the gimbal. But as somebody mentioned above a real sturdy tripod has more mechanical stability than any gimbal. I will test it in motionlapse mode too to see what happens then. I guess the shaky movements will not be seen because of the movement of the gimbal itself.

zedi_photography Posted at 2018-7-11 09:34
Hi, thanks for asking! I did the auto tune, calibrating the motors and check on the Ronin app if the balance is fine (it was "excellent"). Nothing else. I guess that the load of the gimbal (Nikon D850, Nikkor 24mm/1.4) is too much to keep the gimbal in the exactly same position over all the time until the timelapse is finished; although the setup is less than 3.7kg. During the time the pictures were taken I could see absolutely no movement of the gimbal. But as somebody mentioned above a real sturdy tripod has more mechanical stability than any gimbal. I will test it in motionlapse mode too to see what happens then. I guess the shaky movements will not be seen because of the movement of the gimbal itself.

Thanks for the details, please keep us updated if the issue persists in motion timelapse.

I have seen the exact same thing.  Using Sony a6500.  Definitely the Ronin, not the camera.  I have run several tests, and not produced one good time lapse.  IMHO is that it is just not good at the level of micro movements that are needed for a great timelapse.  

I've experienced the same issues with motionlapse. Either when I do a tradition timelapse with still frames or if I record 2fps in a video file. I will see a pulse like issue with the motors. Using wrap stabilizer in After Effects helps but won't totally eliminate the problem. I have tried using the track feature in the app. Setting my #1 point and #2 point and making the duration to be 300 seconds and using s&q mode on my sony a7r 3 at 2 fps. The movement seems smoother over all and almost no pulsing issue. However using the track feature at that long of a duration resulting in a super slow pan I do get a slight inconsistent speed. It almost ramps up in the start and ramps back down at the end of the pan. Tried this in both handheld mode and car mount mode. Turned off all smooth track features and still did the ramp up and ramp down issue. It is smoother then motionlapse in the app menu. If the motors can move that slow continuously in track mode why not have a continuous mode and shoot move shoot mode in the motionlapse section.

I have the same issue with ronin s and Sony 7III!
I would ask to DJI Mindy, there are some motors parameters to setting up before start a timelapse?

Hi guys. I had tryed 3 Ronin S by now in motionlapse and as most of you experienced by now....does the same thing. It jumps ans skips some movements in motion. I had done and redone all the correct steps over and over again. I even oerwrite the jpint angle in advance settings. You have to balance all the 3 axis on Excellent then go to motor parameters, show more, the set the Ronin S with the camera excellent balanced on a flat surface, leveled, then look at the joint angle parameters. They have to be at 0 - 0 - 0. So zero on all 3 axis. If not move the joystick step bu step, easy, until all the axis are on zero or -/+5 at maximum between them. After that press and hold for 6-7 sec on JOINT ANGLE. It should pop out a text informing you that you are going to overwrite the joint angle settings. This is how you reset the axis to 0 wich is better than the factory setup axis. This is how you will know that the gimbal is straight on all axis. Anyway, even after this it is still "jumping" in motion lapse and sometime even on video tracking mode. I spoked to DJI a couple of months ago and they said that I can send the Ronin S to them for repair but I have to pay all the expenses(shipping + repair fee). I bought the Ronin a few month ago...it is still in waranty but I have to pay. So I sold it and I think i'm going to buy a gimbal from another brand becouse I tryed a few and they work perfectly! Sorry for my english...it is not my native language. Cheers!

Btw, I forgot to mention that I have 2 camers. Canon 5D MK III and Panasonic GH5...with both of then does the same thing...I can not make a pro looking motionlapse or video tack(video tracking mode) becouse it looks awfull.

I also believe that this is (by design) something a gimbal is not made to do. (static timelapses).
Now I'm not sure if this is a DJI Ronin-S flaw, but my personal preference would be a sturdy tripod.
Especially with such a weighty combo.

Motion timelapses / hyperlapses are a different thing of course, but these also need post processing stabilization.

I’m having the same issue. One of the main reasons I purchased the gimbal was for motion lapses. I’m using an EOS R, and on a regular tripod my stationary time lapses are great, on the gimbal it is “jerky” and the video is absolutely unusable. Even was stabilization in FCPX added.

I imagine there's got to be a way to adjust the settings to increase the stiffness/strength of the motors for a more stable shot.  I'll have to do some experimenting.

The first sunset time lapse I ran produced a very shaky finished product. So I tried a second sunset time lapse taking extra effort to set everything up correctly. It also produced a very shaky finished video. So I came here to see if anyone else had had similar problems. To my disappointment, this is a design flaw with the Ronin-S. Time Lapse is one of the reasons I chose the Ronin S and I wish I had seen this prior to my purchase. The folks at DJI need to develop a firmware fix to this problem or quit advertising the feature

Hi again guys. So for the past year I used and I'm still using the Zhiyun Weebill S but in the meantime I also bought a BMPCC 6K and the Zhiyun won't keep it stable so yesterday I bought again a Ronin S. I know that tomorrow Ronin S2 will be revealed but I wanted something a bit cheaper.(I heard that de S2 will cost around 800-850euro here in Europe)...so I bought a new Ronin S for about 400$(essentials kit). It hold my BMPCC with a cage no problem. BUT!!! This one was a teriffic shake in motionlapse...unusable at all!!!! HORROR!!! I was curious before it shipped but yesterday when I tested it...awfull!!!! Not that it shakes but it even went back and forword non stop. So this is the 4th Ronin S with this problem. Dji won't even fix this...now when the S2 is out in a few days....it will be forgotten. This is BS!!! ...btw: who want a small gimbal with perfect timelapse/motionlapse buy the Weebill S. You won't regret it at all!

The Ronin-S Motionlapse function is garbage. I've tested mine many times w lenses small & large. Most clips I've compiled have been unusable, even after applying the warp stabilizer effect in Premiere. Sometimes the gimbal just jerks around and doesn't even follow the set trajectory I programmed in the app. The motion lapse issue is just one of many flaws with the Ronin-S. I wish I could return it and get my money back.