Hi!
I've a Ronin M for about 3 weeks now. I've done a lot of calibration and read a lot on the internet. Now I have the feeling I have the best possible calibration for my Sony Alpha 6000 camera. But I still get shaky video footage when filming without movement.

An example: I want to film a palm tree for a few seconds, the Ronin M handheld without movement. Then i want to go a few steps to the right (simulating a camera slider) and film the scenery behind that palm tree for a few seconds (the Ronin M also handheld, without movement).

The footage is always a bit shaky, no matter how hard I try to hold the Ronin M stable with my hands. Using a tripot is no solution, because I want to simulate a camera slider.

I hope you understand what I'm talking about, because I'm no native speaker. For better understanding I embedded a short video, showing the shaky footage first. After that I show how my shut off Ronin M behaves after my manual calibration. At the end oft the video I show the power values after using the Auto Tune function.

My example footage on YouTube:
Additional information: Since the Sony a6000 is a very light camera (I'm using the 16 - 50 mm kit lens), I had to add aditional weight with a screw and some washers (about 120 g weight). Without that, It seemed impossible to manually calibrate the roll axis.

Are my expectations to high or is there something wrong with my calibration? (Perhaps the roll axis? But I don't think I can get better results, because of the HDMI cable for my field monitor).

Thank you very much for your feedback, ideas, experiences...

Did you try to change the stiff settings?

haimeyrolle@gma Posted at 2015-7-27 10:26
Did you try to change the stiff settings?

Yes, I lowered them, but this seemed to make it even worse. Makes it sense to make them higher?

maxico86@hotmai Posted at 2015-7-27 17:59
Yes, I lowered them, but this seemed to make it even worse. Makes it sense to make them higher?

Yes, wrong expectations, to be honest.

Gimbals / Steadycams don't make Sliders and Tripods obsolete at all. Why?

A Gimbal is able to prevent the Camera from accidental rolling, tilting and panning.

A Gimbal can NOT do anything against the typical little movements we all make backwards/forward, up/down and left/right. These movements are not smoothed by a gimbal.

So, if you are standing there with a gimbal, trying not to move at all, the Gimbal sorts out all the Little rolling / panning / tilting movements. What you still see with every gimbal, are the small up/down left/Right fwd/bwd movements. Same with the "sliding type" sequence.

All gimbals are not made for that purpose. Use a slider / Dolly for that.
Gimbals are for walking / Running in bigger venues or outside. When you have some distance between the Camera and the things you are filming, all the above mentioned problems are not obvious.

bjoern@suriya.d Posted at 2015-7-27 23:55
Yes, wrong expectations, to be honest.

Gimbals / Steadycams don't make Sliders and Tripods obsolet ...

Thank you for your detailed answer. I'm glad that it's not my fault and that it seems that I've finally mastered the manual calibration of the Ronin M with my Alpha 6000...  :-)
Do you think something like this would make it better?

If not, I'm going to buy a dolly...

maxico86@hotmai Posted at 2015-7-28 05:29
Thank you for your detailed answer. I'm glad that it's not my fault and that it seems that I've fi ...

This may help for longtime use of a gimbal, e.g. Filming a concert. It just distributes the weight from your arms to your back.

Sliders / dollys are the best for accurate small movements.
Tripods - you can't beat them for static shots. Period. ;)

I strongly recommend to follow calibration tips given in Sony A6000 Manual every time you purchase a camera or a lens in order to identify and address any potential focusing issues. But I have to warn you – this tips are NOT for beginners. Therefore if needed contact Sony Camera experts for help.