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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

DJI RONIN - independent review and in-depth test

Hi Mark,

Yup I also got some of the red foam 'dust', I tried to wipe it off most of the 'connecting' points prior to fitting anything together. Regarding handle grips moving, make sure to use the included allen keys to tighten the grips further if they are moving.
 
Mark Pedersen said:
I also have a question for fellow Ronin owners:

Do your handle grips feel loose even though they are tightened all the way? Mine have play in them and it feels kinda cheesy… not a solid, quality feel. But my biggest concern is whether that movement would be translated to the rig. My rig also came covered in a very fine red dust from the red foam in the case. Anyone else have that situation?

M
Click to expand...

I have explained this before - if you are using heavier setups please tighten the handles with proper alan (hex) key with the bolt that is inside the wing-nuts. The handles will not budge even under the heaviest loads.
This is common issue with carbon-fiber which is by definition rather slippery material. This exact issue is why the actual gimbal was not made out of carbon-fiber in the first place...

:sifone: Peter
 
Mark Pedersen said:
I have the same concern Dave. To me it seems like a major design flaw. Four exposed wires, and an open multi-pin connector is an invitation for disaster -- either physical damage or moisture penetration. I would like to see Ronin come up with a replacement connector ASAP.

At first I thought it might just be my rig, but I've seen it several times in other Ronin photos.

DJI, do you have a fix planned for this?

M
Click to expand...

In there interim Ive just Hardman Polyurethane (purple and cream packet) on ours just disconnected add the Poly and is a fairly neat job. It certainly protects the cable end cores. My guess is water could still get in the connector around the sides but this is an improvement to make it more robust.

Il hope to get a couple ore cables as spares for our Ronin kits.
 
Hi Peter,

I don't think Mark is referring to the grips slipping on the carbon cross tube. I think that he is talking about the same problem I had which is the grip clicks back and forth on the short aluminum tube that it is slid up on. There is an aluminum pinch collar at the top of the rubber hand grips. If you loosen those collars you can slide the grips off. The ID of the grip inner sleeve is slightly too big for the OD of the aluminum tube that it slides up on. I took some 3/4" wide gaffers tape about 1.5" long and stuck that inside the grip tube and then slid the grip back on letting the grip tube fold the gaffers tape over double which tightened up the grip so that it does not click back and forth.


Wayne Mann
 
Wayne Mann said:
Hi Peter,

I don't think Mark is referring to the grips slipping on the carbon cross tube. I think that he is talking about the same problem I had which is the grip clicks back and forth on the short aluminum tube that it is slid up on. There is an aluminum pinch collar at the top of the rubber hand grips. If you loosen those collars you can slide the grips off. The ID of the grip inner sleeve is slightly too big for the OD of the aluminum tube that it slides up on. I took some 3/4" wide gaffers tape about 1.5" long and stuck that inside the grip tube and then slid the grip back on letting the grip tube fold the gaffers tape over double which tightened up the grip so that it does not click back and forth.


Wayne Mann
Click to expand...

You are correct Wayne. This is exactly the problem. I personally think this should be corrected by Ronin so I don't have to be dealing with gaffer tape solutions on a brand new rig.

Peter?

M
 
Mohammed Almedfa said:
Hi Mark,

Yup I also got some of the red foam 'dust', I tried to wipe it off most of the 'connecting' points prior to fitting anything together. Regarding handle grips moving, make sure to use the included allen keys to tighten the grips further if they are moving.
Click to expand...

I tried tightening them with the Allen. No diff. See the post above.
 
Mark Pedersen said:
I tried tightening them with the Allen. No diff. See the post above.
Click to expand...

.. funny that I found my Ronin WORK GOOD when top handle bar in "wrong position" -


Ronin_030.jpg


...but when I try to place it as it "'have to be" ->

Ronin_01.jpg



Ronin_02.jpg




it don't work so well.. getting some vibration ..

and.. I found that in PC-Assistant I must to UNCHECK "Briefcase" mode - to be able to use it :hand:

Here my SECOND Ronin Test ( with Tokina 11-16mm ) -->


I don't even make any correction, except to torn upside down one little part taken in Upright Mode ..
and I LIKE RONIN more and more everyday !!! :emote_happyhappy: If it work so well WITHOUT any fine tuning and without any upgrade and additional devices - it's will work PERFECT when we get it ( and .. when I incremented my biceps enough to hold Ronin :biggrin:
( we don't have a Joystick yet and I my EXTERNAL MONITOR don't work on Ronin because BMPC 4K don't have HDMI, so now I shoot as crazy without option TO SEE what I'm doing :biggrin5: .. and I can't use Remote Controller, because I don't have wireless Video-signal Transmitter yet.. ) and despite all of this limitation I still was able to get some nice result!
------------------------------------

Guys! what do you think about WIDEST lens we have use for shooting with Ronin ( or with any steadicam in general ) on Super35 format Like RED / Alexa / Blackmagic /Sony F55, etc.. ??

What is your opinion about Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 lens? I'm asking, because someone told me, that anything less than 21mm is NOT GOOD for filming .. so I'd like to know everyone opinion
 
Last edited:
Sergei Smolovich said:
Guys! what do you think about WIDEST lens we have use for shooting with Ronin ( or with any steadicam in general ) on Super35 format Like RED / Alexa / Blackmagic /Sony F55, etc.. ??

What is your opinion about Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 lens? I'm asking, because someone told me, that anything less than 21mm is NOT GOOD for filming .. so I'd like to know everyone opinion
Click to expand...

The ALLSTAR 18-35 T1.8(!) is the perfect match for the Ronin (or gimbal work in general). I haven't tried anything wider yet...

:sifone: Peter
 
Just came back from shoot with NAMELESS PRODUCTIONS in Nagoya for submission to the ART OF AMAZING competition...


https://vimeo.com/104077615

Epic-MX + Ultra Primes (and the ALLSTAR 18-35 T1.8) + RONIN + PARALINX TOMAHAWK (and Scarlet as B-cam on sticks)

We have shot mostly 24P and some 120P slow-mo. NAMELESS in-house DP was sweating it out as the main op and I stepped in as a backup to relieve him here and there.
We have also used the Ronin mounted on its stand (on C-stand support) as a remote-head - which worked great!

:sifone: Peter
 
Samson MC1

Samson MC1

Patrik Raski said:
Petri you would need much sturdier frame than the one I know you have or atleast had. You would need to get more powerful motors and much sturdier arms. You would probably be better of a coaxial 8 rather than a flat model. The base plates should probably be around 4mm with a quite large circumference and main arms should be in the range of 30mm.

Coaxial design would allow for shorter arms for massive propellers, 18 inch with motors of 200kV and over 1kW power. Anyway to build a suitable copter for lifting 8 kg with reasonable flight times (6 min or so) will require a lot of experience. A quick calc gives me a gigantic payload for batteries as well. The all up weight for such copter would probably be in the range of 15kg or maybe even more.

Personally I would not use any of the commercially available frames for this, unless of course there is something really cool available now.
Click to expand...



I'm hoping to bring a solution to the market in regards to this issue of weight with DJI Ronin. I own a small business where we build and sell custom made UAS aircraft. Over the past several months I've been working on designing a multicopter unit, codenamed Samson MC1, which was originally designed to help farmers and other professionals who need very heavy lifting capabilities with the ability to stay airborne for at least 25+ mins, but now with the Ronin being so heavy I've found another use for this concept. :)

Unfortunately right now it's only a CAD model, as we will have to raise the needed funds to bring to life this project.

We are planning to offer it as a RTF system. The initial price was going to be $12k, included in the package a DJI Ronin, and our standard GCS (ground control station), however, after re-evaluating our initial price we are wanting to bring it to the hands of more operators at an even more reasonable offer, which will be revealed later.

Here's a rough render of the concept with a Z15 for relative size comparison:

 
Fandino, as it is, your design will greatly reduce the ability to shoot forward without getting the MR parts and rotors in the view - especially when flying forward.
Great for the original agricultural purpose - but not so for aerial cinematography.
You may want to rethink the design, or at the very least the mounting solution for the camera...

:sifone: Peter
 
Yes that's something we became aware a little while back, this is specially true if using wide angle lenses. The good news though, is that this design allows for the batteries to be placed on the tail of the copter, so we may be able to move the gimbal/camera setup forward and thus help with the objects in the field of view, while keeping the COG stable. The good thing is that it's a CAD so it can be changed easily if we have to do more modifications to it.

Thanks for the feedback.

Peter Majtan said:
Fandino, as it is, your design will greatly reduce the ability to shoot forward without getting the MR parts and rotors in the view - especially when flying forward.
Great for the original agricultural purpose - but not so for aerial cinematography.
You may want to rethink the design, or at the very least the mounting solution for the camera...

:sifone: Peter
Click to expand...
 
Finally had some free time (and by that I mean at 2AM in a hotel room after just finishing configuring the Ronin for the next day early morning shoot...) to do the quick mirror-test...:


http://youtu.be/Xii8vN3CKeE

EPIC-MX, Ultra Prime 24mm, cMotion wireless FIZ, Paralinx Tomahawk - powered from REDVOLT in the SIDE-HANDLE.
Of course shot at 24P with no post-stabilisation, reframing, or editing of any kind - one take from start to finish.
Only ran NeatVideo to remove noise...

:sifone: Peter
 
Peter Majtan said:
Finally had some free time (and by that I mean at 2AM in a hotel room after just finishing configuring the Ronin for the next day early morning shoot...) to do the quick mirror-test...:


http://youtu.be/Xii8vN3CKeE

EPIC-MX, Ultra Prime 24mm, cMotion wireless FIZ, Paralinx Tomahawk - powered from REDVOLT in the SIDE-HANDLE.
Of course shot at 24P with no post-stabilisation, reframing, or editing of any kind - one take from start to finish.
Only ran NeatVideo to remove noise...

:sifone: Peter
Click to expand...

Nice test ! Thanks for this.
 
Great information in these many, many pages, but is the review all in one place now? The Ronin is now available.
 
Hey Peter,

that is an awesome test video, thanks! Awesome, because we get to see you do the same test I did and move Ronin this fast,
using it -and I quote you with a big smile on my face and no offense intended either- like it was "being trown to bunch of gorillas
to toss it about in a cage" and in ways that make you "wish there was a PETA equivalent organization for abused gear..." :laugh:
(for the others: this is in reference to the DJI Ronin Pro Support thread)


Now the really interesting and cool part is that your Ronin handles all that just fine, the few I've seen would have done safety
shutoffs several times in the video. That is a relief, because it means some of us just got faulty units and they could possibly be
repaired or exchanged for some that work beautifully - like yours.

Thanks so much, this is a big relief for all of us who have the issue (that I described over in the other thread), in that we now
know they are not actually inherent to the Ronin but just simple faults.

This makes me really happy, thanks Peter =)
 
Helicopter Test

Helicopter Test

Hi All

So I got my Ronin a couple weeks ago and did a shoot with it and my Epic.
I was running a very lightweight set-up with just the camera and a Canon 24-105mm.

As everyone knows its very impressive.

But as far as I can tell it doesn't work in a helicopter. The wind was two much for the pan axis- its just pushed it to the side and the unit went dead. If I managed to keep it out of the wind (ie inside the cabin) it functioned fine.

I would love for there to be a fix for this but my suspicion is that the motor are just not strong enough for that much wind force....
 
Van Royko said:
Hi All

So I got my Ronin a couple weeks ago and did a shoot with it and my Epic.
I was running a very lightweight set-up with just the camera and a Canon 24-105mm.

As everyone knows its very impressive.

But as far as I can tell it doesn't work in a helicopter. The wind was two much for the pan axis- its just pushed it to the side and the unit went dead. If I managed to keep it out of the wind (ie inside the cabin) it functioned fine.

I would love for there to be a fix for this but my suspicion is that the motor are just not strong enough for that much wind force....
Click to expand...

Affirmative. Full-size Helis fly at speeds around 70-80 knots and can safely slow down to about 30 knots (contrary to popular belief that they hover easily - they don't and it's not safe, nor legal when over populated area). At these speeds wind forces are way too much for any gimbals to handle outside of heli - remember that you also have the massive down wash from the rotors that keeps you in the air...
This is why external gimbals have full ball-shaped enclosures to deal with this issue. There is nothing to fix on the Ronin side...

RC Helis on the other hand fly much slower and their down wash from the rotors is minimal when compared to the full size ships.

:sifone: Peter
 
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