DJI Ronin-MX

[Philip Lima]

Philip - if you have the MX working with both DSMC1 and DSMC2, you must have "biased relationship" with DJI and for sure you have "ulterior motives". Stop "kissing their ass" for crying out laud...!!!

Sorry, I could not resist... ;o)

For some reason if you can make your s*** work well - it can not be because you are a professional and know what you are doing. Some folks come to this industry with next to no experience and expect an easy walk in the backyard. I have done 7 years of steadicam operation and 10 years of filming aerials from full-size aircrafts before starting with these hand-held gimbals. This is no different then some folks buying professional cinema cameras and expect to become DoP overnight. Do you need such an extensive experience and knowledge before you start using these hand-held gimbals? No. But it sure helps understanding the core technology, physics and all the not-so-obvious aspects of this craft. Once a year at the end of February I teach week-long course "camera in motion" at the prestigious LASALLE institute in Singapore as part of their 3-year long filmmaker's course. We always start with the absolute basics and the plain physics involved. It goes a long way to understanding how all this gear works, how we can make it work properly and how to make the best out of it. Some folks thinks that DJI sends me "special super-stable" equipment to test. They are missing the point of "beta-testing". Beta gear is by far the most unstable, unpredictable and it always comes with NO user manual. The whole point of beta-testing is to discover all the problems and issue and find fixes / solutions before the product is released. And to DJI credit - even their beta gear works a lot better then I always expect it to. I have been impressed with the built quality (most other beta gear I test from other companies look nothing like the final product to be released), cleverness of engineering and deep understanding of our craft. Almost everyone I know at DJI actually uses this equipment and you can tell. They might have now become a massive multi-national corporation - but their company was founded out of passion, love and respect for our craft. And they have managed to keep these core values through out their phenomenal growth. Is all their gear perfect without any flaws? Of course not. But they are quick to respond, solve issues and evolve their products. Does that remind you of someone? I know lot of people hate when I compare DJI to RED and sure there are some key differences between these two companies. But they both have the same core values and they both have turned upside down their respective fields. Actually - come to think of it - they actually created these fields. The fact that I can today go out and shoot 4K+ RAW high-speed aerials with a complete system that costs less then $25K is both unbelievable and a testament to both of these companies...

So thank you Philip for chiming in and keep up the great work!

:sifone: Peter

Thanks for making me laugh out loud! What you said is 100% correct. I've helped with beta testing for DJI as well(the M600/MX was purchased by me, not as a beta product) and you are spot on.

I will definitely post a bit more in this thread as I spend more time flying the M600/MX and testing it with other cameras. Next up I'm mounting my Canon 5Ds for some 50MP+ stills, then I'm hoping to borrow a friends Alexa Mini and give that a go in the MX. I will also post what I can from the projects I've shot with the kit already, I'm hoping the wakeboard edit will be available online in the next week or so as it will have a lot of drone shots in it.

If anyone has an M600/MX and has questions, please feel free to post them here and I'll do my best to help get things dialed in for you.

 

[Björn Benckert]

Have not been using my ronin for long... Now when fiddling with it I feel that pan is not responsive enough on my move of the bar... Whats a good setting for smooth motion pan to have it so I can do somewhat fast pans but still have good stable moves. Figure I ask here before I start change every setting and making a mess of it as I normally do... which usually ends with a factory default and a lot of frustration. lol.

 

[Michael Reiken]

Nice man! Looks like a great setup - what fly times do you get?

 

[Philip Lima]

Nice man! Looks like a great setup - what fly times do you get?

I'm getting between 12 and 15 minutes of flight time with the Scarlet and Weapon and always land by 30%. This is with the TB47s batteries, with the larger batteries you'd be able to fly 15-20% longer. Coming from other octocopters with 7-10 minute flight times with traditional Lipos, the M600 feels like it flies forever.

 

[Shawn Nelson]

The MX is not a working product at this time. It is designed to work with the M600 UAV and so far no one has it working as a useable gimbal for any camera much less a Red. Hopefully DJI is aggressively working on a fix.

The cost of the MX with all the accessories you need to fly a red is about $3200. And it's a little frustrating to have a $3200 paperweight sitting here.

You'll know when they have it fixed as you'll start to see lots of great footage on YouTube from all sorts of different people around the world using it with reds and other cameras.

Peter, you posted in the Raven forum months ago a picture of the Raven on the M 600 with the MX and said you would soon post footage, what happened?

We're using it on my feature film almost every day, alternately balancing either my Red Dragon or a Scarlet-X. The only show stopper was we needed the vertical extension rods (DJI or Cinemilled). I then put the DJI Focus and Paralinx Triton on it and it's great.

 

[Matthew J]

So I want to confirm that you have to have the RED kit from DJI to even put an Epic/Weapon on an MX. I rented an MX from lesnrentals which is coming in tomorrow, but ignored the warning that it's difficult to put larger cameras on it as I have a lot of gimbal experience over the past years-even mounting an ipad teleprompter on a movi 10 with my Epic. Trying to balance a gimbal doesn't scare me. However, I just happened to peek in this thread tonight and saw that it appears you absolutely need the RED kit to even fit/balance an Epic/Weapon. Is this true? The list they sent me doesn't include any mention of such a kit. Just trying to figure out if I need to refuse the package when delivered tomorrow.

 

[Shawn Nelson]

So I want to confirm that you have to have the RED kit from DJI to even put an Epic/Weapon on an MX. I rented an MX from lesnrentals which is coming in tomorrow, but ignored the warning that it's difficult to put larger cameras on it as I have a lot of gimbal experience over the past years-even mounting an ipad teleprompter on a movi 10 with my Epic. Trying to balance a gimbal doesn't scare me. However, I just happened to peek in this thread tonight and saw that it appears you absolutely need the RED kit to even fit/balance an Epic/Weapon. Is this true? The list they sent me doesn't include any mention of such a kit. Just trying to figure out if I need to refuse the package when delivered tomorrow.

I don't use the top connector, but the rod extensions are necessary because otherwise the rig is top heavy. A hack is you put extra ballast at the bottom, I successfully balanced by taping two small sony batteries to the bottom

 

[Abiodun Shote]

Anybody know where I can get a replacement grip for the rubber cover on the R-MX handles? Mine is already falling apart.

 

[Prahlad Strickland]

I just picked up the mx and have my red Raven I want to pair up with it. Is the red accessory kit necessary to balance properly? Any other things recommended to purchase to help with balance.

 

[Brody_B]

I just picked up the mx and have my red Raven I want to pair up with it. Is the red accessory kit necessary to balance properly? Any other things recommended to purchase to help with balance.

Yes Need the extensions. And counter balance weight when using additions or heavy glass. Not great with Red cams unfortunately.

 

[Prahlad Strickland]

Yes Need the extensions. And counter balance weight when using additions or heavy glass. Not great with Red cams unfortunately.

You would think they would have setup videos showing exactly how to mount red cameras, show exactly what accessories are needed. Based on what they say it will power the camera as well but it doesn't show how that is done, which taps go to which taps.

I've only ever worked with Freefly for the dragon which is a breeze since their support is amazing.

DJI makes you feel naked and affraid. If the price wasn't right I wouldn't touch it, but it's a great price match for the B cam raven.

 

[Curtis boggs]

We're using it on my feature film almost every day, alternately balancing either my Red Dragon or a Scarlet-X. The only show stopper was we needed the vertical extension rods (DJI or Cinemilled). I then put the DJI Focus and Paralinx Triton on it and it's great.

Shawn,

Can I ask a few questions???

The larger battery used on the rear to power the camera, I've read someplace that it takes a different charger??

I'm running my Scarlet X on it seems to be ok sometimes, but its response to panning is very sluggish.
Its doesn't follow my input very well. Any suggestions on settings?

I can get it to balance ok but in the DJI software I have to use the "custom" setting under camera type.
If I switch it to "red" camera type it'll start vibrating.
Any advice on this??

i can get this working im sure, ...

curtis

 

[Stefan Kraus]

Shawn,

Can I ask a few questions???

The larger battery used on the rear to power the camera, I've read someplace that it takes a different charger??

I'm running my Scarlet X on it seems to be ok sometimes, but its response to panning is very sluggish.
Its doesn't follow my input very well. Any suggestions on settings?

I can get it to balance ok but in the DJI software I have to use the "custom" setting under camera type.
If I switch it to "red" camera type it'll start vibrating.
Any advice on this??

i can get this working im sure, ...

curtis

Hi Curtis,

yes there are 3 different Ronin batteries.

1. Ronin battery 3400mah (first ronin battery)
2 Ronin M battery (smaller also comes with the MX)
3. Ronins new battery Part 44 ( 4350mah)

They all got different chargers and depending which combination they don't work or only charge the battery incomplete.

You can tweak Pan response/speed in the app. The same with the setting for the camera choose Red and then tweak the stiffness and other parameters till the vibration stops (I found it mostly the Pan axis that creates vibration). You can find out by degreasing parameters till it stops vibrating.

Also I would recommend if you don't have already to check the new firmware for the motors supposed to make it more stable...

 

[Curtis boggs]

thank you

thank you

Thank you for the help,

the new part 44 battery and 57w charger, .. know a good quick source?
( B&H is out of stock, DJI site won't let me next day air )

I have a short to start shooting Thursday and need these batteries asap.

Curtis

 

[Carlo De Agostini]

Hi guys, I have a Scarlet-w and I use it most of the time with the Canon Cine Prime Lens. I also use the Redrock Micro radio focus.

I used many many times the Ronin and I've never had a problem. Now I'd like to buy the MX but I've read many issue online.

Questions:

Does the Ronin-MX with the Dji RED kit work without any issue with the Scarlet + Canon cine lens?

Do I need any other piece of hardware? i.e. counter balance etc?

Would you recommend it?


Thanks a lot!

 

[Ian D]

this works great in my experience, it has a lot of benefits but your camera needs to be bare bones, you need the dji extensions, I can't make it work with a sigma 18-35 because its too front heavy, but with lecia r primes and dji focus + red link it works fine. I'm only guessing that the canon cine might be too heavy.

The pain people are having with weight issues are the positive for me, you are forced to build it light, use the onboard power, get about 20 - 30 min with my epic dragon, you can pick it up and have fun with the shots with out breaking your back or being conservative with filming because of fatigue. I have used with a easyrig type and a flow cine attachment and have been impressed with a 35mm lens on the front. adding counter weight and all that sort of defeats the point of it being light. at certain angles the rear of the camera can hit the ronin, not been an issue for me. on a car mount its been good also, 360 rotation is a great addition.

Cheers
Ian

 

[Carlo De Agostini]

Thanks Ian, I will use the camera naked and as I was doing with the Ronin I'll hand the battery on the bar, I use it with the easy rig so it won't be an issue.
It's good to know though you have 20-30 min with the internal battery.

For me the major benefit would be a combination of COST/ACCESSORIES (wheel bar, thumb controller) and TRANSPORTABILITY.

Do you recommend a lightweight case for the Ronin MX?

 

[Jeff Barry]

Ronin MX case

Ronin MX case

Does anyone know what case to get for the MX? It does not fit into the Ronin M case and none of the custom cases are out yet. Looking at any DIY solution or which Pelican to get for it.

Thanks for the help!!

 

[Pedro Guimaraes]

Hi guys, I have a Scarlet-w and I use it most of the time with the Canon Cine Prime Lens. I also use the Redrock Micro radio focus.

I used many many times the Ronin and I've never had a problem. Now I'd like to buy the MX but I've read many issue online.

Questions:

Does the Ronin-MX with the Dji RED kit work without any issue with the Scarlet + Canon cine lens?

Do I need any other piece of hardware? i.e. counter balance etc?

Would you recommend it?


Thanks a lot!

The CineMilled PRO dovetail and counterweights is really key to unlocking many more build options. I would even say it's a must have. In fact in many cases when you add rear counterweight you negate the need for the tilt extensions.

https://cinemilled.com/shop/pro-dovetail-kit-for-dji-ronin-mx/

 

[Carlo De Agostini]

The CineMilled PRO dovetail and counterweights is really key to unlocking many more build options. I would even say it's a must have. In fact in many cases when you add rear counterweight you negate the need for the tilt extensions.

https://cinemilled.com/shop/pro-dovetail-kit-for-dji-ronin-mx/

Thanks, I should receive my s-w any day from now, I want to do a quick test with the Ronin M borrowed from a friend and ultimately I will rent the MX to see if the moving limitations will actually be an issue for me.

Since I've posted here I did some research ad I'm also very interested to the Letus Helix Jr http://www.letus35.com/letus-helix-jr-aluminum/ which seems very handy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pBupgpZ4sA