Those no doubting that one of the biggest trends in shooting real estate video in recent years is the use of handheld gimbals. With the advances in electronic gimbal stabilisation and mass market economies of scale ie. the price coming down, handheld gimbals are more affordable and higher spec-ed than ever before. Interesting fact, did you know that one of the first commercially available gimbals, the Movi M10 was only introduced 5 years ago in 2013! I am referring to electronic handheld gimbals and not the large (read expensive) gimbals such as the Steadicams that have been used in movies for longer than that. Funny how we think that tools such as gimbals and drones have been around for ages! I recently did my first gimbal only real estate video shoot (apart from a couple of drone shots) of a property here in Queenstown, New Zealand.
Here is the video;
What gear did I use?
All of the gimbal shots were done with my Moza Air gimbal using my Panasonic GH5 with the 8-18mm lens. I also didn’t shoot it in V-log but went with a slightly modified Cine-D picture profile. There was also a couple of shots using the 12-35mm lens also. Link to the gimbal on my Kit page https://kit.com/GrantJ/real-estate-video-gear/moza-air-3-axis-hand I will be posting a proper review of the gimbal up on my Youtube channel very soon.
It made me sweat!
I have mixed feelings about the gimbal style of video shooting. I have traditionally used the slider as my main form of movement for the interior shots for video and still like the look and control it can give you. I find the gimbal sets a different pace or feel to the video and adds a little pace or speed to your shots. With that said I really like the third shot in coming through the gate (in the above video) and into the courtyard and the gimbal I find is great for showing movement from one space to the next. It also obviously allows you a greater range of movement rather than being restricted to the length of your slider. Ergonomically I not sure whether it was due to it being a hot day or not but I seemed to sweat a lot more than my average shoot using my traditional tripod and slider. In terms of time it took me to do the shoot I was at the property for approximately 2 hours all up and for the interior portion of the shoot I would say it took me at least as long with the gimbal as it would have with using the tripod/slider option. This may be due to the fact that I’m very used to shooting with the slider and have used the gimbal a lot less for shooting real estate video.
Example video of using the tripod/slider option only
Things I liked about shooting with the Handheld Gimbal
As I mentioned above I love the way it can move or transition the viewer smoothly from one room to the next or inside to outside.- A faster paced feel of movement to your shots when the video requires it
- Small and compact size compared to the tripod and slider setup
- Now this is one I hadn’t thought of but as the gimbal will generally set it self to horizontal to the ground it helps keeping the vertical lines in your shots straight as the gimbal defaults to a straight and level shot with your camera on it.
- Unlimited range of movement for your shots, basically as long as you want.
Things I am not particularly fussed about when using the gimbal
- The speed of the shots ie. I found it difficult to slow the shots down when moving and still hold the shot steady…walk like a ninja.
- Foreground movement! I love trying to use foreground objects in my shots to add depth to the image but when shooting with objects close to the camera the gimbal tends to highlight or exaggerate any bobbing or movement in your shot.
- I will always try to shoot some close up detail with a limited depth of field in my videos which is relatively straight forward to do on a slider. It is however not so straight forward on a handheld gimbal due to any bobbing or movement highlighted using the gimbal handheld (see above point). Also hitting critical focus when using limited depth of field shooting handheld can be tricky.
Best Accessory for your Handheld Gimbal 
I bought this small table top tripod which screws into the base of the handle and this enables you to put the gimbal down when not using it and also stand it up when balancing your camera on the gimbal. Some gimbals come with a tripod as part of the kit but surprisingly a lot do not. I can’t recommend this accessory enough.
Final Thoughts
The gimbal is now definitely part of my video tool kit but to me it is not a complete substitute for my tripod and slider. I mistakenly thought that I could just roll in and replicate all my slider shots with the gimbal. Plus I thought I could do it in half the time of shooting with my slider. I do love having the ability now to show large transition or moving shots only limited by where I can walk with the gimbal and the capability to add pace to the videos style if thats what I’m after. Be warned as I definitely found there is quite a learning curve to using the gimbal in terms of getting smooth movements and what style of shots work best. Like anything thou there is no one shoe that fits all and for me the perfect solution for future videos is to combine both the gimbal and the slider to give visual variety to my productions. Its also obviously depends upon the style of video you are shooting and your budget. For example my wife works for a property management company and I recommended using the DJI Osmo for all their rental property promotions and property condition reports. It does a great job in a quick and efficient manner whilst adding stability and polish to their videos. Those are my thoughts, leave a comment below as I would love to know what others out there (you) think of gimbal shooting in real estate.
That is definitely a lovely gimbal. And so is the camera/lens combination. So lovely and crisp. But having seen many of your slider videos and loving them (in fact basing my own learning curve and video style on them), while I can see the obvious benefit of the gimbal, my own feeling is that it can be overused when it is the only platform. But in combination with the slider and drone, it gives a great additional tool to your tool box.
Personally, in using the gimbal with my GoPro (not the same thing at all but similar) I simply cannot get anything involving walking to be smooth. I.E. without that up/down annoying movement. Your movements are all beautifully smooth. I am wondering if the weight of the larger camera and gimbal help provide a steadiness that the little GoPro and EVO simply don’t provide. Do you find that the weight is tiring on the arms and shoulders?
But I can also see where lugging around a gimbal, the having the camera on a slider and tripod, and schlepping the drone, begins to further complicate a shoot. Are you finding that? Or will just time and experience in blending the use of all the above sort of work out into an efficient work flow?
Hey Peter – Yes weight definitely helps. Its that fine line between having weight for stability but not stressing your body too much. I do find these smaller size gimbals and DSLR size cameras are a good weight combination so as not too heavy as to stress your back. And yes the boot of the car is starting to get rather full with all the extras in terms of camera, tripod, slider, drone etc
There’s a lot to be said for simplicity! Cheers
what really is needed here in order to stabilize the walk is a z axis stabilizer they have one for the osmo
I prefer your slider shots to the gimbal shots. I find the faster gimbal shots to be slightly disorientating to the average eye. The key is to create a movement to make the shot alive, but give the brain enough time to process what the eye is seeing. After watching the video I felt a bit overwhelmed with the pace of information presented. I think with the slider one has to pre-plan the shots a lot more carefully. Like shooting on film. I have just invested in an iFootage motorized slider that is lightweight and portable to get those perfect slides the first time. I feel gimbals does not make my life easier and requires a lot of discipline, concentration, and control. I am trying to figure out a way to use gimbals mounted on a portable dolly, one that fits in the competing space in my car boot, using either a foldable wheelchair or a jogging stroller.
I’m on the opposite side where I shoot only with a gimbal and am trying to add a slider into the mix. I think the key when using a gimbal is to not get to carried away with it. I always keep the shot moving forward, doing mostly pushes and parallax moves, usually at 16mm. Also one of the things I find is shooting at 60fps and slowing it down to 24fps really helps make the footage smooth.
Check out on of my more recent edits.
https://youtu.be/xXhx0Val8TA
Video looks very nice, I was actually planning on shooting my next gimbal video at 50fps (Pal country) and see how it looks. Cheers
I would love to see the results from that! Cheers
Thanks for sharing your new gimbal experience. Very interesting to see the comparison between the gimbal and slider style video. I seem to prefer the slider style but I like both. Grant, I am wondering whether it would be helpful and productive to use the gimbal on your tripod for some shots as a pseudo slider. For example turn it horizontal 90 degrees in lock mode and then swing it for the slider effect. It would have a slight arc, but this may maintain the smooth slide effect and would be very fast to do. This way you can use a quick release and take the gimbal off quickly to do your other style gimbal shots as well so you get a good mix. If you get a chance to try that it would be great to see how it works.
I meant tilt the gimbal 90 degrees vertically to a horizontal position in lock mode and then swing/pan for the slider shot. See this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBQYqVPdLtw
Interesting video but to be honest if I had a tripod on location I think it would be easier to just use my slider. Cheers
Hey Grant, I highly encourage limiting yourself to the gimble for a little bit and trying to replicate your normal shooting style plus adding new shots. I find myself being more creative, engaging & appealing with a gimble. Do you always shoot in Cine D? I shoot natural but want to learn more.
Cheers
Jamie
Hi – yes I have a slightly modified Cine-D profile on my GH5 which I like straight out of camera. Have a look at this short video on my personal channel which is just about all straight out of the GH5 (apart from drone and gopro) with no colour grading at all https://youtu.be/LR3Aj7sbTtc
I’m definitely trying to use my gimbal more and experiment with styles but my main bug with them is as soon as you have something close to the camera to try and get a parallax effect it highlights camera shake. Cheers
Thanks for getting back to me. Your videos have inspired me to test out the Cine D profile plus I read this article yesterday and excited to test out the results.
http://noamkroll.com/the-best-gh4-settings-for-video-why-you-shouldnt-be-tweaking-things-too-much
I continued watching your video on the powered mountain bike and your 1350mt climb. That looked like a decent challenge and what amazing countryside. So beautiful. I’m a mountain biker too and have only trekked in NZ but I think a bike trip is in order.
With close up shots, I tend to rest the gimble on my hip or shoot at 50 and slow it in post. I also have a cross bar and a remote which help with stability. It takes practice, like all things in life. Cheers Jamie