The Best Gimbal For Nikon D7200 Cameras On The Market!

We have lost count of the number of videographers that we have seen reaching for advice on a gimbal for Nikon d7200 cameras recently and we have seen so much bad advice be given to the videographers asking the questions. Due to this, we have decided to publish our own dedicated article on the subject to help any of our readers who may be looking to add a gimbal to their Nikon d7200 camera accessories.

Now, with the d7200 being a pretty heavy DSLR camera with the camera body alone coming in at around 1.68 pounds with no accessories mounted on it at all, you have to realize that you are going to have to invest in a decent gimbal. Now, that said, we have selected a budget gimbal amongst the three gimbals that we have decided to feature but most of the older and cheaper gimbals may struggle with the d7200, especially when you add your camera accessories.

Now, like we mentioned, we have selected three gimbals that we feel are optimal for use with the Nikon d7200 in three different situations. We have our general-purpose gimbal stabilizer that is probably the best overall option, then we have our heavy lifting option for any of our readers who use a really heavy d7200 setup, and finally, we have our more budget-friendly gimbal.

We have compared the core features of the gimbals in the table below to go over the strong points of each and just under the table we have a short paragraph for each one offering a little more detail. Below that section we then go into detail on the three featured gimbals and example why we feel that they are good options for your Nikon d7200.

Comparison Table

Last update on 2022-05-29 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

In our opinion, there is no way we could have anything other than the DJI Ronin S for our primary gimbal for Nikon d7200 cameras. It has one of the best reputations out there, it offers excellent performance, is extremely versatile, and it also has an exceptional build quality. On top of this, the vast majority of people who own the Ronin S use it with DSLR cameras with a large range of accessory setups so it has definatley been put through its paces.

Next up, we have the Zhiyun Crane 3 and although the Crane 3 is a great gimbal, we would only recommend that you pick it up for a d7200 if you know for a fact that the load capacity of the Ronin S is too low. Although the d7200 is a pretty heavy DSLR, we doubt that many of our readers are going to be able to max out the load capacity that it can provide. That said, some we have no doubt that a small number of people will and that’s where the Crane 3 comes in.

Finally, we have our budget gimbal for d7200 cameras, the Moza Air 3 that is essentially just a more budget-friendly Ronin S. Although it comes with a lower price tag, it also offers lower levels of performance with a lower build quality too. That said, if you are just wanting a cheap, entry-level gimbal for your d7200 then the Air 3 is probably your best option.

The DJI Ronin S

Kicking off our gimbal breakdowns, we will be starting with the DJI Ronin S that we feel is without a doubt the best Nikon d7200 gimbal on the market right now. The Ronin S has pretty much been the undisputed king of all of the DSLR weight class gimbals since its release and although a fair few gimbals have tried to come and take the top spot, the Ronin S has seen them all off.

Additionally, the Ronin S also has one of the largest user bases of all modern gimbals with no sign of its customer base growth halting any time soon. Many of its users have published their own independent reviews of the gimbal where they go over their own experiences with it as well as share some insights into the performance of the gimbal too. If you are considering picking the DJI Ronin S up then taking the time to read some of those reviews could help ensure that you are definatley getting the gimbal that you want for your d7200.

Performance And Functionality

Although your Nikon d7200 comes in with a camera body weight of 1.68 pounds, the Ronin S has an upper load capacity of 7.94 pounds meaning it can easily support the weight of your camera while also offering you around 6.26 pounds of free load capacity for your camera accessories. Although we know a small number of videographers do use super heavy setups with their DSLR cameras, we would imagine that this would be plenty of payload weight for the vast majority of our readers.

Another great thing about the Ronin S is the fact that even if you use a large amount of its load capacity, the battery life that the gimbal can provide for you per full charge remains at around the twelve-hour mark. This should be plenty for the vast majority of our readers to ensure that you are able to turn up to your location, capture all of the video footage that you need without your gimbal battery running out mid-session.

Although we have not tried this ourselves, we have seen a number of people mention that they take a high load power bank with them when they are out and about to top up the power in their gimbals whenever they get a chance. Implementing this into your own practices can help to keep you going even longer without having to plug your gimbal into a wall socket.

That said though, if you are not a travel vlogger or working in a videography niche where you will be away from civilization for extended periods of time, twelve hours should be plenty of battery life for you. When you are able to plug the Ronin S into a regular wall based power outlet, it will go from empty back to full in around two hours.

If you are one of our regular readers, you will probably know that we have seen us sharing the video above whenever we talk about the DJI Ronin SC previously. It is our favorite cinematic video that has been recorded using the gimbal and shows exactly what level of image stabilization the gimbal is able to provide you.

As you can see, the gimbal performs effortlessly to manage the payload of the camera and ensure that the user is getting the best image stabilization possible from their gimbal. This not only helps to make the session go smoother but it also gets you the best image quality possible too. If you are doing any kind of paid client work then this is ideal and will help to keep your clients happy with the work that you are able to do for them.

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User Interface And Control System

The physical user interface control system for the Ronin S is shown in the image above and as you can see, it is based around the standard system based around the LCD panel and a joystick. This has proven to be the better system time and time again over the years and although a few brands are starting to implement touchscreen interfaces to their gimbals, this style of system is still dominant at the time of writing.

The whole control interface has been designed around been as simple to use as possible so if you are new to using a gimbal, you are able to quickly and easily pick up the Ronin S and get the most out of it without having to invest much time into learning it. This makes it an ideal option for a first gimbal while coupling it with the DJI smartphone app that w will cover below ensures that the gimbal can also be heavily customized for any advanced users too.

The DJI Smartphone App

Now, if you have been involved in the gimbal space you may be aware that other than DJI, the vast majority of other gimbal brands have been having a nightmare with their smartphone app at some point over the last year or two. This ranges from connectivity issues to the app being totally unusable. That said, the DJI app is the diamond amongst the rocks and has always been kept to the high standards of DJI ensuring that it is a great little gimbal accessory that you can download to your phone for free.

The app has a number of features ranging from fault finding to settings customization, to quickly tweaking performance, and control of some of the newer gimbal modes. Although much of this can be done on the gimbal itself, the app lets you do it in seconds rather than minutes. Also, if you want to use the intelligent object tracking feature, the app makes it a breeze whereas it is a total pain to setup using the gimbal.

Build Quality And Design

The vast majority of modern handheld 3 axis gimbals all follow the same design principals these days although DJI has put their own tweaks on their gimbals to ensure optimal performance. For example, the issues with friction causing heat build-up and overheating issues in some of the cheaper gimbals are none existant on the DJI range. Additionally, the gimbal has been designed to be as functional as possible while also looking professional and sleek too.

When it comes to the build quality of the Ronin S, there is no denying that it is large and pretty heavy but on the flip side of this, it offers you a massive load capacity and a great battery life too. This requires a fair bit of technology to be in the gimbal and also increases its weight. That said, in our opinion, it is not too heavy and we would imagine that the majority of our readers would be able to hold the Ronin S with their Nikon d7200 mounted on top for as long as they need without issue.

Our Verdict

We are massive fans of the Ronin S and if you read some of the third-party left by independent videographers, it would seem like the majority of the community are also big fans of it too. It will provide your Nikon d7200 with some of the best image stabilization possible ensuring you get the best possible image quality. In our opinion, the DJI Ronin S is one of the best Nikon d7200 camera accessories that you are able to invest in.

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The Zhiyun Crane 3

Next up on our list, we have the Zhiyun Crane 3 and as we mentioned back at the start of the article, unless you know that your Nikon d7200 camera setup will be to heavy for the DJI Ronin S, we would take the Ronin S over the Crane 3 any day as it is almost half the price for the same level of performance.

That said, there are some videographers who use camera cages, battery grips, heavy lenses, and heavy external microphones when they work so the Crane 3 is likely the best gimbal option for their d7200. It has the largest load capacity going at the time of writing for any 3 axis gimbal and since its release, the videography community has posted plenty of independent reviews sharing their experiences. As always, we would highly recommend that our readers check out some of these reviews to get an insight into what the gimbal can do from people who are using it as their go-to gimbal stabilizer of choice.

Performance And Functionality

As we mentioned, the Crane 3 has a 10.14-pound maximum load capacity meaning that it can support pretty much any Nikon d7200 setup that you are able to think of. On top of this, the Crane 3 actually has the proven ability to hold these massive camera rigs as many people have uploaded their own tests onto sites like YouTube to see if the claims are true. We know that other brands claim to be able to hold around the ten pounds of payload weight mark but they usually fall way short of that in practice.

As this gimbal has been specifically designed for lifting super heavy payloads, it is no surprise that the maximum battery life takes a hit as the gimbal motors require so much juice to stabilize the heavy camera rigs. If you are using a Nikon d7200 setup that has a total payload of over nine pounds you can expect around seven to eight hours of battery life per full charge.

Again, we have seen some people mention that the top the gimbal up when they can via a power bank when out and about to help increase the battery life as best they can but we haven’t actually done this ourselves. Additionally, you would need a power bank designed for use for laptops, not smartphones due to the gimbal batteries being so large.

Although it is an official promotional video, the clips above show off the potential of the Crane 3 and give you an idea of exactly what you are able to expect from it for your Nikon d7200. Considering that it is a handheld gimbal, it does a great job of providing the image stabilization required to allow you to capture some super smooth video with very heavy camera rigs to get the best image quality possible.

Additionally, the Crane 3 also has all of the latest technology from Zhiyun to help improve its performance even further. It has all of the latest gimbal modes too that help you capture some very natural looking image stabilization that electronic gimbals could previously struggle with. Both the manual mode and point of view mode on the gimbal make this a breeze and get you a very natural looking image quality.

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User Interface And Control System

Unlike the vast majority of other handheld gimbal stabilizers on the market right now, the Crane 3 has actually gone in a totally different direction. As the gimbal has been specifically designed for use with heavy DSLR and video cameras, Zhiyun decided to build it around a two handle setup. To make the control interface as easy as possible, they then split the control system between the two handles to ensure you are able to get the most out of the gimbal with ease.

The top handle has the main control system seen in the image above that offers a bunch of controls that you can tweak as you go with the press of a button. This ensures that the performance of the gimbal can easily be changed to meet the needs of your specific videography session. The bottom control system on the bottom handle has the joystick that lets you manually control the gimbals direction in manual mode as well as a few other tasks too.

Although this new setup does take a little getting used to, we are confident that once our users get used to it, they will actually prefer it for their heavier professional level cameras. The advanced control system is great and allows you to quickly and easily stay on top of the performance of the gimbal to get the most out of it.

Smartphone App

Although Zhiyun had neglected their smartphone app for a few years, they have pushed out a bunch of updates over the last month or so due to it being an integral part of the Crane 3 and the Zhiyun Weebill Lab. This means that they have had to fix all of the connectivity problems that their app had previously had while also adding in the new functionality for their latest products.

Although we would not say that the Zhiyun app is anywhere near as good as the DJI app, it is definatley quickly heading in the right direction. Apparently, Zhiyun is also going to release another update soon to overhaul the navigation menu on the app to make it easier to work through to get to important settings quicker.

Build Quality And Design

As we mentioned above, the Crane 3 is using the new Zhiyun design for their super high payload gimbals based around using two handles. This is excellent for the super heavy Nikon d7200 setups as it lets you spread the weight of the gimbal and your d7200 between both of your arms at the same time rather than just the one. If you know that you are going to be recording none stop for long periods of time, this is surprisingly beneficial as it makes the job of supporting your kit much easier and helps prevent cramps and aches.

Although the Crane 3 is not a lightweight or small gimbal, you have to realize that it has been specifically designed to do one job extremely well. If you are looking for a smaller and lighter gimbal for your Nikon d7200 that you can travel easily with then the DJI Ronin S is the gimbal for you.

That said though, the Crane 3 has an excellent build quality with a professional level finish too. The gimbal is very robust and has been designed to ensure that your camera is able to get a full range of motion even with a heavy lens mounted on it too.

Our Verdict

The Crane 3 has a number of independent reviews that you can read but like we said at the start of this section, if the DJI Ronin S is able to support the weight of your Nikon d7200 setup, we would highly recommend you take the Ronin S instead as it is much cheaper and offers the same level of performance.

That said though, the Crane 3 offers some excellent image stabilization for super heavy setups. If you know you will be using a heavy Nikon d7200 setup with a large number of heavy camera accessories mounted to it odted then the Crane 3 is probably the way to go for you.

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The Moza Air 3

Now, the final product that we are recommending is our budget gimbal for Nikon d7200 cameras, the Moza Air 3 and although this is a great little gimbal stabilizer if you are a hobbyist videographer or a vlogger, we would not recommend it for anyone looking to do any paid client work. When building up your reputation and working for clients you need the absolute best image quality possible so we would always recommend the DJI Ronin S over the Air 3.

If you are not planning on doing any paid client work though, the Air 3 is a solid little gimbal that has a  well deserved reputation within the community with a pretty large user base. It can provide you with some decent image stabilization without you having to break the bank and lets you capture some nice smooth video. In our opinion, the best way to think of the Moza Air 3 is as a budget DJI Ronin S with a lower build quality and performance level to match its price tag.

Performance And Functionality

The Moza Air 3 can support Nikon d7200 camera setups up to 7.1 pounds in weight meaning that it should be able to support the vast majority of d7200 camera rigs even though it is a pretty heavy DSLR camera. It can also support a pretty respectable battery life of up to twelve hours although the more of the load capacity that your camera takes up, the lower the battery life you will get.

The clips in the video above showcase exactly what the Moza Air 3 is able to provide you for your videography work and as you can see, for a lower price point stabilizer, it has actually done a pretty solid job. We have seen a number of student videographers report that they have used the Air 3 while they are on their college or university course as it offers some great performance for its price tag.

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User Interface And Control System

The control system on the Air 3 is very similar to the one on the DJI as well as many of the older generation Zhiyun gimbals too. If you have ever used any of them then you will find many similarities in how you control the Air 3. That said though, we still prefer the control system on the Moza Air 2 over the one on the Air 3 but that is just down to personal preference.

Smartphone App

We would say that in our opinion, the Moza smartphone app sites just between the DJI app and the Zhiyun app with it coming in at second place out of all the gimbal apps on the market right now. The navigation menu and functionality of the app are both great and it is easy to work your way around it to tweak the various gimbal settings with ease. It is also very easy to pair with your gimbal too and once it has been synced, it rarely has any random disconnects too.

Build Quality And Design

As you would expect from a modern 3 axis gimbal, it has a very similar design to most of the other modern handheld gimbals on the market right now. There’s nothing really unique about the design of the Moza Air 3 but its design is highly functional to ensure that it can offer you the best performance possible for this price.

Our Verdict

Although the Moza Air 3 is a solid option and a great addition to any entry-level videographers camera accessories, like we said at the start of this section, if you are going paid client work with your Nikon d7200 then the DJI Ronin S is the way to go.

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