The Best Gimbal For Sony FDR X3000 Cameras!

We have been seeing more and more people reaching out with questions about the Sony FDR X3000 over the last few months so we have decided to publish this article to help any of our readers who own the FDR X3000. A decent gimbal stabilizer can be a great addition to your collection of camera accessories for your FDR X3000 and thankfully, due to the camera coming in at just over 0.26 pounds, there are a ton of budget-friendly, handheld gimbals that can support the weight of the camera without issue.

Now, we know that our readers have a wide range of budgets available to them but in all honesty, with a camera as small and lightweight as the FDR X3000, there really is no need to spend a ton of money on your gimbal. A higher price tag does not necessarily mean better performance, especially for such a light camera body so something like the Zhiyun Crane M2 is an excellent option.

In fact, even though there are specialist gimbals available that have apparently been designed for use with the Sony FDR X3000 in mind, we would still say that the Zhiyun Crane M2 is the best option available. Additionally, as the Crane M2 has only been on the market for a few weeks at the time of writing, it has some of the best technology available with the latest balancing algorithm and brand new gimbal motors.

Zhiyun Crane M2

If you have been involved in the gimbal space for any amount of time then there is a high chance that you have already heard of Zhiyun due to them being one of the dominant brands for gimbals for over a decade now. With each new generation of gimbal, they innovate and go from strength to strength and their brand new Zhiyun Crane M2 is no different.

Although the Crane M2 has been designed for use with a wide range of small lightweight cameras, it performs perfectly with the Sony FDR X3000. Its great functionality, low price tag, ease of use, and excellent build quality all come into play helping to push it ahead of the competition too making in the best gimbal for Sony FDR X3000 cameras on the market right now.

Additionally, even though the Zhiyun Crane M2 is new to market, it has quickly managed to build up a well deserved reputation within the community that is growing at an increasing pace. We doubt that this will change any time soon and fully expect the Crane M2 to keep its top spot as the best gimbal for small, lightweight camera units for years to come.

Performance And Functionality

When it comes to performance and functionality, the Zhiyun Crane M2 has all of the latest gadgets due to it being one of the newest 3 axis gimbals from Zhiyun. It comes with their latest balancing algorithm that ensures that the gimbal is quick to respond to movement and ensures you receive optimal image stabilization with minimal effort required on your part.

In addition to this, the Zhiyun Crane M2 also comes with the latest high torque gimbal motors to ensure that the M2 is able to take the weight of your camera while also being as power-efficient as possible too. Additionally, the motors are almost silent meaning that the onboard microphone on your camera will not pick up any sounds from the gimbals motors adjusting and accidentally contaminate your audio track.

With a maximum load capacity of 1.58 pounds, the Zhiyun Crane M2 is able to easily take the 0.26 payload of your Sony FDR X3000 while also ensuring that you are able any other small point and shoot cameras, action cameras, or smartphones to the gimbal when required too. Just keep in mind than an additional smartphone clip mount will be required to mount your phone to the Crane M2.

When it comes to battery, the Crane M2 has a maximum battery life of six hours ensuring that it has all the juice needed for you to capture the video footage you need with your Sony FDR X3000 too. Once the gimbal does run dry, it can be charged back to full in only two hours when charged via a regular wall based power outlet too.

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User Interface And Control System

The control system on the Crane M2 has been designed to be as user-friendly as possible as you can see in the image above. This ensures that even if this is your very first gimbal stabilizer, you will be able to get to grips with it quickly and start capturing excellent quality footage with your Sony FDR X3000 and your Crane M2 pretty much right out of the box. The ease of use of the Crane M2 also ensures that there should be no need for you to invest hours to learn how to do basic tasks with the gimbal and that you can learn the ropes while recording.

The system is essentially based around the traditional joystick and LCD panel system that most other 3 axis gimbals on the market use right now. Thankfully, unlike some competing gimbals, the joystick on the Crane M2 is response in cold weather even if your hands are wet or cold too. This ensures that no matter the conditions, the control interface for the gimbal will work and allow you to get the best image quality possible.

Smartphone App

It’s no secret that the Zhiyun smartphone app was a total nightmare to use and had some major connectivity issues until around six months back. Thankfully, with both the Zhiyun Crane 3 and the Zhiyun Weebill Lab having a bunch of their core functionality based on features from the Smartphone app, Zhiyun had to totally overhaul their app and fix the problems it was having.

The new, overhauled app is actually a great, free gimbal accessory that is well worth downloading and adding to your kit. It pairs seemlesley with the Zhiyun gimbal range these days and on top of this, the navigation menu for the app is clean and easy to follow now too. It offers some wireless remote control functionality as well as the ability to quickly and easily tweak various gimbal settings via the app without having to manually do it via the gimbals internal system too.

Build Quality And Design

Coming from Zhiyun, you can rest assured that the Crane M2 has one of the best build qualities available at the time of writing. As we mentioned earlier, it is one of the newest gimbals to market at the time of writing and has all of the latest technology. This includes the latest high-quality plastic polymers to ensure that the gimbal is as lightweight as possible yet still tough enough to take plenty of bumps during use.

This coupled with its small size ensures that you are able to quickly and easily store the gimbal in a backpack or other bag when not in use without issue. At the same time, you have the peace of mind to know that the gimbal won’t be breaking any time soon from and punishment it takes either while in transit or while in use.

When it comes to design, there really is not much innovation going on in the small, lightweight camera gimbal space. The Crane M2 essentially follows the exact same design as the majority of other 3 axis handheld gimbals on the market as the design is simple, easy to use, and offers some excellent performance too.

Our Verdict

We really do feel that the Zhiyun Crane M2 is the best gimbal for Sony FDR X3000 cameras currently available on the market right now and think it will make an excellent addition to your collection of camera accessories. It has a number of independent reviews online that go indepth into the gimbals performance and are well worth reading too.

The image stabilization that the Crane M2 is able to provide for your FDR X3000 will definatley help to improve the image quality of your video footage with minimal effort required on your part. If you are trying to use your footage for a YouTube channel or a social media page then this can make all the difference in helping your content stand out against the competitions.

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FeiyuTech G5GS

Now, another popular gimbal for Sony FDR X3000 is the FeiyuTech G5GS and although we would always recommend the Zhiyun Crane M2 covered above over the FeiyuTech G5GS, it does have a solid customer base. Additionally, it has a fair few reviews from independent FDR X3000 owners that you can read if you wish.

Although the M2 offers superior performance over the G5GS with a much smoother level of image stabilization, the G5GS is also almost half the price of the Crane M2. This allows it to act as a more budget-friendly, entry-level gimbal stabilizer for the FDR X3000. On the flipside of this is that the G5GS has been specifically designed to work with the Sony FDR form factor so will only work with cameras from that specific range. With the Crane M2 you can mount any other camera or smartphone that is light enough for the gimbal to support.

Performance And Functionality

Although the FeiyuTech G5GS has specifically been designed around the Sony camera form factor, it is able to support a maximum load capacity of 0.44 pounds due to the heavier cameras in the Sony range. This ensures that it can easily support your FDR X3000 that comes in at around 0.26 pounds of payload weight with ease.

Additionally, the FeiyuTech G5GS is able to provide you with a maximum battery life of up to seven hours per charge of its batteries too. That said, its recharging time can be a little sketchy and ranges from two to four hours with no real indication as to why it can sometimes require double the time to recharge. The average recharge time for the gimbals batteries does tend to be closer to the two-hour mark though.

The G5GS is able to provide you with some pretty decent image stabilization, especially for its price point but if you are investing in a gimbal, you should really consider trying to extend your budget so you can get the Zhiyun Crane M2. It blows the G5GS out of the park and also allows you to use multiple camera types with it too and the balancing algorithm used on the Crane M2 is much quicker and smoother than what FeiyuTech are able to offer too.

User Interface And Control System

The FeiyuTech G5GS uses a very similar control interface system as the other handheld gimbals that are suitable for your FDR X3000 as you can see in the image above. That said though, with the G5GS being a more budget-friendly handheld gimbal, it is a stripped-back interface based around the joystick and doesn’t even have an LCD panel to display information to you.

The interface does get the job done and ensure that you are able to tweak the gimbals settings or use it in manual mode without issue. Considering that FeiyuTech has tried to reduce costs where possible, the actual joystick on the gimbal is surprisingly responsive in all fairness to them. When used in manual mode this ensures that you are able to easily aim your Sony FDR X3000 with ease as required for optimal footage.

Smartphone App

The FeiyuTech smartphone app is in a sorry state and has a number of issues ranging from poor connectivity to a difficult to navigate system. With the FeiyuTech AK gimbal range having so many problems right now, we doubt that they will be putting any time or money into their app any time soon so don’t expect any changes to the problem the app has.

Thankfully, all of the functionality other than the wireless remote control feature that the app offers the FeiyuTech G5GS can be achieved via the handheld control system on the gimbal. Just keep in mind that it will take much longer to do via the actual gimbal than it will via the app. You can try to sync your gimbal with the app if you wish to try and make your life easier but don’t get your hopes up for seamless experiences that you can get from the DJI, Zhiyun, or Moza gimbal apps.

Our Verdict

Although a number of people initially purchased the FeiyuTech G5GS as their go to gimbal for Sony FDR X3000 cameras due to it being a “speciallist” gimbal for the Sony camera range, people quickly moved over to gimbals like the Zhiyun Crane M2 or the lesser-known Feiyutech G6 due to the superior performance that they offer. We would not recommend the G5GS to our readers as a gimbal for the Sony FDR X3000 range as either of the alternative gimbals above will make much better additions to your camera accessories.

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