The Best Steadicam For DSLR Cameras!

For today’s article, we are going to be taking a look at what we feel is the best Steadicam for DSLR cameras currently available on the market right now. Although we still feel that motorized electronic gimbal stabilizers like the DJI Ronin S are better for overall image quality, the Steadicam does still have its place and can provide you with some extremely natural-looking stabilization.

Although electronic gimbals have come along way and many of them can now provide you with natural-looking image stabilization rather than the robotic look that they were previously known for, this is usually only the high-end gimbals than offer this. As we are constantly seeing large numbers of people reaching out and asking for advice on what Steadicam they should be using for their DSLR camera, we have decided to publish this article.

We are hoping that it will be able to help as many of our readers who are looking to add a DSLR Steadicam to their collection of camera accessories and as we know that our readers have a wide range of budgets available to them, we have chosen three Steadicams to feature from three different price points.

As with all of our recommendation posts, we have our comparison table with a short breakdown for each product below followed by a deep dive into the performance and capabilities of all three Steadicams below that. We feel that this helps layout helps our readers who are short on time as they are able to just check out the comparison table section while also helping those who have more free time as they can read the deep dive sections to see why we recommend each Steadicam.

Comparison Table

Last update on 2023-11-14 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

As you can see, our option for a professional level Steadicam has to be the Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series, it offers some of the best performance on the market right now by far. It has an excellent reputation within the community is only getting stronger as more and more people purchase it and we doubt anyone will be able to take the top spot from it anytime soon. That said, with its high price tag, you are definatley paying for the quality and the level of performance that you are able to get from Glidecam.

Next up, as our intermediate option we actually have our favorite Steadicam, the Flycam Redking. Now, we know that people will probably feel that this is a little under price for an intermediate level Steadicam but trust us, this is a great bit of kit that outperforms competing products that are double its price. Just read some of its reviews that have been left for the Redking and it shows just how highly the videography community regard this great bit of kit that is also a bargain at this price tag.

Finally, we have the Sutefoto Portable S-60, our entry-level, budget Steadicam for DSLR cameras and we would only recommend this to any entry-level or hobbyist videographers or maybe vloggers. If you are doing paid client work then the two Steadicams above should be your primary options. Although the Sutefoto S60 is a decent bit of it, it can struggle to provide the required image stabilization for heavier DSLR rigs and its image stabilization is not as good as either of the products above but it is probably the best budget Steadicam on the market right now.

Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series

It shouldn’t be surprising that the Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series is our number one recommended DSLR stabilizer on the market right now, it is a great bit of kit that has proven itself time and time again and just keeps increasing its popularity. Since its release onto the market, the Glidecam has earned a well deserved reputation within the community due to its excellent performance.

Now, in reality, this is probably the best option for any professional level videographer who uses a DSLR set up for their sessions but its price tag is a big turn off for us. If you need the absolute best performance available and have the budget then the Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series is a great bit of kit to invest in and it will make a great addition to your camera accessories.

That said though, the Flycam Redking is around a third of the price of the Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series and although its performance is not as good, it is great for its price point and easily outperforms other Steadicams that are twice its price. The Redking also has  a number of independent reviews that we would highly recommend that you read as it is definatley worth considering and its great performance and low price tag are the reason it is our primary recommendation over the much more expensive Glidecam.

Performance And Functionality

The Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series is able to support a maximum load capacity of twelve pounds of payload weight while still providing you with all the image stabilization that you could require for your videography sessions. Twelve pounds should be plenty for the majority of our readers as although DSLR camera setups do tend to be heavy, it is rare that they will ever get over the ten pounds of payload mark.

The Glidecam does an excellent job of providing you with that more natural-looking image stabilization, especially when panning that some older or lower price point electronic, motorized gimbals can struggle to provide for you. Additionally, it is quick and easy to flip the Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series through one hundred and eighty degrees to switch to an inverted recording while the stabilizer still provides its great image stabilization for you.

The sample video above shows the level of image stabilization that the Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series is able to provide for you when using it with your DSLR rig. As you can see, the image stabilization is flawless and the stabilizer does its job perfectly and provides everything that your DSLR could even need to help ensure that you get the absolute best image quality possible.

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User Interface And Control System

The Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series has been designed to be as quick and easy to get to grips with as possible so even if you have never used a Steadicam before, you can take this stabilizer out of its box, put it together, mount your DSLR, balance it, and go off and capture yourself some excellent, super smooth video footage.

Speaking of balancing, Glidecam has done an excellent job on overhauling their balancing system when compared to what their older generations of Steadicam used. This is very easy to balance and the whole process is based around only two control dials so even if you are brand new to using a Steadicam with your DSLR, you will easily get the hand of it.

There really is not much more to say when it comes to the control system as a Steadicam is a pretty basic and easy to use camera accessory and Glidcam have done a great job at making this one even easier to use than their previous generations.

Build Quality And Design

The actual design of the Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series is very similar to the vast majority of other Steadicams on the market these days but where it really starts to shine is its build quality. You can definatley see that the time and effort have been put in during the design stage of making this Steadicam to ensure that it provides the end-user with the best experience possible to help them capture the best image quality they can.

The quick release plate on the Steadicam is also the same design that Manfrotto use on the majority of their tripods and a number of other tripod, Steadicam, and gimbal brands have also licensed the design too. This ensures that you are able to quickly and easily hot-swap your DSLR camera between your Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series to any of your other camera accessories that use the Manfrotto quick release plate design.

The handle grip on the stabilizer is also solid and has been securely attached to the actual handle. Not only is the grip comfortable so you are able to hold the stabilizer with a heavy DSLR rig mounted to it for long periods of time but as it is securely attached to the handle, it does not randomly rotate and make you feel like your expensive DSLR camera is going to fall to the ground.

The central column on the Steadicam adjusts up and down very smoothly and its tracking indicators allow you to quickly and easily adjust it as required for optimal performance for your session. Finally, the stabilizer uses sealed ball bearings that do not require any lubrication or maintenance from you. This was one of the main problems with the older Steadicams and gimbals due to people trying to service their own gear and accidentally damaging it. Thankfully though, this is no longer an issue so you can focus on getting out there and capturing the best video footage possible.

Our Verdict

There is no doubt in our mind that the Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series is the best Steadicam style stabilizer on the market right now for DSLR camera setups and it has a large number of people posting independent reviews of it that you can read too. It can provide you with all the image stabilization that your DSLR camera needs and definatley help to improve the image quality that you can capture.

That said though, it is a very expensive bit of kit that is almost five years old now and we feel that a large number of our readers will be able to add the Flycam Redking to their collection of DSLR camera accessories, save a whole bunch of money, and still get the level of image stabilization that they require.

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Flycam Redking

Next up, we have our intermediate and middle price point option, the Flycam Redking that is actually our primary Steadicam recommendation for DSLR cameras rather than the more expensive Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series covered above. We feel that a large number of our readers will be able to get exactly what they need out of the Redking while saving themselves a fair amount of money rather than just taking the higher price point option.

The Redking has continued to go from strength to strength since its release too with its excellent performance, great build quality, low price tag, and ease of use all helping it to quickly earn an outstanding reputation within the videography community for itself that we can’t see changing.

Although the Redking is a relatively cheap Steadicam option, it also supports the larges load capacity of our three featured Steadicams for DSLR cameras too. This means if you do have a heavy DSLR or if you like to use a camera cage, a battery grip, a heavy lens, or any other heavy camera accessories while recording, the Rdking should easily be able to support their weight and ensure you capture super-smooth video footage.

Performance And Functionality

The Flycam Redking has a maximum load capacity of 15.4 pounds and off the top of our heads, we are unable to think of a popular DSLR setup that comes in with a payload heavier than this stabilizers load capacity. This ensures that no matter what DSLR camera rig you prefer to run with for your videography sessions, you are sure to be able to mount the setup to the Redking and benefit from its excellent image stabilization.

Just like the Glidecam covered above, the Redking is great for providing you with natural-looking image stabilization that is free from that robotic feel of some of the electronic gimbals on the market. Depending on what you actually want out of your Steadicam as well as what videography niches you are actually working on, this can be a great benefit.

The short video above showcases exactly what the Flycam Redking is able to provide for you when it comes to the performance of a Steadicam for DSLR cameras. As you can see, the footage is very smooth and the image stabilization is absolutely flawless and remember, the Flycam Redking retails at around the $200 mark depending on where you buy it!

As we have mentioned a few times in the article, although the Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series is a great bit of kit, we would imagine that many of our readers would be able to get by on the Flycam Redking that costs a third of what the Glidecam option retails for. The video above is a great example of what you are able to expect from the Redking and we have lost count of the number of videographers, ourselves included, who have underestimated the potential of this great little stabilizer.

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User Interface And Control System

Similar to the Glidecam covered first in the article, the Redking uses a Manfrotto dovetail quick release plate so you are able to quickly and easily mount or unmount your DSLR from the stabilizer as required. Additionally, you can also hot-swap it between other popular camera accessories such as tripods or electronic motorized gimbals provided that they use the same quick release plate system.

The counterweights on the Redking come in at 0.25 pounds and are very easy to mount or unmount to the stabilizers base plate to ensure that you can quickly and easily balance your DSLR camera rig on the Steadicam with ease. Again, we would be confident in saying that we would imagine the majority of our readers will be able to order the Redking, take it out the box, and set it up easily without running into any issues.

Build Quality And Design

Now, the only real let down on the Redking in our opinion is that the grip on the handle does spin and it can be a little unnerving until you are used to it. It feels as though the Redking has failed on you and your camera rig is doing to fall to the ground but it is just the grip rotating around the handle. We have seen a number of people comment saying that they simply added super glue to the grip and it stopped the issue from occurring and had no impact on the image stabilization that the stabilizer is able to provide you but we have not tried this ourselves.

Again, the central column of the Redking is smooth and easy to extend as required to ensure that you are able to get exactly what you need out of the Steadicam for your videography session to ensure that you get the best footage possible. The Redking is also more recent than the Glidecam options above so it has more recent alloys in its construction ensuring that it can support large load capacities while being a lighter weight while also being very robust.

Our Verdict

We are massive fans of the Flycam Redking and feel that they have absolutely smashed it out the park when it comes to manual stabilizers. There are a bunch of third party reviews of the stabilizer online for an independent opinion of how it performs and we also have our own Flycam Redking Review too.

Rather than spending three times the costs of the Redkind, we would highly recommend that our readers seriously consider it as their Steadicam of choice for their DSLR camera. We really do think that it is a very cost-effective option to get the best image quality possible during your videography sessions without you having to break the bank.

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Sutefoto Portable S-60

Our final recommendation is our budget Steadicam for DSLR cameras, the Sutefoto Portable S-60 and at the time of writing, we feel that it is the best entry-level, budget-friendly Steadicam style stabilizer currently available on the market. That said, keep in mind that this is an entry-level stabilizer and its performance is a reflection of its price tag.

If you are doing any kind of paid client work then we would highly recommend either of the two Steadicams above, particularly the Flycam Redking over the Sutefoto Portable S-60. That said though, if you are an entry-level or hobbyist videographer or if you are a YouTube vlogger just looking for a cheap source of image stabilization for your DSLR camera then the Sutefoto Portable S-60 can be a solid option.

For its price point in the market, it does offer some decent performance with a pretty solid build quality in all fairness to it.  On top of this, over the years since its release, the Sutefoto S-60 has managed to build up a well deserved reputation within the community and is considered the go-to budget-friendly DSLR Steadicam in our opinion.

Performance And Functionality

When it comes to load capacity, the Sutefoto S-60 is only able to support a maximum payload weight of seven pounds meaning that it will struggle with any heavy DSLR camera setups. In reality, the quality of the image stabilization that it can provide for you over the 5.6-pound mark of payload really does start to suffer.

Additionally, the natural image stabilization when panning that the two Steadicams above provide you is not really available when using the Sutefoto S-60 and it does kind of have that robotic look to it. This is why we would never recommend this Steadicam for paid client work as the results are sloppy at best.

The sample video above gives a quick overview of the type of performance that you are able to expect out of the Sutefoto S-60 when using it as your Steadicam for your DSLR camera. Keep in mind, there are various image stabilization technologies on both cameras and lenses that can also be used to help increase the image stabilization provided as well as the overall image quality too.

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User Interface And Control System

There’s not really much to say about the control interface for the Sutefoto S-60 that we have not already covered in detail above. Being an entry-level DSLR Steadicam, the Sutefoto S-60 has been specifically designed to be as easy as possible for anyone to pick up and use. Sutefoto have definitely managed to reach that goal and their S-60 is easy to use even if you have never actually used a Steadicam before.

Build Quality And Design

The design for the S-60 is the standard design for modern Steadicams and for an entry-level stabilizer, you shouldn’t really be expecting any groundbreaking breakthroughs in design or build quality either. That said, for its price tag at the time of writing, we do feel that the S-60 has the best build quality of any sub $100 stabilizer although it is a little heavy.

Our Verdict

Like we said, although the Sutefoto S-60 is a solid entry-level Steadicam that can perform well for your DSLR camera, we would highly recommend that you try and save a little longer until you are able to add the Flycam Redking to your camera accessories instead. Considering the price difference between the S-60 and the Redking, it is well worth it and the performance of the Redking is better or equal to Steadicams that are double its price too.

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