The Best Gimbal For Panasonic FZ1000 Cameras!

We have seen countless people reaching out for advice on the best gimbal for Panasonic FZ1000 cameras and with the FZ1000 being a popular bridge camera we have decided to publish this article to try and help any of our readers who own it and are looking to pick up a handheld gimbal stabilizer. Now, as the FZ1000 comes in with a camera weight of 1.83 pounds without any camera accessories mounted on it, you will be limited to using gimbals that have been designed for use with mirrorless or DSLR camera setups for optimal image stabilization.

Thankfully though, we have settled on three different 3 axis gimbals that we feel will serve you well and ensure that you are able to get excellent image stabilization for your Panasonic FZ1000 and capture the best image quality possible. All three of the gimbals have managed to earn excellent reputations for themselves since their release and they just keep continuing to grow in popularity as time goes on.

Additionally, all three of the gimbals that we have selected have plenty of load capacity available to ensure that they can all support even the heavier Panasonic FZ1000 camera setups without issue. If you are doing any kind of paid client work, adding any of these gimbals to your collection of camera accessories will be a great investment and help ensure that you are able to produce the best video footage possible for your clients.

We have our regular comparison table below that offers a quick overview of what we feel the three best FZ1000 are at the time of writing as we know that some of our readers will be short on time. Additionally, we also have an in-depth break down of all three of the gimbals throughout the rest of the article as we know many of our readers will want to know as much about the products as possible before spending this much on them.

Comparison Table

Last update on 2023-12-04 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

The Zhiyun Weebill Lab

First up we have the Zhiyun Weebill Lab and since its release, it has gone from strength to strength to become the dominant gimbal for middle weight class camera setups that include the Panasonic FZ1000. With it being a small, lightweight, compact travel gimbal the Weebill Lab is also ideal for use for anyone who will need to travel light and it is a very popular choice for travel videographer or travel vloggers.

Since its release onto the market, the gimbal has managed to earn itself an excellent reputation within the community that just keeps growing with each month that passes. Although there are some other decent gimbal stabilizers in this weight class, we feel that the Weebill Lab is the top of the pack and doubt that it is going to be knocked off the top spot anytime soon.

Performance And Functionality

As we mentioned earlier in the article, your Panasonic FZ1000 comes in with a camera weight of 1.83 pounds before adding your lens, external microphone, flash unit, or any other camera accessories that you require. Thankfully, with a maximum load capacity of 6.6 pounds, the Weebill Lab makes quick and easy work of even the heaviest FZ1000 setups ensuring you get the best possible image stabilization no matter the camera rig you are using.

Additionally, the gimbal also supports a respectable maximum battery life of ten hours with each full charge of its battery. We would imagine that ten hours of juice per charge should be plenty for the majority of our readers but some people have taken to carrying a USB power bank with them for their sessions to top their devices up in their downtime. This effectively allows you to extend the battery life of your gimbal, Panasonic FZ1000, flash unit, and anything else that needs a source of power for your session.

Due to the USB power bank market being so vast, we are unable to provide an expected recharging time for your Weebill Lab based on recharging it via a power bank. We would always recommend a high-capacity, high output power bank though to ensure it is actually able to charge your gimbal. That said, the Weebill Lab does have the quick charge technology from Zhiyun as standard allowing you to recharge it via a wall-based power outlet in around three hours to minimize downtime.

The video footage above has been capture using a Zhiyun Weebill Lab as the primary source of image stabilization for the users setup. As you can see, it does an excellent job and provides the user with some excellent image stabilization and really helps to improve the image quality of the video. For the middleweight class camera range we really feel that the Weebill Lab offers some of the best performance available at the time of writing as seen in the image above.

The handheld gimbal stabilizer also supports a number popular gimbal modes to help you capture the best possible clips using your Panasonic FZ1000. The manual mode is excellent on the gimbal and its responsive interface system offers excellent control over the gimbal head to provide some natual looking image stabilization. Until recently, this natural feel was pretty much restricted to Steadicams as motorised gimbals usually has that robotic feel to their footage but with some practise, you can get the natural feel via manual mode on the Weebill Lab.

A new gimbal mode that has been added to the Weebill Lab is Vortex Mode that essentially gets the gimbal to rotate the gimbal head with your Panasonic FZ1000 mounted to it in a barrel roll fasion. Although we initially though this would be more of a meme gimbal mode, it is actually suprisingly effective, especially in the vlogging space and can help add a unique look to some subjects or objects of your footage.

All in all, as anyone would expect from Zhiyun, the Weebill Lab is an excellent gimbal and we really can’t fault it when it comes to its performance, especially when you factor in its small size and lightweight. Zhiyun have out done themselves and it is not suprising that the gimbal is so popular within the community and quickly dominated its weight class.

Click Here To Check Prices And Availability!

User Interface And Control System

The image above shows the interface of the Weebill Lab with the additional smartphone mount attached to the handle of the gimbal. Now, we usually feel that smartphone mounts for gimbals are a waste of time but in our opinion, they are well worth picking up for both the Zhiyun Weebill Lab and the Zhiyun Crane 3 due to a bunch of additional functionality being available via the Zhiyun app.

As you can see, the control interface on the gimbal is based around the standard joystick, buttons, and LCD Panel setup that is popular with the majority of handheld gimbal brands. It offers superior control of the gimbal while also ensuring that the unit is as easy to use as possible for the user. If you are brand new to using gimbals and are looking to purchase your first one, the easy system of the Weebill Lab can make your life much easier and allow you to get to grips with the gimbal very quickly without having to invest much time.

Additionally, the system also offers some solid advanced customization options for the gimbal so advanced gimbal users are able to get what they need from it too. Zhiyun has done a great job of putting the control interface on the Weebill Lab together and ensuring that both new and advanced gimbal users will be able to get what they need out of it.

The Smartphone App

As we mentioned above, both the Weebill Lab and Crane 3 have some additional functionality such as the intelligent object tracking system that requires the smartphone apps to function. Due to this, Zhiyun had to totally overhaul their smartphone app prior to their release and we are thankful that they did as the app was in a sorry state prior to its overhaul.

Thankfully, Zhiyun corrected the various bugs the app had in the overhaul fixing the initial syncing issues between the app and the gimbal as well as correcting the bugs that would cause the app to randomly drop connection to your gimbal once synced. Additionally, Zhiyun also tweaked the navigation system on the app making it easier to follow and use too.

The app is now a solid free gimbal accessory that we would highly recommend that you download if you are planning on purchasing the Zhiyun Weebill Lab. It offers you some additional gimbal functionality, some limited wireless remote control features as well as a quick and easy way to tweak gimbal settings if needed too.

Build Quality And Design

The Weebill Lab has broken tradition and uses a brand new handheld gimbal design that allows you to quickly and easily switch the gimbal from regular handheld mode to underslung mode within seconds. This allows you to comfortable capture some low angle footage with your Panasonic FZ1000 and is a great feature that we hope more gimbal brands implement moving forward.

Zhiyun has also taken the feedback about the seating of your camera onboard from their previous gimbals and tweaked the design. With the Weebill Lab, the battery housing for your Panasonic FZ1000 will not be blocked when mounted to the gimbal allowing you to quickly and easily hot-swap batteries for the camera as required.

As we mentioned earlier in the article, the Weebill Lab is tiny and very lightweight making it an excellent option for anyone who knows they will have to travel with their gear on a regular basis. Unlike some competing gimbal brands that sacrifice the robustness of their gimbals to cut weight, the Weebill Lab is also tough and can take any knocks coming its way during use or while in transit too.

The Zhiyun balancing system has been perfected over the last decade to the quick and easy system that their gimbals use today. With balancing being one of the major problems that we see people new to gimbals reaching out for assistance on, we are pleased to say that the system on the Weebill Lab is quick and easy and it will allow you to balance your Panasonic FZ1000 extremely quickly.

Our Verdict

We really do feel that the Zhiyun Weebill Lab is the best gimbal for Panasonic FZ1000 cameras on the market right now and hope we have done a good job of explaining why above. We feel that it will make a solid addition to your FZ1000 camera accessories and help you to capture the best image quality possible via its excellent image stabilization.

Additionally, there are also a large number of third-party reviews of the gimbal available that have been posted by independent videographers who use the Weebill Lab as their go to gimbal of choice. If you have the time available, we would highly recommend that you read a few of them as they offer some excellent insight into the performance of the gimbal stabilizer.

The Zhiyun Crane Plus

Next up, we have the Zhiyun Crane Plus that is actually the predecessor to the Zhiyun Weebill Lab covered above and was the previous dominant force in for this weight class of gimbals prior to the Weebill Labs release. Now, you may be wondering why we would include a gimbal from an older generation when we are featuring its successor as our primary recommendation, well it is due to its recent price reduction making it an excellent, more cost-efficient option.

When the Weebill lab was released onto the market, Zhiyun reduced the retail price for the Crane Plus and it serves as our budget-friendly option. It still has the excellent performance it has always had but is around $100 cheaper than it used to be depending on where you purchase it. Additionally, due to being the previous dominant gimbal for middleweight class cameras, it enjoys an excellent reputation within the community that is still steadily growing too.

Performance And Functionality

Although the Crane Plus does lag behind the Weebill Labe when it comes to performance, for its lower price tag, we feel that it is still competitive. It boasts a maximum load capacity of 5.5 pounds meaning that it can easily support the 1.83 camera weight of your Panasonic FZ1000 with most of the heavy camera accessory setups we have seen with ease. The Crane Plus also uses the same high torque gimbal motors as the Weebill Lab ensuring that you get quick and responsive image stabilization during use too.

The Crane Plus also has an advantage over the other two featured gimbal stabilizers when it comes to its maximum battery life of up to eighteen hours! This is due to the Crane Plus being designed before the trend of carrying a USB power bank with you was so popular so gimbal manufacturers put a higher prioritization on the battery life of their gimbals. If you are in a niche such as travel videographer where you may be away from a power outlet for days at a time, the longer battery life of the Crane Plus can make it the ideal option.

It also has the same Zhiyun quick charge technology as the weebill lab too allowing you to charge the gimbal back to full in around three hours via a power outlet. This helps to minimize downtime and ensure you are able to get out and about capturing the videofootage you require with your Panasonic FZ1000 as much as possible.

The clips above are some of our favorite video footage that has been captured using the Zhiyun Crane Plus and as you can see, the gimbal does a solid job of stabilizing the users camera and helping to improve the image quality they are able to record. The 3 axis gimbal head ensures that even larger camera units with longer lenses have an optimal range of movement while mounted too.

Additionally, the Crane Plus also has all but the vortex gimbal mode that the Weebill Lab has while also having the same intelligent object tracking system and balancing algorithm.We feel that the Zhiyun balancing algorithm is one of the main reasons that their handheld gimbals are such a dominant force in the space as it ensures that the gimbal is able to detect and correct any movement extremely quickly.

Although there was an issue with the point of view mode when the Crane Plus was initially shipped to suppliers it has since been corrected via a firmware update. If you do purchase the Crane Plus for your Panasonic FZ1000, be sure to update it to the latest firmware build as soon as possible to correct this issue for free.

Click Here To Check Prices And Availability!

User Interface And Control System

Although the interface system for the Crane Plus is very basic, it definatley let’s control the gimbal as required and its simplicity is actually an advantage if you are purchasing your very first gimbal as it ensures that you are getting a very easy to learn system. The joystick on the Crane Plus is also very responsive too, even if your thumb is cold ensuring that you get optimal control over the gimbal head in various modes no matter the conditions you are recording in.

As the Crane Plus and Weebill Lab share the same smartphone app, we will not be having a dedicated section for the app as we have covered it above for the Weebill Lab. That said though, due to the simplicity of the control interface on the actual gimbal, if you are an advanced videographer, the app is definatley worth downloading for the Crane Plus as it allows some advanced customization of the gimbals settings.

Build Quality And Design

The main disadvantage of the Crane Plus over the Weebill lab is that it is much larger and more than double the weight. If you are going to be traveling via air for your videography sessions then the Zhiyun Weebill Lab can help you meet any baggage allowance weight restrictions and also takes up much less space too. That said, the Crane Plus is just as robust as the Weebill Lab and it has a reputation for being a particularly tough gimbal.

When it comes to the design of the gimbal, it sticks to the more traditional, tried and tested handheld gimbal design without the additional underslung system that the Weebill Lab offers. We have seen some videographers report that they prefer the traditional system giving the Crane Plus an advantage. That said though, we have seen a much larger number of videographers report that they love the underslung mode of the Weebill Lab even with many saying they were not initially fans but it quickly grew on them.

Our Verdict

We hope that we have done a decent job of explaining why we feel that the Crane Plus is a solid cheap gimbal for Panasonic FZ1000 camera users and has its place on the list. Although the Zhiyun Weebill Lab is the better option due to its superior performance if you are doing paid videography work, the Crane Plus still offers some excellent image stabilization.

Additionally, we also have our dedicated review of the Crane Plus that you can read if you wish and there are also a number of independent reviews of the Crane Plus online that offer an external, third-party insight into the gimbal and the performance that it can provide for your Panasonic FZ1000.

The DJI Ronin SC

The final product that we will be covering in our list of gimbals for Panasonic FZ1000 cameras is the DJI Ronin SC that is the DJI entry to the middleweight class gimbal range after the DJI Ronin S has been the dominant gimbal in the DSLR space for so long. Although the Ronin SC is a solid option for your Panasonic FZ1000, we feel that it is a tad overpriced for it to take the top spot over what you get for your money with the Zhiyun Weebill Lab.

That said, as you would imagine from a DJI gimbal stabilizer, the Ronin SC has managed to get off to a solid start and rapidly earned itself a solid reputation within the community that shows no signs of slowing in growth. In the short time that it has been on the market at the time of writing, the SC has definatley established itself as a solid gimbal in the middleweight class gimbal range and we feel it will remain in its current position for many years to come.

Performance And Functionality

The Ronin SC actually has the lowest maximum load capacity of any of the featured gimbals for your Panasonic FZ1000 with it being able to support camera payloads of up to 4.4 pounds. Although this should be enough to support a large number of FZ1000 setups, if you are using a heavier rig then the load capacity of the SC simply may not be enough for you. That said though, we are fully aware that the majority of setups for the FZ1000 will fall within the load capacity of the SC and that is why we felt it deserved a place in our article.

The maximum battery life of the gimbal comes in at eleven hours per full charge of its batteries and should be enough for the majority of our readers between charging opportunities. On top of that, a number of people use the power bank system with the Ronin SC to top it up while out and about on the go. The Ronin SC can also be charged back to full from being empty in only two and a half hours via a regular power outlet too.

The cinematic video clips in the YouTube video above offer a great example of exactly what the DJI Ronin SC is able to provide for you during use. It showcases the level of image stabilization that the 3 axis gimbal head is able to provide for you and in all fairness, we do actually think that the stabilization is ever so slightly ahead of the Zhiyun Weebill Lab. That said though, the price difference, smaller size, and lighter weight of the Weebill Lab push it further ahead overall as the difference in stabilization between the two gimbals is marginal at best.

Similar to the gimbals from the Zhiyun range covered above, the DJI Ronin SC also offers the standard gimbal modes that you would expect from a modern gimbal stabilizer. Just like the Weebill Lab, the manual control and point of video modes on the Ronin SC are excellent and a massive leap from the tech on the older gimbals. As the Ronin SC is essentially a reworked DJI Ronin S targeting the middleweight class, it is not surprising that its performance is excellent.

Click Here To Check Prices And Availability!

User Interface And Control System

As you can see from the image of the control interface on the Ronin SC above, the system is very basic and similar to the one on the Zhiyun Crane Plus being based around a joystick, an LCD Panel, and some buttons. Just like the Crane Plus, the simplicity of the control interface for the Ronin SC actually plays into its favor if you are new to using gimbals due to it being so easy to pick up and use without prior experience.

The joystick system on the Ronin SC is outstanding and DJI really has done an excellent joy with the sensitivity and responsiveness that the joystick offers. If you are manually controlling your gimbal head for sensitive work then you can really tell the difference on the SC and the advantages that it offers you with its precise control.

The Smartphone App

The DJI smartphone is the only app designed for use for gimbals that has been in a good state since its release without going through any periods of having serious bugs and issues like the apps from other brands. We feel that DJI have been quick to realize the potential of their smartphone app from their experiences with their drone range and always put a high priority on having an excellent app.

Functionality wise, the app offers a very similar level of functionality to the Zhiyun app with it providing some quick and easy access to the gimbal settings as well as some wireless remote control functionality too. You are also able to set the app up to sync with some cameras to show you what you are recording in real-time but at the time of writing, the Panasonic FZ1000 is not supported for this real-time monitoring feature.

Build Quality And Design

As we mentioned above, the Zhiyun Weebill Lab is much smaller and lighter than the DJI Ronin SC making it a better option if you know you will be traveling with weight restrictions on your hear for long periods of time. Additionally, the heavier weight of the Ronin SC can also be felt if you know that you are going to be recording video footage for long periods of time without taking a break as your arm can start to ache too.

The design of the Ronin SC is based around the same handheld gimbal design that Crane Plus uses that has been perfected over the years. This offers optimal control and performance from the gimbal while keeping everything as simple and easy as possible to control. If you have used a handheld gimbal before then you will likely see many similarities between it and the Ronin SC.

Our Verdict

That brings us to the end of our article going over what we feel is the best gimbal for Panasonic FZ1000 cameras and we hope that we have done a solid job of explaining why we feel that the DJI Ronin SC deserves a spot on the list. That said though, we really would recommend that you checkout the Zhiyun Weebill Lab for the FZ1000 as we feel that it is a better gimbal stabilizer overall and has a very similar image quality to what the Ronin SC is able to provide for you.