The Ultimate Yelangu S60T Review!
Welcome to our ultimate Yelangu S60T review that we have decided to publish after publishing some reviews of other manual handheld stabilizers over the last month or so and noticing people reach out about the Yelangu S60T. Our hope is that our article will help any of our readers who are in the market for an entry-level, budget-friendly manual camera stabilizer and are considering adding the Yelangu S60T to their collection of camera accessories.
Now, the S60T has managed to earn a pretty solid reputation amongst the videography community for itself since its release. It has earned a number of independent reviews from third-party videographers who use it as their go-to stabilizer of choice too. If you have the time available, you can read some of them to get an insight into the performance of the stabilizer from videographers who have used it as their go-to stabilizer for an extended period of time.
That said though, although the Yelangu S60T is a pretty solid option, we feel that the Neewer handheld manual stabilizer is a much better option that is not only cheaper than the S60T but also offers better performance as well as has a much larger customer base behind it. If you are looking for a cheap, easy to use, natural-looking image stabilization for your video footage then we would highly recommend that you consider the Neewer stabilizer over the Yelangu S60T.
Due to it having a much larger user base of videographer, the Neewer unit has a ton of independent reviews online that go over why it is such a popular choice. In our opinion, it is without a doubt the best entry-level manual stabilizer on the market right now and it is also cheaper than the Yelangu S60T.
All that said and done though, we will still be going over our full, dedicated review of the Yelangu S60T to share our thoughts and feelings on the stabilizer. This will help explain our decision for recommending the Neewer unit over the Yelangu stabilizer too. We just didn’t want our readers to have to read the whole article only for us to recommend another product at the end and essentially waste your valuable time.
Performance And Functionality
If you are wanting a higher load capacity for your manual stabilizer then, at the time of writing at least, your options are extremely limited until you get up to the $200 price point. Increasing your budget to around the $200 opens up the Flycam Redking that we actually consider being one of the best manual stabilizers on the market right now. We have our own dedicated Redking review that we published a few weeks back but in our opinion, it offers a similar level of performance to stabilizers that are more than double its price.
Focusing back on the Yelangu S60T, just like all other manual stabilizers, it has the zero power requirement advantage over the more expensive motorized gimbals. In addition to this, the S60T comes in at under five pounds of weight including all of its counterweight plates meaning it is an ideal option for anyone who is going traveling and know they need to keep their camera accessory weight down. The fact that it does not need to be recharged at the end of each day also ensures that you are always able to get access to some great image stabilization for extended periods of time even when you are away from a powerpoint.
Additionally, as you are able to see in the video above, the Yelangu S60T does a great job of providing you with that smooth, clean, natural-looking image stabilization that manual video stabilizers are famous for. Even to this day, many of the electronic, motorized gimbal stabilizers have that robotic feel to their footage helping the manual stabilizers keep their niche within the videography community.
In all fairness to Yelangu, they have done a pretty solid job of providing a great little budget-friendly manual camera stabilizer that offers you some solid performance. That said, when it comes to performance we feel that the Neewer handheld manual stabilizer is ever so slightly better while also being cheaper making it the better option in our opinion.
User Interface And Control System
Once balanced, you simply mount your camera of choice to the stabilizer, grab it via the gimbal handle grip as shown in the image above and go about capturing your video footage as required. It really is that simple and the manual aiming and adjusting on the stabilizer also ensures that even with minimal experience, you are able to capture some excellent video footage with an image quality similar to that in the video clip in the section above.
All in all, the Yelangu S60T has everything that you could want in an entry-level manual stabilizer as it is as easy to use as possible and we are confident that even with zero previous experience using a manual stabilizer, you will quickly get to grips with the unit. Additionally, once you are used to the system, you can start to implement more advanced gimbal movements into your recording sessions to further increase the image quality that you are able to capture too.
Build Quality And Design
One advantage that the Yelangu S60T does have over many competing manual entry-level stabilizers is its 38.5-inch maximum length. Although this will not have any direct effect on your image quality when recording using the S60T, it can make the stabilizer more comfortable to use, especially if you are six foot or over. It’s just one of those niche little things that won’t benefit many people but it is nice to know if you are taller.
When it comes to build quality, Yelangu has done an excellent job for the price of the stabilizer. The majority of the frame of the Yelangu S60T is made from high-quality carbon fiber ensuring that it is as light as possible while also being very tough at the same time. This ensures that you can easily pack the stabilizer with your camera accessories during transit while also having the peace of mind that it will not break in transit from a bump or knock.
Poor build quality is really common in the entry-level stabilizer market and only a handful of products are actually worth your time in our opinion with the Yelangu S60T being one of the few with a solid build state. We are actually surprised that Yelangu has managed to retail their S60T at such a low price point with it offering such a solid build quality. If you know for a fact that you will be traveling around a whole bunch and that your stabilizer will be taking a large amount of punishment in transit, the S60T is a solid option to go with.
FAQs
Question – Can the Yelangu S60T be used with a specific camera.
Answer – This is without a doubt the most commonly asked question that we see by far and it’s not just your camera that you have to take into account. If you are using a camera lens, a flash unit, an external flash or any other camera accessory all have to be taken into account with their weight being added up to work out the overall payload weight of your rig. As the Yelangu S60T has a 6.6-pound maximum load capacity you want your total payload to be under the 6.6-pound mark. That said, ideally, your camera rig will be under the 5.28-pound mark for optimal image stabilization from the stabilizer.
Question – What kind of maintenance do I have to do with the Yelangu S60T?
Answer – Thankfully, the stabilizer uses a sealed ball bearing system just like most of its competitors to reduce the maintenance that you have to carry out on the stabilizer. This means that the ball bearings in the gimbal joint between the central column and the handle of the unit are sealed in a component with their lubricant inside. This removes the requirement for you to oil up the stabilizer like you would have had to in older products and focus on capturing the best quality video footage possible.
Question – Can I take the Yelangu S60T on a plane as hand luggage?
Answer – After some airlines banned tripods from hand luggage we are seeing more and more people asking about other camera accessories. In all honesty, we really don’t know and it is best to contact the airline that you will be using and ask them. That said, most airlines now allow you to take tripods on as hand luggage again but asking your airline’s customer services hotline will always be the best option.
Our Verdict
That concludes our Yelangu S60T review and as we mentioned back at the start of the article, there are also a large number of additional independent reviews online that you can read if you wish. Although the S60T is a decent entry-level manual camera stabilizer, definatley top three for the sub $100 price point, we would still recommend the Neewer handheld manual stabilizer over it to our readers.
The Neewer unit has all of the strengths of the Yelangu S60T while also having a lower price tag as well as a slightly better level of performance. In our opinion, the Neewer stabilizer is the undisputed king of the sub $100 manual stabilizers at the time of writing and we doubt this is doing to be changing any time soon. The Neewer unit also has a bunch of independent reviews online that you are able to read if you wish too.
