By site editor Dan Chung:
Chinese manufacturer CAME has become well-known for making reasonably priced brushless gimbals. For a while their solutions felt a little DIY, but their latest offerings are much improved.
They have just launched a brand new grip-style three-axis brushless gimbal called the CAME-Single. Designed to be used held in one hand it can carry compact system cameras like the Sony a7S, Panasonic GH4 and Blackmagic Design Pocket cinema camera. The design is similar to rival Chinese gimbal maker Nebula’s 4000 model which we previously reviewed.
Unlike the Nebula this gimbal has toolless adjustment for easier setup and a more substantial build. The rechargeable batteries are interchangeable and are said to last around 10 hours.
The CAME-Single can also be mounted to sliders, jibs and tripods to be used as a remote head. A joystick on the handle can control the movement of the camera and this should be useful when the gimbal is mounted this way.
Inside the gimbal is a 32-bit controller board and I assume it runs on the Alexmos system. One very neat feature is the ability to aim the camera angle by simply pushing the gimbal to required orientation and holding it got one second. The CAME-Single then memorises this and continues to shoot at this angle until you readjust it.
Maximum payload is claimed to be 1kg and the weight of the gimbal itself is 1.2kg.
The CAME-Single is due to ship in June but is priced higher than the Nebula 4000. Retail price is $988 US, but if you pre-order now there is a $100 discount bringing it down to $888 US. Just how well this gimbal performs needs to be tested, but I suspect it will be similar to CAME’s other gimbals which are pretty easy to fly.
Also new from CAME is an update to their MINI model. This is a lightweight brushless gimbal also for the a7S and GH4, but with a more conventional design. I’ve been testing one for a while and the nice thing about it is that it can fold flat for storage and has batteries built into the bar of the gimbal itself. This makes it very easy to transport and it’s the lightest conventionally shaped gimbal I’ve tried. One annoyance though is that the MINI requires tools to set up and the process can be slow and tricky. CAME have recognised this and just introduced a second version of the MINI that features toolless adjustment. I hope to do a more detailed review in the future.
In what must be a response to the low price of the new DJI Ronin Mini and recent reductions to the original Ronin, CAME have also reduced the price of all their existing gimbals.
CAME 8000 down to $1688 US
CAME 7800 ( old version ) down to $1080 US
CAME 7500 down to $ 980 US
CAME 7000 down to $780 US
CAME-MINI down to $ 898US
For more details head to the CAME-TV website.
