CineMilled Expands Compatibility Of The DJI Ronin M Stabilizer To More Cameras

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by Tim FokJuly 7^th, 2015

CineMilled has designed some Tilt Arm Extensions for the DJI Ronin M that enables the stabilizer to reach better potential in relation to its payload.

DJI has become hugely popular for their affordable gimbal stabilizers. The original Ronin offered an affordable alternative to the Freefly Systems MoVi, albeit coming at a critical drawback; it’s absurd weight.

The Ronin M raised a lot of eyebrows as DJI managed to halve the weight and payload; the latter affecting few as an 8lbs payload still offers huge potential.

However, despite the Ronin M having the capabilities to handle anything south of an F55 (body only) in weight, its physical dimensions are hugely prohibitive meaning little more than a large DSLR is compatible out of the box.

The width of the cradle restricts any camera wider than 6.3″ / 160 mm, for reference this is a Nikon D4 to the mm. The Blackmagic Cinema Camera doesn’t fit inside the cradle, however some trickery with a heavy lens so the body sits further back will enable it to balance.

There’s also tilt restrictions, mounting a C100/C300 will cause the cradle to ‘bottom out’ in an attempt to get the body low enough for correct centre of gravity.

CineMilled surfaced as credible solutions for expanding the compatibility of the original Ronin. Pan and Tilt arm extensions meant you could really maximise the potential of the 16lbs payload.

They were at the forefront of the Ronin M release and as a result it hasn’t taken them long to step in and help out the physical limitations of the Ronin M.

The CineMilled Tilt Extensions provide more height adjustment on the cradle to balance larger cameras. This means cameras like the C100 mark 2 and C300 now become fully compatible.

For wider cameras you’ll still struggle. Looking at the design of the Ronin M my immediate thoughts would be that nothing short of a completely new wider arm would solve this; perhaps out of CineMilleds remit.

Although I could by wrong, I’m not an engineer.

The current solution for this is a heavy front end to the match the rear of the camera; this means the camera sits behind the cradle where there is more width. However this should be done with caution to ensure the camera doesn’t hit the back of the gimbal (another popular dilemma).

In short, the limitations of the Ronin M are in the physical dimension of your camera setup, not the weight. It’s doubtful you’ll get close to the maximum payload in relation to what it can physically fit; you should therefore pretty much ignore the 8lbs, it’s kind of irrelevant.

Another product from CineMilled worth checking out it the Universal Mount For Ronin M. This mount where the handlebars meet the gimbal and offers up a few 3/8″ and 1/4 20″ threads for mounting on other accessories and grip.

Via/ CineMilled Instagram