DJI’s newest Ronin gimbal is smaller, lighter, cheaper and is designed for mirrorless cameras

DJI today unveiled a successor to its Ronin S handheld gimbal — the Ronin SC. The new gimbal is more compact and lighter than the one it replaces, and it is also cheaper.

Interestingly, the “C” in Ronin SC stands for “compact” as DJI has added some design considerations that not just make the 3-axis gimbal smaller but also built one that works well with mirrorless cameras.

The design brief for the Ronin-SC was to be as lightweight and as compact as possible. As a result, the Ronin-SC is 41% lighter than the Ronin-S, weighing in at just a smidgen over 1kg. Thanks in part to its magnesium, steel, aluminium and composite plastic construction. By comparison, the Ronin-S weights in at almost 1.9kg.

Even the case that comes with the Ronin-SC is 40% lighter and 38% smaller than the one for the Ronin S.

However, the lightweight and compact design do come with some drawbacks, chief among them is the reduced payload capacity. While the Ronin-S can support up to 3.6kg, the Ronin-SC can only carry a max payload of 2kg. The battery life is slightly shorter too. DJI claims the Ronin-SC has a battery life of 11 hours versus 12 hours of continuous use for the Ronin-S.

Being worthy of the Ronin name, you can expect the Ronin-SC to have all the features you’ve come to expect from a DJI gimbal and more. Things like 3 axis locks on the pan, tilt and roll axis which makes balancing the camera simplified as well as helping during transportation.

Additionally, the Ronin-SC features a new position lock system. Once the gimbal is balanced, the time it takes to remount the camera and start is reduced significantly, saving time during shoots.

The Ronin-SC also gets two new smart features. The first one is Force Mobile which is a feature similar to Force Pro that professionals use to remotely aim their cameras when mounted to DJI’s more advance gimbals. Force Mobile on the Ronin-SC lets you do the same albeit from a shorter distance of about 24 meters using your mobile phone.

The second one is ActiveTrack 3.0 which is a simillar feature you see on many of DJI’s drones and OSMO devices. With ActiveTrack 3.0 and mobile device, you can select a subject for the gimbal to accurately follow.

The Ronin-SC is available in selected markets from today or from the DJI online store and comes in two flavours. The Ronin-SC Standard, which includes the essentials to get you up and running for $2,599 HKD or about RM1,370 or the Ronin-SC Pro Combo, which adds a focus wheel accessory along with the external focus motor and the Remote Start Stop (RSS) Splitter for $3,299 HKD or about RM1,738.