DJI’s new Ronin-SC is a lightweight one-handed gimbal for mirrorless cameras

The Gimbal Wars – we can call it that, right? – have been hotting up over the last few years with the likes of DJI, Zhiyun, Moza and others all competing for your gimbal dollars. There seems to be a constant struggle between them over load capacity, responsiveness, smoothness of motion, camera connectivity, mobile control and a bunch of other factors.

But probably the biggest complaint with the DJI Ronin-S was that of weight. It’s a hefty beast. Well now, DJI has announced the new DJI Ronin-SC motorised 3-axis gimbal designed specifically for use with mirrorless cameras, weighing in at only 1.1kg (2.4lbs – 41% lighter than the Ronin-S) and can be taken apart for easy storing in your backpack.

It follows the more traditional one-handed gimbal design, rather than the… “unconventional” designs we’ve seen from Zhiyun with the Crane 3 LAB and Weebill LAB. But the traditional design does offer advantages for certain types of shot. The max payload of the Ronin-SC sits at 2kg (4.4lbs), which is somewhat less than the Ronin-S’ 3.6kg (8lbs), but this is designed for smaller, lighter mirrorless camera systems and travel filmmakers. DJI has a complete compatibility list available on the DJI website.

The Ronin-SC offers all of the usual shooting modes we’ve come to expect from teh DJI Ronin-S, but with a couple of new ones. The new modes are the Force Mobile and ActiveTrack 3.0, and here’s what DJI has to say about them…

*New Force Mobile[1]: The new Force Mobile, similar to Force Pro, conveniently synchronizes the movement of your connected mobile device1 with the Ronin-SC gimbal, offering an immersive filming experience. Users can now operate gimbal movements at a max distance of 82 feet[2] using the new Bluetooth 5.0 connection.

*New ActiveTrack 3.0: Using a mobile device, Ronin-SC users can select a subject for the gimbal to accurately follow. The new algorithms include deep learning and optimized calculations for human figures. Similar to the technology found in some DJI drones and the Osmo Series, ActiveTrack 3.0 uses the mobile phone’s camera view and sends this information to the Ronin-SC. Users can mount the mobile phone to the top of the camera’s hotshoe with the included phone holder mount, open the Ronin app and select the subject to follow automatically.

[1] Currently Force Mobile functionality will only work with iOS devices.

The gimbal also comes with a redesigned Ronin app offering 3 different custom profiles. These profiles can store different motor output and other settings allowing you to quickly switch your preferences for different shooting techniques.

For physical connections, there are 1/4″ and 3/8″ mounting holes along with camera control, accessory, Type-C USB and RSA ports. It houses a 2450mAh 7.2v battery which DJI claims offers up to 11 hours of use and only requires 2.5 hours to charge.

The DJI Ronin-SC is available to purchase from today for $439 for the basic gimbal or there’s the Ronin-SC “Pro Combo Kit” which you can pre-order now for $539. The Pro Combo Kit comes with an extended grip mini tripod, focus motor, smartphone holder and a bunch of other extras.