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The well-priced Varavon Birdycam II brushless gimbal – is it good for news and documentary work?

By technical editor Matt Allard:

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I’ve had mixed results using brushless gimbals designed for cameras like the Panasonic GH4, Sony a7S and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera in the past. I felt a lot of the offerings were poorly made and looked like they had been built in someone’s garage. Additionally, instructions are often very vague and not aimed at first time users. A lot of manufacturers assume that people buying gimbals already have knowledge about how to set up and balance them, whereas I think many customers looking at small camera gimbals are buying for the first time and have little to no experience.

The Birdycam II with a BMPCC running a Veydra 16mm Mini Prime
The Birdycam II with a BMPCC running a Veydra 16mm Mini Prime

For the type of documentary work I do, using a gimbal is usually too time consuming. I don’t have 15 minutes to set up and balance a gimbal while my correspondent or talent sits around waiting. I have attempted to use gimbals for shots in the past and found myself just giving up as it has taken me too long to set up and rebalance them. I have been on the look out for a low cost, quick to set up and easy to use gimbal that I could use for documentary work and recently tried out the Birdycam II from Korean company Varavon.

It ships in a hybrid soft/hard case
The gimbal ships in a hybrid soft/hard case

When it arrived I was still very skeptical as to whether it would change my mind on using gimbals more frequently. The Birdycam comes in a sort of hybrid soft/hard case which is extremely light and has foam cut outs inside for all the parts. While I appreciate them making a very light transportation case I am slightly worried as to how well it will endure the amount of travel I do.

The top handle features a unique folding design for easy transportation and assembly
The top handle features a unique folding design for easy transportation and assembly

One of the first things that struck me was that it is designed so that minimal construction time is required to put it together. The main handle and handle bar fold together for transport and then you just take them out, pull them apart and lock them in place. The battery plate and integrated joystick control are already attached, so this also minimised set up time. I found I could construct the gimbal in just a few minutes.

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The other nice touch is the inclusion of a table stand that the handles actually sit into, letting you balance the gimbal and put it down when you’re not using it. The stand has adjustable feet so you can get it level on just about any type of surface. This may be a small detail but is very important to operators like me who are often working in less than ideal conditions and environments.

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Once on the stand it was time to attach a camera to the included plate and balance it up. This is normally the moment I dread. Varavon does include instructions but they are very basic and it it is easy to get confused if you do not have at least a basic knowledge of how to balance a gimbal. I really do wish manufacturers would make concise, step-by-step guides on how to balance a gimbal. It is in their own interests to make the experience for new customers as easy as possible.

The bottom plate allows for a lot of adjustment depending on your camera package
The bottom plate allows for a lot of adjustment depending on your camera package

The Birdycam II can be completely adjusted using no tools. It features very clear markings and it is easy to make adjustments. I attached my camera and got the initial vertical balance of the camera done within 30 seconds. There is a lot of scope for moving the camera back and forth on the plate. Even very front-heavy set ups where the lens weighs a lot more than the camera can still be balanced.

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To get the horizontal axis balanced Varavon use a similar type of fine adjustment system as that on devices like the Steadicam Merlin. I found this very easy to use and you can make such small adjustments that you can get the balance spot on. After just a few minutes I had the gimbal balanced up and was wondering whether I had done something wrong, as it all seemed way too easy compared to other gimbals I had used.

The Birdycam II also features an inverted mode, but you have to connect it to a PC or Mac and use the SimpleBGC software to set one of five profiles to invert it.

The Birdycam II uses a proprietary battery
The Birdycam II uses a proprietary battery

Varavon uses its own proprietary battery, which mounts securely to the top of the gimbal and features a battery indicator to tell you how much power you have left. Some people may not like the idea of a proprietary battery but I actually prefer it. The battery gave me probably two to three hours of use, which was nice.

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There are a lot of mounting points on top of the gimbal that allow you to attach accessories such a monitor or wireless transmitter.

The quick set up and balancing time was great, but I wanted to see how the Birdycam actually performed and whether I would experience any problems. Turning on the battery powers up the gimbal. There is a bit of a delay and you have to wait about ten seconds for it to boot up and then stabilise the camera.

The joystick not only allows for pan and tilt operation but it is also used to toggle between operation modes
The joystick not only allows for pan and tilt operation but it is also used to toggle between operation modes

You use the built-in joystick control to toggle between modes. The instructions for doing this are very vague and although the controller only shows three modes there are actually five. Pressing the joystick button twice puts it into mode two, pressing it three times into mode three etc. I only discovered these features by accident as the instruction manual makes no mention of the modes and how to use them at all. I found that mode one was the follow mode function – having the gimbal stay level on the roll axis as it followed my pan and tilt movements. Mode two allowed control of the joystick for tilting and panning the gimbal. I found this worked well, but its speed was pretty slow. I subsequently found there was also a mode four that allowed the speed of the joystick pan and tilt to be increased. Mode three allowed you to move the gimbal a little faster if you were doing big sweeping moves around people or objects.

I found the overall operating experience to be pretty good. As with most brushless gimbals, if you do tilt or pan too far up or down it will freak out and start spinning wildly. It is a case of knowing where the limits are and how far you can move the gimbal to keep it operating correctly. As far as weight went, I found I could hold the Birdycam comfortably for around five minutes before I felt I had to put it down. Having the desk stand really helps as you don’t have to worry about knocking the gimbal out of balance.

If you’re looking for an affordable gimbal for your GH4, a7S, BMPCC, 5D mkIII etc I would really recommend the Birdycam II. It is quick to set up and balance and provides good results. I just wish they made clearer instructions for first time users.

I used it recently on a shoot for a show where the majority of the footage was that hand-held look (I can’t show you the results yet, as the program has yet to go to air). The Birdycam II performed really well and gave me a much more polished look than if I had gone hand-held with a normal camera. I am by no means an expert using gimbals, but with more practise I’m sure my results will only continue to improve.

The Birdycam II is available for $2375 US.

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