Although it’s mostly known for drones, Chinese giant DJI also has an extensive line of camera accessories. The latest is a camera stabilizer called the Ronin SC. It is similar to last year’s Ronin S, but it’s built specifically for smaller mirrorless cameras and aimed at content creators. If you’re one of those, this might be the perfect gimbal for you.

Gimbals used to be the kind of accessory reserved only for professional video makers and their massive professional cameras. But as cameras kept getting smaller and lighter, advancements in gimbals followed that trend. The $440 Ronin SC is a gimbal that will satisfy most mirrorless camera owners’ needs.

Our review of DJI Ronin SC Verge Score 8 out of 10 Good Stuff Lightweight and portable

Great build quality

Unique shooting modes Bad Stuff Gets unstable with heavier payloads

Some cameras are not compatible with all of its features

More expensive than other gimbals Buy for $439.00 from DJI Buy for $439.00 from B&H

At 2.7 pounds without a camera attached, the SC is easy to use for long periods of time. It’s designed to be used with one hand, but I tend to leave the tripod legs attached and hold on to it for added support. Still, depending on which camera you use (I tested it with a Fujifilm X-T2, Sony A7S II, and Canon EOS R), you could run into some issues if you don’t balance it perfectly the first time.

Trying to fit a larger camera rig on the SC doesn’t work because it’s not designed to handle it. Using my Fujifilm X-T2 with an ultra-wide 8-16mm lens, which is a heavy and bulky lens, doesn’t work that great. In order for it to be balanced properly, the camera has to sit fairly deep on the gimbal, which then causes either the eye cup or the tilting screen to get in the way. The footage itself has a bit more shake to it. It’s not so bad to be unusable, but you can tell the gimbal was struggling more with this setup than some other lenses.

Using the Ronin SC with larger lenses can be a challenge

If you add a battery grip to it, it doesn’t work at all, despite weighing in at 3.5 pounds, which is way under the 4.4-pound maximum payload. I don’t think this is solely due to the weight of my setup; rather, the camera with the battery grip attached simply throws off the center of gravity. The point is you should definitely take a good look at your gear before picking one up. The full camera and lens compatibility list is here, with most models from Sony, Canon, Nikon, and Panasonic fully supported.

Overall, the Ronin SC’s build is fantastic. The handle feels nice and is comfortable to hold, the button layout makes sense, and the focus motor feels smooth, although it has a short travel and sometimes can be a bit too sensitive. It has a black matte finish, which does get scratched up easily but still looks good.

More important than the looks are the Ronin SC’s clever design bits. The ability to lock all axes helps when you balance it and with transporting the gimbal. The battery also detaches to make it even more portable. DJI says the battery will last 11 hours, which is just an hour less than the larger Ronin S. Battery life will largely depend on how well the gimbal is balanced and if motors have to work extra hard to keep the camera steady. In my testing, it easily lasted more than a day’s worth of filming. DJI also added a little clip on the camera plate, which means the next time you put the camera on, you won’t need to rebalance it. All of those little things start to add up to make for an enjoyable filming experience.

The SC supports several filming modes like pan and tilt follow, FPV and 360 roll. You can adjust the speed and deadband for each of those and smoothing for the 360 roll, and I love 360 rolls on this gimbal. One thing that is hard to pull off is getting it perfectly straight when completing the full rotation. I do wish I could crank up the speed a bit more.

The Ronin SC comes with a bunch of other features you can access through the app, such as panorama and time-lapse modes, but there are a few you won’t find elsewhere.

Let’s start with Active Track. If you’re familiar with DJI drones, you probably recognize this one. It basically lets you lock on to a target, like a car or a person, and then have the camera follow that subject. In order to make it work on the Ronin SC, you have to attach a phone on top of your camera. That’s when things get a bit tricky.

Active Track and Force Mobile seem gimmicky, but they can be really cool when they work

Balancing the phone on top of the camera wasn’t an easy task. The whole setup felt very unstable, even with various lenses at different weights. The app was able to track subjects well, but the gimbal had issues changing directions trying to keep up. Tweaking the motor parameters definitely helped, but I still feel like I wouldn’t use this feature that often unless I really needed to do something specific. The few times it did work, however, it was very cool.

The second new feature is called Force Mobile, and it’s wild. It allows you to remotely control the gimbal’s movements by moving your phone in the direction you want the gimbal to go. It works surprisingly well, but it’s also the kind of feature I’d rarely use and is currently limited to iOS devices. Still, if you’re shooting with a bigger crew, you can come up with some fun shots to pull off. And gadgets that enable remote movement control usually cost upward of $1,500, like DJI’s own Force Pro.

Lastly, the Ronin app is just really good. It is easily one of the better companion apps out there. It is stable, it connects to the gimbal almost instantly, it has a lot of customizable options, and it has multiple user profiles. Most importantly, it’s simple to use. If you’re a Fujifilm user, a lot of those features won’t work because both Ronin SC and the older Ronin S don’t support Fujifilm cameras. So features like time-lapses, motion lapses, and panoramas won’t work. DJI says it is working on enabling more Fujifilm support, but it’s not clear when those will be available.

Even without being able to take advantage of all of those features, I still kept my X-T2 on it for most of the week. I just love filming with that camera, and I genuinely loved using the Ronin SC, too. It’s small enough to bring around, and it feels like a piece of gear that will last for years.

Here’s the bottom line: the Ronin SC is slightly more expensive than some of the other gimbals out there, but it is worth the investment. Even though some features feel like gimmicks, I think there will be a time when you’re out shooting, and you’re glad they are there. If you’re only interested in getting stable shots and nothing more, you can probably save a few bucks and look for alternatives like the Zhiyun or Mizzou. But if you want a gimbal that is almost as carefree as it gets, built like a tank, and packed with fun features, this is the one to get.