Actioncam to gimbal adapter (Yi 4k+ to Zhiyun Smooth 4)

thingiverse

I own a Zhiyun Smooth 4 gimbal, designed specifically to stabilize videos shot with Smartphone cameras. It performs flawlessly in this capacity, but I'm eager to use it with my Yi 4K+ action camera for recording high-quality winter running videos on my TV, which sits in front of my treadmill. The Yi 4K+, boasting excellent built-in video stabilization, still struggles when capturing footage while running, as the camera's tilting angle changes too rapidly for its image sensor to gather sufficient picture information. This is where a mechanical gimbal comes into play, providing the necessary balance and stability. However, I've encountered issues with metal adapter blades designed for this purpose. Despite their weight, they fail to provide sufficient balance, forcing the gimbal to continuously work against the imbalance and compromising both battery life and video quality. I sought a solution that would rectify this issue. By incorporating 15g of metal weights, typically used to balance car tires or model planes, I was able to achieve perfect balance with my system. Alternatively, a glued-on nut or other piece of metal could serve the same purpose. The arm supporting the counterweights may appear over-engineered, but it's actually not. The 15g weight could be supported by a much weaker arm, yet my initial tests revealed that this would result in control loop resonances with the gimbal's electronics. These subtle vibrations are not visible to the naked eye but are clearly audible and quite annoying. Fortunately, the uploaded design resolves this issue. As an added precaution against my camera falling out of the gimbals spring mechanism, I've incorporated a tripod screw from the bottom blade into the camera mounting hole. This is not strictly necessary but provides extra peace of mind. If you find this solution helpful, please make and share your experience with others. I suspect that this design will be compatible with other action cameras as well as various gimbals, although you may need to adjust the counterweight accordingly.