$3200 G5 Holds Five Pounds of Camera, Including Canon 5D and Nikon D800

It looks like a battle of the handheld gimbals is heating up. Relentless, which just launched its $2300 Defy G2 gimbal for camera rigs up to two pounds in weight, is now taking preorders for its $3200 big brother, the Defy G5 gimbal, rated for up to five pounds. That means it can handle the Canon 5D Mark II/III, the Nikon D800, and the Sony a99.

Handheld gimbals like Relentless's Defy and Freefly's forthcoming Movi are designed to allow Steadicam-style shots to be captured quickly and easily without the use of a full-blown Steadicam rig — or the training that allows an operator to become very good at getting those shots. There are a number of contenders in the market — just do a Google search for gimbal stabilizer to get an eyeful — but Relentless and Freefly (which made a huge splash at NAB) seem to have generated the lion's share of the buzz, along with BeSteady, which is neaing the end of its Kickstarter campaign funding the BeSteady One ($2999 for the BeSteady One Combo).

Relentless says the Defy G5 includes a new integrated dovetail slide to make balancing the camera faster and easier, reducing prep time between shots. A vibration-reduction plate absorbs some of the shock from a quick-moving cameraman's jarring movements. Shipping is supposed to begin later this month.

A thumb-control module allowing pan-and-tile adjustment from the handle grips is optional, as is a radio controller ($200) for use by a second operator. Extra batteries ($50 for the G2, $100 for the G5) and a charger ($100) are available for scenarios where more than four hours of running time are required. 

By September, we should hear more about what will presumably be called the Defy G10 — a larger gimbal capable of holding cameras up to 10 pounds in weight. Also coming soon are mounting kits for flying the rigs on multi-rotor systems.

Watch the demo video, below, to see what the G5 is capable of with no or just tiny amounts of digital stabilization applied in post.