This is an excellent little pocket size Gimbal camara that delivers excellent image quality. It takes both video and still images, but it is primarily a stabilized video camera.
The camera kit was delivered in a beautiful, 2-piece box that underlines the 2-component strategy of this camera design: A standalone camera and a detachable remote. The supporting app is a nice bonus.
The kit includes just about everything you need. It's printed on the webpage, so I won't repeat the list here. It comes with simple manuals which quickly go through the operations of each component. The features on both are about the same, however the remote with its small screen providing hints is the more intuitive to use. The screen is small, but they've simplified the menus, so the text is displayed fairly large. The touch screen is very easy to use and has good sensitivity.
After unboxing I charged the camera and read through the manuals. I connected the camera to the remote so they would charge simultaneously. The connection was smooth and very secure to the remote. The use of the dove-tail connection was genius.
Following the directions in the manual, I downloaded the App to my old iPhone 8 plus, using the QR code supplied. The download went smoothly, and I quickly set up the Wi-Fi connection to the camera. The camera view was now shown on my large phone screen, and I could watch the gimbal work as I moved the camera around the room. There are a lot of in-depth training videos on this site. And there are digital copies of the instruction manuals that can be downloaded to your phone and printed.
The camera is amazingly small and once you’ve read through the instructions (maybe twice) it’s easy to use. I prefer it over the iPhone camera as it is smaller and feels more secure in my hand. And the stabilization is at a more advanced level.
I focused most of my learning time on using the camera with the remote attached. I can understand the application of the camera as a standalone device (without the remote attached). Here it would function more like an action camera. Pointing forward and using the wide view optics to capture the images. The accessory kit includes: the expansion base, wrist strap and a plastic protective cover for just the camera. So, it is set up to use alone and for action situations. In fact, the base of the camera is magnetic so you could attach it to your car or bicycle and take images.
However, this camera has no shock or water resistance ratings (there is an underwater case avail), so while it is built like a tank, I’m going to take it easy to start.
To test the camera, I walked around my backyard using the camera+remote. I set it for 1080p resolution at 60 fps. Note, playing back videos on the camera is not that impressive but when you load it up on a computer and display it on a monitor (or your phone) it's really excellent. As good as anything I’ve seen taken on a phone. And I didn’t even try 2k or 4k resolution modes. The operation is simple. There is a digital zoom which works good although I typically don’t like digital zooms.
There are not a lot of manual controls. But they can be used for videos or stills.
You can switch from Average metering to spot. Unfortunately, there is no way to hold the setting.
In PRO mode you can change the white balance. And you can adjust some exposure parameters: ISO, shutter speed and you can enter an exposure offset in steps of +/- 0.3.
You can quickly change to selfie mode using the Gimbal button (3 taps) or through the menus.
If you use the tripod (supplied) you can select Panoramic mode
And for people there are All follow and all follow modes. This is where the motorized Gimbal really works well. I haven’t played with these much, but I can see the camera adjusting to the movement of a moving object. This could be handy when taking still images of moving people – like children playing.
This is an impressive camera. I love the built quality and the image quality. The menu system is simple and easy to access using the very nice touch screen. There are some buttons, like the On/Off and Gimbal button that also access features directly without going to the menus. The PRO features set up is quickly accessible directly by touching PRO on the small screen.
If I had a complaint, I would say the battery life is short – about 1 hour. I wish I could sway out an exchangeable battery. This would be great especially when hiking or camping off the grid.
The app running on the phone is seamless and runs with no hic-ups. In fact, all the operations run very well, and I had no lock ups. I really like looking at the images stored on the camera looking at the larger phone screen. There is a phone holder that lets you use the phone and camera but to me that seems to defeat the benefit of the small form factor of this camera.
I’m very happy with this camera. Truthfully, it operates and performs better than expected. And I think it is very reasonably priced considering th...
