Yi Technology are releasing a handheld gimbal for action cameras?
Aug 29, 2016
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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I’ve become a fan of Yi Technology’s action cameras since I started using them a couple of months ago. For what they offer, they’re an absolute bargain, and they work very well. A video posted to YouTube today suggests that they’re expanding their range to include stabilisation.
Having recently picked up a gimbal for use with my phone, one soon realises how useful they are for handheld filming. I’ve been thinking about picking up another for using with action cameras, and it looks like the list of options just got a little longer.
What’s particularly interesting to me, is how the gimbal appears at the end of the video. During the video itself, we see that the gimbal has a handle, as one would expect from such a device.
At the end of the video, however, it’s shown without any kind of handle at all.
Hopefully this means that we’ll be able to easily mount it onto other things. Like motorcycles, vehicle rigs, or even upside down underneath a drone. Being able to mount this underneath a drone would be very handy. I imagine it would also be a lot more reliable than the budget 2-axis drone gimbals, too. Of course, for it to be useful on a drone, it would need some kind of wireless remote control to pan or tilt the camera.
Yi Technology will be at Photokina next month, so hopefully they’ll have one there that I can check out in person. Even if just handheld and can’t be mounted to other devices, it will be interesting to see how it holds up to the competition.
No word on price or availability yet. Will keep you posted as we find out more.
Do you use a gimbal with small cameras for handheld work? Which do you use? Have you been thinking about picking one up? Let us know in the comments.
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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4 responses to “Yi Technology are releasing a handheld gimbal for action cameras?”
I have had good look with there products. Their phones and tablets work great. I hope this comes in at a reasonable price point.
I don’t think this is a “goPro killer”. In fact, i like the IdolCam (camera + 3 Axis Gimbal Stabilizer in small package) more than this. The only question is will it get to the market.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/4k-action-camera-with-3-axis-gimbal-stabilizer-video-travel
I disagree. I like the YI 4k much better than my GoPro. It’s much easier to use and if any at all the image quality difference is minimal.
I’m unclear how you can make the determination that a product that isn’t even a real product yet is better than this one.
Looks like a great gimbal but stupid that they only sell it with the camera. I have the camera, I don’t need another camera.