My last video was much more popular than expected, but there were some very valid complaints about the shaky video. So I decided to finally bite the bullet and buy my first ever 3-axis gimbal. Gimbals are basically selfie-sticks with some motors on the end that make sure your camera and/or smartphone will only move smoothly by correcting for shakes and jitters. Here’s how it worked out…
In my next video, I’ll be comparing gimbal stabilization to GoPro electronic stabilization. Please be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when I release new videos.
TRANSCRIPT
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Whatup nerds? I’m Jay Shareef.
And I just bought my first gimbal.
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Firstly, you’ll have to excuse the weird angle.
I’m working in some very limited space here
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in the spare room. The main rooms
of the house are not available.
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So this is the only angle I could find, in this tiny room, that can get all of this in.
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Right now, the tripod is right up against that wall.
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It’s very very close to me. So this is the best I could do.
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Sorry about that.
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So my last video was a lot more popular
than I expected. Which is wonderful.
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However, there were some complaints.
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Mainly about the shaky camera work.
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Which is fair enough, because all I did was stick
my smartphone on one of these selfie sticks
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and walk down the canal.
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Someone did mention that all Android phones
nowadays have inbuilt video stabilization.
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which sounds fantastic on paper.
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However, when I tried it there were two problems.
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Firstly, it zooms in incredibly closely.
So all you’re going to see is my face.
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Which I’m sure is not what you want.
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And, secondly, there’s some kind of wavy,
warpiness happens in the corners of the picture.
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These are common problems with digital video stabilization that’s done by AI and algorithms.
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It’s never quite right.
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There was only one obvious solution: buy a gimbal.
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However, having done my research what I found was
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that a lot of the cheaper gimbals on the market
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can’t really cope with heavy smartphones.
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And boy do i have a heavy smartphone!
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This is the Ulefone Armor 6.
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It’s the best rugged Android smartphone on the market.
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But all the internal ruggedness means that it weighs
266 grammes and it’s about 84 millimetres thick.
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That’s a lot more than most
smartphone gimbals can cope with.
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Most of them have a maximum rating of about
200-210 grammes and 80 millimetres thick.
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So this is just too big.
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Having done my research, basically
I found that I had two choices.
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Firstly, I could either buy the Feiyutech G6 Plus.
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Which is a fantastic gimbal. Can take multiple devices.
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Smartphones, action cameras, regular
cameras, compacts and mirrorless.
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Anything up to 800 grammes, and it’s weatherproof.
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But… it costs about $200, and
we’re in the middle of a recession!
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Or I could get a cheaper gimbal and use
one of my old, smaller smartphones instead.
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However, the problem with cheaper gimbals is that
usually they’re only designed for one type of product.
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So, either smartphones, or
action cameras, or compact cameras.
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And they’re very rarely weatherproof.
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There simply aren’t that many multi-use
gimbals on the cheaper end of the market.
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Luckily, I came across an online review for
a Feiyutech product that’s under $100 and
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it works with both smartphones and action cameras.
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Which is perfect because those are the two
devices I usually use when i’m out and about.
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And it has arrived!
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Same day delivery. Thank you very much Amazon.
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Not sponsored!
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But, if you want to sponsor me then get in touch.
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I shouldn’t be allowed to use sharp knives like this.
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I’m always worried that I’m going to damage
the product. So I have to be extra careful.
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Because when you’ve paid for something
nice you don’t want to damage it.
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And, secondly, if you have to return it, you
want to keep the box in reasonable condition
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I love this part. It’s like Christmas.
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Amazon goodness!!
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Looks pretty good.
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Obviously, you can do horizontal and vertical
orientation, according to the box anyway.
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“Feiyutech gimbal – the expert of image stabilization.”
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That’s almost a sentence.
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So this is the Feiyutech Vimble 2.
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Specifically, it’s the Vimble 2S.
Which is designed for smartphones.
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There is a Vimble 2A that Feiyutech produce.
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And that is specifically for action cameras.
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I got this one because I was told through online reviews
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that it can cope with both
smartphones and action cameras.
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Looks good!
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There is a Feiyutech app that goes with this gimbal.
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In fact, with all the Feiyutech gimbals.
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However, the reviews on Google Play are so atrocious
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that I don’t dare download it for fear
of wrecking my gorgeous smartphone.
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Luckily, you can use this straight out of the box.
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It will do most of the things that
it’s supposed to do without the app.
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You’ll even be able to connect it
to your smartphone with Bluetooth.
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And that allows you to start and stop
recordings, and take photographs,
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Which is pretty much all I need.
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So this is pretty nice. Costs about $100 brand new.
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Not weatherproof. So I may end up upgrading to
a Feiyutech G6 Plus at some point in the future.
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You could buy a refurbished one for around about $70.
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The price difference between new and refurbished: $30.
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I thought that wasn’t worth it.
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I might as well get a new one direct
from Feiyutech, and it’s brand new.
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So I didn’t want to take the risk, quite frankly, for $30.
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Not bad. All you get is a gimbal.
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This little tripod. I believe that could
go at the bottom of the gimbal.
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What is this…?
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Oh, it’s a lanyard, charging cable, and
a multitude of different connectors.
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Presumably so that you can connect…
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USB-C, Micro USB, Lightning cable.
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It does actually feel quite sturdy for a $100
device. It’s better than I was expecting.
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Now Feiyutech claim that you can get
five hours use out of this per charge.
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Reviews online suggest that’s a bit of an exaggeration.
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You can also use it as a power bank to
recharge your mobile phone on the go.
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Obviously, that will eat into the battery life even further.
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The Feiyutech Vimble 2 does have a party
piece that might interest you, and it’s this.
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You can pull it out for 18 extra centimetres.
(That’s seven inches, ladies!)
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That means that you can use it for more wide-angle
footage when you’re taking photographs or Vlogging.
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I personally don’t see myself using that,
but it’s a nice feature to have, nevertheless.
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The most important question however is:
“Will it work with my smartphone?”
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Let’s charge it up and find out.
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Let’s start with the Ulefone Armor 6. Can this
gimbal cope with the girth of this phone?
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I need three hands to do this!
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That that’s not gonna work!
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Right, the answer is: “No, it doesn’t fit.”
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It absolutely will not fit. It’s a few millimetres too wide.
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That’s disappointing but they didn’t say that it would.
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So I can’t blame Feiyutech for that.
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Next up, let’s see if it will fit my Sony Xperia XA2.
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This is one of my older phones. Still a lovely device.
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Looking at it, it does seem about
the same size(ish) as the Ulefone.
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Maybe a little bit thinner by a few millimetres.
Maybe a few millimetres is enough.
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Let’s give it a go.
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Right so it does fit… just about.
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This is the maximum extension that i’m at.
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However… it does feel a little bit imbalanced.
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Oh okay. That’s gone a bit weird.
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Error message. That can’t be good.
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I’ve never used a gimbal before. I really should
have looked at the instruction booklet… I can’t…
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I’ll come back to you!
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OK, so I’ve managed to get it to fit. Which is fantastic.
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The only concern is that it feels still a little bit heavy.
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As in, it it feels a little bit lopsided.
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The centre of gravity doesn’t quite seem right.
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See what I mean? It’s it’s just kind of slightly…
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Yes! Stabilized!
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OK. So it fits the Sony…. barely.
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This is my GoPro Hero4.
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It can cope with the GoPro… just about.
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If I had a slightly bigger GoPro or
action camera it would probably fit.
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Anything smaller than this GoPro
Hero4 probably wouldn’t work.
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Oh it’s doing some weird juddery thing!
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Gonna turn it off.
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So what I need to do then is take this out
in the real world and see how it performs.
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Let’s go!
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I’ve come out here to the canals to test out my gimbal.
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But immediately we have a problem, because
it’s raining and the gimbal isn’t waterproof.
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Or weatherproof. Or even splash proof.
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Right now you’re looking at me on my rugged
waterproof camera, on my rugged waterproof phone,
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on my rugged, waterproof selfie stick.
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But I’m a little wary getting my non-rugged,
and non-waterproof, gimbal out.
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Because I might want to send it back.
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And if it gets ruined they’re not going to accept it.
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It’s only drizzling. I may just risk it for
a little bit… just for your sake, OK?
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It works.
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Pictures looking good.
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Oh… joystick’s a bit weird.
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Because you have to push it in the opposite direction
to the direction you want the camera to go.
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Thankfully, the weather’s cleared up
a little bit so I feel confident going out.
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Hopefully, this gimbal is giving you a much,
more stable image than the selfie stick here.
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Just going under one of our classic canal bridges.
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Isn’t it wonderful?
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All right and we’re done.
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Canal barges used to go through these.
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We don’t really have that many of the canal
barges running at the moment, as you can see.
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There’s never anything… whenever I come here.
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OK, so now I’ve got both my
gimbal and my selfie stick working.
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Which is smoother?
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Is this worth the extra effort and the money?
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Because it is a hell of a lot of setup. Plus,
you’ve got to charge the batteries as well.
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Which is giving me the nicer picture?
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Is there much jittering on the
selfie stick versus the gimbal?
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I’d hope the gimbal would be much, much smoother.
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Now, of course, both of these can be extended.
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The gimbal can be extended as well as the selfie stick
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But this is just a gentle walk you
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You’ve probably noticed that the image coming
from the gimbal camera is much, much sharper
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than the image you’re seeing on the selfie stick camera.
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That’s not because of the devices they’re sitting on.
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It’s purely because the phones that
I’m using have very different qualities.
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The Sony sitting on the gimbal is much, much better than the Ulefone Armor phone sitting on my selfie stick.
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Don’t worry about the picture quality.
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Just have a look at the stability of the video.
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Shall we try running and see what happens?
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What do you think?
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Yeah, it’s pretty obvious the gimbal is far, far superior.
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But… it’s a hundred quid. It’s not waterproof.
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I’m scared of using it the rain.
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I may have to give it back.
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It does have this fun joystick.
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Which means you can do stuff like this…
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And all the way back…
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Yes! That is quite fun. I like it.
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So what do we think?
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Should I hold on to the gimbal?
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Not weatherproof. Not splash proof.
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Bit of a risk in the rain.
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Now the other question I had was:
“Does this gimbal work with action cameras?”
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So, I brought out my GoPro Hero4.
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It’s already on the gimbal as you can see.
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I’m going to turn it on and see what happens…
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Oh it doesn’t like that!
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It doesn’t like that at all.
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Oh we’ve got into error mode.
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Yeah, that didn’t work out well at all.
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Probably needs more weight, I think.
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Yeah, you have to be a certain heaviness for it to work.
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And I suspect that the GoPro is far too light.
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I’m gonna give it another go and see what happens.
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Yeah, that’s really not working out.
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So that’s disappointing.
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Looks like it just does not work with action cameras.
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Or rather with this GoPro Hero4.
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Presumably, because it’s far too light.
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It needs something a little bit heavier.
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Like a smartphone really.
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I think I might have to return the
gimbal and get the other one.
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The one that’s multi-use because…
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I mean that one’s waterproof and weatherproof.
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Or at least splash proof anyway. And this one isn’t.
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And, seeing as I live in Birmingham, where it rains a lot,
in England, that might be the best choice for me.
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So that’s that. I hope you found this useful.
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And thank you very much for watching.
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Later nerds!
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OK, so sadly this is going back. Sorry Amazon.
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Because this one has arrived!
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