NAB 2014: Attack of the Brushless Gimbals

As predicted by the staff of the DV Shop, NAB 2014 would feature many rip-offs of the Move stabilizer, and lo-and-behold, that prediction turned out to be conservative. There weren't just a few cheaper Move's out there, there were A BILLION of them. This one pictured above is from a company called Defy.

This one was aimed at smaller D-SLRs, from a Chinese company called Big Balance. 

Those crazy guys from Montreal, Shape, were showing off this Go Pro stabilizer. It will retail for $699.  

Down the hall a few hundred feet, the Chinese company iFootage were showing off their Go Pro stablizer. While not as sophisticated as the Shape one, it will come in around $299ish.

So, after many days of trying these various stabilizers, what does DV Dude think? Well, they all are very similar, and they all were prototypes, and they all were buggy. They all worked to a certain degree, but since they were all using the same "brain", they all had the same flaws and were all doing the same mistakes.

The biggest challenge for end-users is adapting the way you use the device, as a lot of the normal way you shoot won't work very well. These are not  miracle workers. The on-line videos are very deceptive, and are demonstrating techniques that frankly are not how you shoot video. This technology isn't quite 100% there yet.

We'll be bringing in some units to test further, but there is something to be said for the old school Steadicam approach. It has its flaws too, but in many ways it might be more successful in getting the shot. More on this to come in the months ahead.