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 Moderated by: chrisbet,  
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chrisbet



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Hi - any opinions / thoughts on the Feiyutech AK2000S gimbal?

Eric



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chrisbet wrote:
Hi - any opinions / thoughts on the Feiyutech AK2000S gimbal? for what purpose do you intend to use it?

My reason for asking is that my wife bought a gimbal for her iPhone and successfully baptised it during covid on a cold Christmas lights show.
It was excellent for keeping the camera steady walking on uneven ground provided she adopted a strange crouched walk that took 24hours for the back to recover. She was able to do wonderful side on tracking shots.  It’s not been used since. Why?

Probably too much of a fag to cart about for the happenstance opportunity for a moving camera video. And there’s the rub, so to speak….

I’ve banged on for years about her panning and zooming ….”it’s a moving subject…not a moving camera”.  She makes excellent videos using traditional static camera techniques albeit with a minute amount of panning. Making a whole movie of a moving camera and moving subject just makes me giddy.

So it depends on how you intend to use it, imho.

Wife in action….



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Sorry …have no experience with the specific Feiyutech AK2000S

chrisbet



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I want to be able to take video from horseback without getting giddy when watching it!

I also want to make a "day in the life" video of the stables which involves a lot of walking up and down hills and following horses.

The Feiyutech AK2000S gets a number of good reviews, even in itsearlier version.

Eric



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chrisbet wrote:
I want to be able to take video from horseback without getting giddy when watching it!

I also want to make a "day in the life" video of the stables which involves a lot of walking up and down hills and following horses.

The Feiyutech AK2000S gets a number of good reviews, even in itsearlier version.
It does get good reviews and sounds like it would fit the bill for you. The biggest challenge my wife found was the need to look where her feet were going …..whilst trying to keep the subject in frame. The slightest trip/stumble, whilst damped by the gimbal can still move the framing. She ended up redoing shots. In fairness it was her first outing but she got a bit frustrated ….she does that easily lol

As an aside have you tried a go pro?

A friend has one on his bike and cycled through Mumbai traffic dodging car, cows and manic scooter drivers….he even got his front wheel stuck in a grate and the go pro filled him flying over the handle bars into the traffic. Very impressed with that cameras quality and stabilisation….though I don’t think they do a saddle attachment. Lol

chrisbet



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I have an early body/helmet cam - it is very limited and produces "clinking" sounds when bounced up and down!

I can't really justify the cost of a go pro when I have other cameras capable of the same job - I use the mini ipad as a dash cam and have some nice footage of driving through southern germany into switzerland.

I am hoping the gimbal will keep things in frame while I keep one eye on my feet and the other eye on the horse!

Totally unstabilised and awful example - take some travel sickness pills before viewing!!! The ride itself was pretty smooth!!!

 

Eric



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chrisbet wrote:
I have an early body/helmet cam - it is very limited and produces "clinking" sounds when bounced up and down!

I can't really justify the cost of a go pro when I have other cameras capable of the same job - I use the mini ipad as a dash cam and have some nice footage of driving through southern germany into switzerland.

I am hoping the gimbal will keep things in frame while I keep one eye on my feet and the other eye on the horse!

Totally unstabilised and awful example - take some travel sickness pills before viewing!!! The ride itself was pretty smooth!!!

 
I take your point. :sick:

chrisbet



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Thought you might ... :lol:

jk



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Eric, I thought that Jan must be traveling at high speed with that light tunnel effect! :lol::lol:

Eric



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jk wrote:
Eric, I thought that Jan must be traveling at high speed with that light tunnel effect! :lol::lol: I have trouble keeping up with her. o.O

Eric



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Did you get it Chris?

chrisbet



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Well I did - but it got lost in post - so waiting on a replacement ... o.O

chrisbet



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It finally arrived - well built and easy to put together but quite fiddly to balance the camera and lens - the C of G needs to be precisely matched to the gimbal. There are three slides to do this but they are quite stiff and need to be adjusted by sliding them by hand - no fine adjustment by screw thread.

Once balanced the gimbal works flawlessly.

Downsides -

It does not support the D610 electronically so you cannot use the time lapse function or handle shutter button. 

The forwards / backwards slide has limited travel backwards due to the rear bearing so cameras with the tripod mount set near the rear of the camera are impossible to balance with large lenses unless you can fit a conterweight or an offsetting bracket to bring the camera / lens C of G back. So the only lens I have at the moment that will work is my 35-70. 

The gimbal has a a follow focus motor which needs a toothed belt fitted to the focus ring - on the 35-70 this is just a thin ring at the front of the lens and impossible to keep the belt on!  There is also a problem if the lens you want to use is not internally focussing as any upsetting of the C of G will throw the balance off - the gimbal will still work but the effort required from the motors increases and battery life decreases.



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