We are witnessing some of really cool innovations in the smartphone camera tech in the past couple of years and the resolution of the cameras has only doubled each year. DSLR manufacturers take years together to come up with new model in a way that could convince their users to upgrade to the new one and here we are with the smartphone cameras which just blatantly throw around hard core specs to make their point. Especially, in the years 2015-2018 - the smartphone sales have skyrocketed causing a massive decline in the demand for DSLRs. With AI algorithms coupled with miniaturization of the DSLR tech, these smartphone cameras are proving to be stiff competitors against DSLRs. Gone are the days when DSLR owner could be proud of what he owns and the quality of the images that are produced. Adding a nail to the coffin, is the new DSLR accessory that has been again miniaturized to fit in the small dimensions of a hand held device - the Gimbal!
What is a Gimbal you ask ? It's a device that helps keep the camera steady mostly for videography and avoid the jerks caused due to movement. That results in a smooth video where you would hardly notice the movement in the video. It used to be called as "steadycam" prior to be called as a Gimbal. It looks something like this :
Now, the Vivo X50 Pro has been able to convert this huge device into a small mechanical module to fit it in the smartphone. How Cool is that ! And that one looks like this :
The principle of working is pretty much the same - the gimbal module helps in tilting the camera in 3 axis field in real time to adjust and counteract the movement during the video shoot. Basically, if you're running with the camera the video essentially moves up and down and a bit sideways. The gimbal will measure the amount of movement in a particular direction and move the camera Opposite to that. Vivo claims that the gimbal setup on the X50 Pro could provide a stabilization of upto 3 degrees in any direction and that's almost 4 times than what is seen on a flagship Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS) which is around 0.7 degrees.
In order to appreciate this new tech , we need to look at the reference gimbal model and the OIS on a flagship smartphone to compare with the Vivo X50 Pro.
VIVO X50 Pro Video Recording
IPhone 11 Pro Video Recording
DJI OSMO Video Recording
You can clearly see the difference between the Apple iPhone 11 Pro (OIS) and Vivo X50 Pro (Gimbal). There isn't much difference in the Vivo X50 Pro and the DJI Osmo manual Gimbal.
Though the processing still requires few tweaks, this videos go onto show this tech really does work! And this can be used in various cinematic style video shooting.
Popular youtuber Mrwhosetheboss has tried to cover this feature in detail and we can see that the gimbal comes into play even in low light conditions.
Even in the still photo shoot the gimbal does seem helpful in reducing the jerks due to human movement. It was expected that the "Night" mode would be much assisted with this feature as it helps in minimizing the 5 seconds long burst shoot. Even more it could help in Astrophotography which Vivo claims can essentially revolutionize the use of tripod stand for the same as in this video by Vivo :
Now, we haven't been able to actually test this Astro mode out because of monsoon season in most parts of the world. But, it would definitely be something that gets one excited as many photography enthusiasts would love to have lesser equipment to manage in order to get a clean Start trails or similar shots.
Overall, I think this is a great tech that Vivo has got it working and is really helpful in videos , couldn't make out much difference in the still photos. How does it fare against the flagship level OIS implementation ? Much Much Better definitely! For a flagship phone like iPhone 11 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S20 which cost around $1000 USD , this one does better at almost half the price! This definitely poses tough competition to the flagships in this one area. Although the processing of images is still not upto the mark. Powered by the Snapdragon 765G , the phone can only do so much in getting the details right , right ? At the price range of $600 there are other manufacturers that were able to get the Snapdragon 865 on board and offer amazing overall experience. Plus, I'm sure handling the tough real time video data would have been lot easier on this. I am hopeful the future software upgrades would tweak the details like the white balancing, the contrast , the exposure and finally the highlights in the processed images.
Coming to the pricing , the Vivo X50 Pro will be retailing in India at Rs.49,999 and in global markets it could retails around $600 USD. It's interesting to note that the Vivo X50 does NOT have the Gimbal camera and hence the price is significantly lower - Rs.34,999 in India and in global markets $500 USD. It's currently available on Amazon India website for pre orders with few bank discounts. Shipping would start by 24th July,2020. Until the next article, stay safe people!
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