Although GoPro's Hero actioncams have featured digital image stabilization for quite some time, the company hasn't recently offered motorized gimbals … but now it's doing so again. The new Fluid Pro AI 3-axis gimbal not only tracks subjects, it also packs a light and doubles as a power bank.
Digital image stabilizing systems do indeed smooth out the shakes, but they do so by ever-so-slightly zooming in and out on the recorded video, enlarging the pixels in the process. This results in a loss in resolution.
Optical stabilizing devices such as gimbals work better, as they work by physically moving the camera to compensate for corresponding movements caused by bumps in the road, etc. This means that all of the stabilized footage stays at full resolution.
GoPro's one and only previous foray into the world of gimbals was a fairly basic device known as the Karma Grip, which had originally been a detachable component of the company's 2016 Karma drone. Both products have since been discontinued, and the company has now announced the much more sophisticated Fluid Pro AI.
The device does indeed work with Hero actioncams, but it's also compatible with a wide variety of smartphones and some compact point-and-shoot cameras weighing up to 400 g (14 oz). It comes with interchangeable mounts.
An integrated Subject Tracker module automatically locks onto faces or bodies (if enabled), panning, tilting and rolling the camera to keep the subject centered in the frame at all times. Users can also operate the gimbal's motor manually via its joystick control, or simply swish the whole rig back and forth/up and down by hand.
It's additionally possible to wirelessly operate the smartphone camera's zoom, shutter and focus via the Fluid Pro's controls, and to control some functions via gestures made to the Subject Tracker's lens.
And yes, there's also a built-in fill light, and the ability to use the device as a power bank if your camera's battery is getting low. One USB-C charge of the lithium battery should be good for up to 18 hours of runtime (as a gimbal, not as a power bank).
Finally, as an added bonus, a tripod base allows the thing to stand up on its own.
The GoPro Fluid Pro AI is available now for preorder, at a price of US$229.99. It should be in stores as of early November.
Source: GoPro
