This takes around 40 seconds to complete, and you’ll see your phone bounce around a little, and switch between horizontal and vertical a couple of times, but when it was completed, everything was perfectly level. Perhaps you’ll give it a try because you’ve never done it before, but then forget the feature’s even there.

Hohem iSteady X2 Hohem iSteady X2

This back camera selection enables you to manually switch between back tele, back triple and back ultra-wide, enabling you to make full use of the gimbal design. The all-plastic body no doubt helps it shed a few ounces but it doesn’t put its build quality in the same league as some of the more expensive stabilizers. When handheld gimbals first became a thing, I spent a lot more time reviewing the core stabilization performance of each gimbal I got my hands on. You will love the results as compared to handheld video and therefor it earns a “Top Choice" designation for 2020, it's the best choice among the current crop of affordable 3-axis smartphone gimbal stabilizers. The main pivot arm that folds out is released and secured with a simple screw release; again, a bit of attention has been paid to the design so that the screw features a stop so it can’t be fully unscrewed.

I would expect it’s less likely to hit the button when the phone isn’t in a case but does anybody really not use a case of some kind on their phone these days? Should we really be expected to have to remove our phones from their cases to use them accidental-button-pressing-issue-free with gimbals? Those often feature rubberized grips or aluminum alloy bodies, but no such luxury is present on the iSteady X. The Hohem iSteady X claims to have an 8-hour battery life – which I haven’t tested to its duration, although I’ve not experienced any battery issues myself – and takes only 2 hours to charge. Inception mode isn’t quite as full-featured as we’ve seen in larger gimbals, but that’s to be expected on a folding smartphone gimbal.

Hohem iSteady X2 review | Digital Camera World

Filters also play a big part in the interface design with a direct touch button that gives you direct and fast access. I have to tap the photo/video selection on the screen and tap the screen to work the shutter and video start/stop. If you just want to pull your phone out of your pocket, stick it on a gimbal, and shoot a quick clip of what’s going on around you for your Instagram Story, TikTok or whatever, then the Hohem iSteady X is definitely a decent option.The end result is video, shot by you, that you can watch on a 4K TV and looks like it’s from a documentary. Moment Mode: Tons of one-tap shooting templates available such as Inception, Dolly Zoom, Motion Timelapse, and panoramic video.

Hohem iSteady V2 Hohem iSteady V2

Not only does it enable the zoom slider to function, but it also allows you to film with a number of unique templates that can only be accomplished with a gimbal. The Hohem iSteady Mobile was the ultimate budget gimbal, and the new iSteady X aims to provide an even more compelling package that’s lighter, cheaper, and foldable.DJI introduced the first folding gimbal with the Osmo Mobile 3, and Zhiyun gave us the smallest 3-axis gimbal we’ve seen with the Smooth Q2. You can easily switch between horizontal and vertical formats simply by pressing the power button once. Dolly Zoom essentially allows you to keyframe the zoom so that it moves by itself during the shot while you move forward or backwards. The standard mechanical image stabilisation also works well, but some degree of knowing the gimbals limits is needed to make the most of its features. The phone shoots 4K on its own, but when it's paired with the gimbal and is using the Hohem Pro app, no matter where the video settings are set, on both the phone and the app, it will shoot only 1280 X 720 video.

Hohem iSteady X Review - Capture Guide

It smoothes out any panning motion and locks the roll axis, meaning the footage will always be level. The Bluetooth light ONLY on when the gimbal is connected with App successfully, otherwise the Bluetooth light is off. Auto-rotation lets the gimbal know when you’re holding it upside down for those extreme low angle shots without having to get yourself right down onto the ground. The offset arm design on the iSteady X doesn’t just help it fold up, but ensures that the gimbal pivots don’t end up in the frame. As we have been exploring the boundaries of the gimbal industry for years, and always try to create more vital and high-value products for our users while heading to a new vision for great user experience.With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art.