Internal 32-bit float stereo paired with lossless 120mm reach from a 20mm lens — all inside a genuinely pocket-sized 10-bit 1-inch sensor gimbal camera?

[Emanuel]

37 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

For me, I'm still not seeing that as especially useful or revolutionary.

It's been possible for a long time, probably 10+ years, to do gyro control of larger gimbals (usually through the phone app, but I think I had or saw at least one with an external gyroscope controller in the past).  It never took off much and I never saw anybody strap a phone to their head to remotely control their gimbal.  I'm not sure if gyro controls are in DJI MIMO, but if they are, it's already basically possible with the Pocket 3.

I've found gyro control to be somewhat useful with the Ronin 4D (including with the flex unit).  On one shoot, I was getting too tired to carry the camera anymore so the grips started carrying it around while I controlled the frame from the gyro on the high bright remote monitor.  It worked...  OK.  It'd be better if we'd practiced it beforehand, probably.  For me, it's more "parlor trick" than "genuinely useful tool" in most cases.

The gyro control itself is not new, correct.

But I don’t think the interesting part here is simply that “gyro control exists”. Of course it does. Larger gimbals, phone apps, remote monitors and systems such as the Ronin 4D have already explored that territory. The question for me is not whether the underlying idea existed before, but whether it becomes useful in a different way once the whole system becomes small enough, fast enough, integrated enough and unobtrusive enough.

Many ideas in cinema technology existed before they became truly useful.

Stabilised camera movement existed before Steadicam became the right combination of body, balance, operation and image. Small cameras existed before 16mm, and later DV, changed the way filmmakers could move through reality. Remote operation existed before it became practical in the hands of a one or two-person crew.

So yes, if we reduce this to “a gyro controlling a gimbal”, then it may sound like nothing new. But if we look at it as a pocket-sized 1-inch 10-bit Log gimbal camera, with several focal lengths, proper monitoring, autonomous operation and a dedicated head-tracking accessory, then the proposition changes.

It is not only the control method. It is the form factor plus the image pipeline plus the operating mode.

A phone strapped to your head controlling a larger gimbal is one thing. A compact dedicated device that can sit inside a BTS, documentary or walk-around setup, become boring after a while, and follow intention without the operator constantly raising, aiming and correcting the camera is another thing.

That is where I think the usefulness may appear.

Not necessarily for everyone. Not necessarily for controlled narrative setups. And probably not as a replacement for a skilled operator with a proper camera package. But for small crews, making-of work, observational documentary, rehearsals, production diaries, street work and situations where the act of operating the camera visibly changes the behaviour of the people being filmed, I can absolutely see the value.

In that sense, I don’t see it as revolutionary because gyro control is new.

I see it as potentially revolutionary because a previously awkward idea may finally be arriving in a form factor where it can become natural, invisible and operationally useful.