Gimbals
Aside from DJI, which I’m sure I just missed, all the big-hitters of the consumer used gimbals for the last 12 months were present.
First off was ZhiYun. Having already released their Crane 2 (not to be confused with the Crane V2) and the budget-concious Smooth Q for smartphones, their latest offering is the Smooth 4. 3 main features really make the Smooth 4 standard out from it’s competitors. Firstly, much like the new DJI Osmo Mobile 2, the Smooth Q has a portrait mode where it flips your phone into a vertical position. Secondly, you can actually charge your phone whilst it is placed inside the Smooth 4, and lastly, there’s now a prominent twist knob on the left hand side which not only acts as a zoom control, but also to pull focus so you can get precise focusing. For more information, you can visit their official page here.
As you can see from the photos above, ZhiYun had their full arsenal of gimbal accessories on display; handles, tripod stands, monitors, and shoulder harnesses.
Next up is FeiyuTech. FeiyuTech came onto most people’s radar when they were one of the first companies to release a relatively affordable gimbal for your action cameras, and then a gimbal for your smartphone, but then went slightly a bit quiet. At this HKEF, FeiyuTech was very keen on demonstrating their A-series gimbals for DSLRs, and I had a play with their A1000 with their dual handle grip.
For a medium sized rig setup, the A1000 with the dual handles was very easy to setup and use, and with looks that can be deceiving, the entire setup in the photo above (with a working camera, not a dummy), was surprising light to hold in both hands. Add in a shoulder/neck strap, and you can probably use this all day long.
FeiyuTech’s beefier model was the A2000, which can hold up to 2.7kg. But even though the camera and lens combination I was using at the time was well within this weight limit, due to the lens being too front heavy (a Sony FE 24-70mm f2.8 GM), even the A2000 could not cope with this.
Lastly, we visited Hohem’s stand. A lesser known gimbal company, but nonetheless at each HKEF event we have visited they have always impressed us with their competitive gimbals.
The pick of the bunch was Hohem’s iSteady Gear for DSLRs and their iSteady Mobile. the iSteady Gear is more like a basic gimbal for DSLR video shooting, no fussing about but does have a surprising feature in that it can rotate 640 degrees, that’s nearly 2 full circles. Able to support up to 2.5kg, it holds less weight than its competitors but that can be a good thing, forcing you to reconsider a lighter setup so it’ll also be easier on your arms.
The iSteady Mobile boasts portrait mode, and the deal breaker is that it has an internal power bank. This power bank can charge you phone whilst it is hooked up or give you 12 hours of battery like for the gimbal…..that’s very impressive!!!
Xoopar
One of the cutest gadgets on display at the HKEF no doubt had to be the bluetooth speakers by Xoopar.
With a variety of sizes and bright colours, the Xoopar is fast becoming an iconic piece of gadgetry you can carry around with you, even to the point that it has featured in several well known fashion magazines around the world.
I put my hand up and must admit I’m not a big fan of bluetooth speakers, I normally find there sound quality to be poor, and I’m the type of person that always forgets to charge the speakers up. Surprising, from the small handheld sized Xoopar, to the ones over a foot tall, the sound quality was very good. And they are just cute enough that I may want one…..
Best of the rest
Two things stood out at this year’s HKEF, firstly there was much less accessories for smartphones. I went in thinking that wireless charging devices would be everywhere, but surprisingly they were much less than I thought. Maybe it’s because there were so many other products, so it gave me the impression that there were less stands with charging cables, dongles, power banks, etc. Secondly, the start-up zones this year was buzzing, not only in the amount of stands there were, but each seminar was packed to the bring with spectators.
Anyway, let me leave you with some of the other things I spotted at HKEF.
Last but not least, there wasn’t much booth babes there, but there was one!
