lindsay
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Early in 2022 we were contacted by a Chinese company that manufactures a smartphone gimbal, the Powervision S1, who were looking to promote the device on TP. As we don’t go in for this on the site in general, the Admins of the site were going to just say No; but then we thought, we may be able to create a win-win situation from this. So after a short email discussion with the manufacturers, they provided us with a sample device, on the basis that we would create a review post on TP, and then it would be used as a competition prize. All of this would be advertising for the company and the S1 device, whilst at the same time benefitting TP with the fun of a little competition and a decent prize.
So, to my initial review: well, the device is very well packaged and a rather neat looking thing. The instructions, which are just a page of simple drawings with numbered actions in the packaging, are ok but I did struggle a bit to make sense of them completely. I needed to seek the help of Google, which led me to some Youtube videos that were a big help in getting started, but also identified that you need to download an app for the Powervision S1 from the manufacturers onto the phone you want to use with it. The app requires registration, but so far I have not been hit with a load of follow-up spam, so that is a definite positive!
The Powervision app contains various tutorials and guidance videos which are good quality. To get started with using the device, you need to pair the phone (using the app) with the gimbal. Then, using the app, you can set various parameters for shooting using the combined phone and gimbal. The gimbal defaults to “follow” mode, but you need to tell it what to follow using a small square selection frame in the app. Having done this, I did find it pretty good, although you mustn’t go too extreme in terms of speed of movement or angle – there are clearly limits to what can be achieved with a device this small and handy.
Using the controls on the gimbal:
Overall, it’s a handy little gimbal, different to the bigger and longer DJI devices, pocket-sized and very neatly put together, a lot of function for the size. It can charge compatible phones using its wireless pass-through charging feature, and has a very neat gesture-recognition function that allows it to record video or take a photo if the camera (via the S1 app) sees certain gestures by the subject. Clever. It also has shooting functions such as time-lapse which may be useful creatively.
Now it’s over to the video competition to win the S1 as the prize. We are asking the eventual winner to contribute their own review of the S1 in due course, to add to my own review here. I'll be putting up the competition thread very soon, after the MPB competition has finished.
For anyone looking to purchase a Powervision S1, it is on Amazon UK at a price of £139.
So, to my initial review: well, the device is very well packaged and a rather neat looking thing. The instructions, which are just a page of simple drawings with numbered actions in the packaging, are ok but I did struggle a bit to make sense of them completely. I needed to seek the help of Google, which led me to some Youtube videos that were a big help in getting started, but also identified that you need to download an app for the Powervision S1 from the manufacturers onto the phone you want to use with it. The app requires registration, but so far I have not been hit with a load of follow-up spam, so that is a definite positive!
The Powervision app contains various tutorials and guidance videos which are good quality. To get started with using the device, you need to pair the phone (using the app) with the gimbal. Then, using the app, you can set various parameters for shooting using the combined phone and gimbal. The gimbal defaults to “follow” mode, but you need to tell it what to follow using a small square selection frame in the app. Having done this, I did find it pretty good, although you mustn’t go too extreme in terms of speed of movement or angle – there are clearly limits to what can be achieved with a device this small and handy.
Using the controls on the gimbal:
- On/off control is obvious and simple
- A button to select between photo/video and some other functions in the app
- A zoom control slider, works very well and quickly so needs practice to be smooth
- Toggle hi-hat control that controls left/right, up/down tilt, works really well and again can be rather fast so needs practice.
Overall, it’s a handy little gimbal, different to the bigger and longer DJI devices, pocket-sized and very neatly put together, a lot of function for the size. It can charge compatible phones using its wireless pass-through charging feature, and has a very neat gesture-recognition function that allows it to record video or take a photo if the camera (via the S1 app) sees certain gestures by the subject. Clever. It also has shooting functions such as time-lapse which may be useful creatively.
Now it’s over to the video competition to win the S1 as the prize. We are asking the eventual winner to contribute their own review of the S1 in due course, to add to my own review here. I'll be putting up the competition thread very soon, after the MPB competition has finished.
For anyone looking to purchase a Powervision S1, it is on Amazon UK at a price of £139.
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