RED35 Review - Steadicam Volt

After months of wait, Jimmy finally gets his hands on the eagerly anticipated new smartphone gimbal by the renowned Steadicam. Is this latest gimbal by the 'gold-standard' gimbal giant any good?

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[mallowpuff]

Have you retested after the most recent firmware? I just ordered one from Amazon for $32, hopefully it performs better than this! Although at well under $50, I couldn't complain too much either way haha

[Chuubie]

8:50 "if you put a big phone in here, it acts like a sail" LOLLLL

[MarcoMarkovich]

Thanks for the review. Mine is an iPhone 6, used it in the wind and did not have much of an issue but the tilt to the left like you have I also have and its annoying.

[channelandyjones]

100% agree with everything you said in the video, I bought this tried it a few times and have never used it again. The production quality and general faff of balancing the phone (I mean using the device) make the whole experience more hassle than it's worth :-/

[vivealexcheng]

I saw in another video with a brief unboxing that this Steadicam Volt is "powered by Yuneec". Yuneec is one of those drone campanies living in DJI's shadow. This made me wonder does Steadicam even eber put any R&D in it, it looks pretty natural that Yuneec just use their drone gimbal technology in it, what did Steadicam do?

[seventysevencats]

I was interested in this product, as it's made by Tiffen and is some kind of assisted steadicam, so it still has that natural feel when mastered, not robot like footage that you get with a gimbal.

I tried to find some information about the balancing of the volt with lenses and filters. Seeing you had a Moment case on your phone, I expected you to show it there...

[RorMac_Photography]

Thanks for the honest review. I'm beginning to regret my Kickstarter investment. Only just got my unit the other day (Australia) so haven't had much time to play yet. From yours & a few other reviews it may be something that takes up space at the back of the cupboard. Very disappointing.

[kamkeat]

Mine make extra noises during shots from gimbal rotor, Tiffany admitted that cause by faulty firmware.

[vincentpeclet]

Hi Jimmy! How bad is the tilt you describe at 8:00? Mine does the same, constantly tilts left with 1-2 degrees when switched on, which is quite annoying since the shot is never level...

[peezyface]

my steadicam volt tends to also lean towards the left when powered on in sport or movie mode ...

[mikefelstead]

Good, honest review. I too am a Kickstarter backer. I too am unimpressed with the build quality and performance. Shame.

[choiyangho]

That's exactly what I thought about this product. I am the backer too. I just like the name ' STEDICAM' that's why I participated in this campaign though.

[makmaster]

WHEN U SAY STEADICAM MOST VIDEO/FILM BUFFS/PRODUCTION PEOPLE THINK PROFESSIONAL AS I DID AS WELL & YES I SPENT ALMOST 200 BUCKS FOR IT...I HAVE HAD IT FOR ABOUT A YEAR & I HARDLY USE IT AS I HAVE ACQUIRED A NEAR PRO VIDEO CAMERA THAT I HAVE USED FOR AUTO RACING MOSTLY...I MUST ADMIT THAT I HAVENT REALLY TRIED TO GET MORE SKILLED AT USING THE VOLT BUT I AM GOING TO GIVE IT ANOTHER GO BUT I WISH I WOULD HAVE WAITED FOR THE PRICE DROP WHICH INDICATES THAT A LOT OF BUYERS ARE SOMEWHAT DISAPPOINTED IN IT & ALSO BECAUSE THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES IN THE MARKETPLACE WITH A LESSER KNOWN NAME BUT POSSIBLY JUST AS GOOD OR BETTER!

[scenesbudapest]

You are right! The Volt is waaaay beyond one's expectation, noone should buy it, the whole thing is ridicoulos. I was one of the earliest backers, I have a Steadicam Pilot which I love, I (just like you said) trusted Tiffen, couldn't even imagine that such a big, reputable company would come out with a product of that low quality.

-the motors are noisy, making internal audio useless
-moving the phone left/right in order to balance it is ridicoulos, you can't be precise enough, and the mount has too much play forward/backwards
-my GoPro isn't heavy enough - you can't achieve balance without putting extra weight to the top, they couldn't put a freaking thread on the top for attaching the weights.
-when using it with a GoPro you can't move it left/right, what the hell were they thinking at Tiffen?
-Imagemaker app continuosly freezes on my device (Android 6.0)
-my Volt tilts as well.

The whole thing is absurd, such a disappointment. I too wanted so badly to like this product but if I could have, I have had already returned it immediately. I am waiting for the update they promised, but if that doesn't work I am gonna sell it.

Oh, and check the KS page: we can consider ourselves lucky we didn't get yet the premium case Tiffen promised to us - there are many people who didn't receive their Volt yet - as we know according to the original plans it should have been shipped in June.

I wish someone sued Tiffen for this, they would deserve it for treating customers like this.

[appledadlife]

Good and honest review. If the smooth Q is around $130, fully electronic and even has an app to remote control it.

[MarcosElMalo]

How disappointing. One would expect much better from a company with SteadiCam’s reputation.

[Itgeneticscouk]

Interesting review - what a disappointment that the originator of gimbal tech has produced something like this. Not really the gold standard by the appearance of things.

[DavidEssex]

Damn. You handsome man. Great video too. :-)