Hey guys, whats up.
My name is Serge, and today,
we’ll be taking a look at the
FeiyuTech AK 2000 gimbal.
This gimbal was sent to me free of charge
for a review video,
but I am free to leave an honest
and unbiased opinion.
This is one of the cheapest gimbals
you can get for a mirrorless or a DSLR camera,
and at only $379 USD,
can easily fit into a beginners budget.
Let’s take a look at it and see if it’s worth the money.
The AK 2000 comes in a nice
hard foam case
thats great for travelling and storage.
Inside the case,
you get 4 batteries and a battery charger,
a USB to a micro USB chaging cable,
a nice little mini tripod
that can be attached to the bottom of the gimbal,
a bunch of different cables
for connecting to different types of cameras,
a Manfrotto type quick release plate
with a lens support bracket for loner lenses,
and this nice piece of foam.
Actually, Feiyu Tech uses this same case
for the AK4000,
which includes an extension arm.
In the AK 2000 package,
does not come with an extensions arm,
so you get this nice, little piece of foam.
And last, but not least
is the Feiyu Tech AK 2000 gimbal itself.
I’m not going to waste your time
going through all the specs of the AK2000.
What you need to know, is it’s light,
built from mostly an aluminum alloy,
and has a payload capacity of 2.8 kilograms,
or 6 pounds.
This is more than enough for most people,
and if you have a camera that weighs more 6 pounds,
you’re probably not looking at a budget gimbal.
It also comes with this nice built in touch screen,
that allows you to control most of the gimbal functions,
and even some camera functions.
You can also download FeiyuTech iPhone app,
and control your gimbal and your camera remotely.
Installing and balancing your camera
on this gimbal is fairly straightforward,
basically following the same steps
as all the other gimbals out there.
If this is your first gimbal,
and you’re not sure how to balance a camera,
there’s a ton of YouTube videos on that subject.
I’ll link a few of my favourites in the description below.
Unfortunately, after you’re done using this gimbal,
and want to store it back in it’s case,
you can’t save the balance settings.
It won’t fit in the case.
What you can do,
is either note down the position of the arms,
or even make marks on the gimbal itself,
so next time you need to balance it,
you can save some time
The four included batteries
will give you about 12 hours of run time.
A set of fully charged batteries
will easily get you through a full day of filming.
What I don’t like about this,
is you have to use the included charger
to charge these batteries.
I wish you could just leave the batteries in the gimbal
and plug it in with a USB cable.
It’s not the end of the world,
just a bit of an inconvenience.
Just one more thing you have to lug
around when travelling,
and if you forget your charger at home,
you’re kinda SOL.
As far as performance goes,
during my testing,
this gimbal has been great.
It’s not perfect,
but majority of the time, for the price you pay,
it’s more than good enough.
With a properly balanced camera,
I’d say around 99 percent of the time,
it performs just as expected.
The gimbal motors run virtually silent,
and combined with some intuitive controls,
the AK2000 helped me film
some buttery smooth shots.
When I first started testing this gimbal,
if you held it at a certain angle,
there was some noticeable motor vibration.
Feiyu Tech is aware of this problem,
and included instructions on how to fix it
with the gimbal.
You just have to adjust a few settings.
After the adjustments have been made,
the vibration was gone.
Another issue I came across,
was when you get a little too crazy
with the gimbal movement,
sometimes the AK2000
gets a little bit confused,
and you end up with your camera upside down.
This is easily fixed by powering down your gimbal,
flipping the camera,
and powering it back on.
I’ve been testing this gimbal
for a few months now,
and this only happened a handful of times,
so once again, not that big of a deal.
Other than a few little inconveniences,
this gimbal has been awesome.
It’s light enough to easily carry all day,
has a bunch of different filming modes,
including a selfie mode for vlogging,
and enough battery to easily get you
though a full day of filming.
And, at only $379 USD,
sometimes half the price of it’s competitors,
the little hick-ups it does have,
are pretty minor for the money you save.
So, who’s this gimbal for?
Pretty much anyone,
unless you have a camera
that weighs more than 6 pounds.
In that case,
take a look at the AK4000
or the new AK4500 for bigger payloads.
Its entry level price makes this gimbal
affordable to beginners with a tight budget,
and some of the more advanced features
will be welcomed by the more advanced
or professional users.
Personally, I’m very impressed with the AK2000,
and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to my friends.
It’s a tool that’s by no means necessary,
but if you can squeeze it into your budget,
will take your video’s up to a whole new level.
Before I end this video,
I want to hear in the comments below,
whether you use a gimbal,
or plan on getting one?
If you do already have one,
what make and model do you have,
and what has your experience been like with it.
Let me know.
If you enjoyed this video,
let me know by hitting the like button
and subscribing to my channel.
Thanks for watching,
and I’ll see you back here next week.