Display
The presence
of a display in the stabiliser design makes the operation of the device more comfortable and visual. Depending on the specific modification of the stabiliser, the screen can perform many functions. Usually, the display shows basic information about the operating modes used, the date and time, as well as the battery level. The most advanced stabilisers can display the image from the camera, which allows you to use it as a viewfinder with LiveView mode. At the same time, the screen size on professional steadicams can reach 3″ or more, but the vast majority of models are still equipped with a 0.5″ screen.
Rotation angle
The range of rotation angles supported by the steadicam.
In this case, it means turning the camera to the right or left, without tilting back and forth.
Tilt angle
The range of forward-backwards tilt angles relative to the vertical position supported by the stabiliser.
It can be written in different ways.
The simplest option is when one angle value is indicated in the characteristics. This may mean that the camera can deviate from the neutral position in both directions by the same angle, which is half the range.
Another option is used when the angles of tilt forward and backward are not the same. In such cases, the horizontal position of the camera on a vertical steadicam is taken as zero, the “-” sign indicates the maximum angle of camera deflection back, lens up, and the “+” sign — forward, lens down.
Bank angle
The range of roll angles (to the side) supported by the stabiliser.
Can be recorded in two ways (See "Tilt angle")
Max. controlled speed
The maximum controlled speed supported by the stabiliser is, in fact, the highest speed of rotation of the camera along one axis or another, provided by the device. This is the maximum rotation speed of the entire structure, at which the stabiliser automation can provide effective stabilisation along the corresponding axis (that is, keep the camera stationary).
This item is directly related to the purpose of the stabiliser — for shooting while hiking or cycling on flat terrain, a high stabilization speed is hardly necessary, but during surfing, acrobatic aerobatics and other similar activities, the “slow” stabiliser often turns out to be ineffective.
Max. phone diagonal
The maximum diagonal of the phone that can be installed on this stabiliser.
This parameter is more relevant for models for various purposes, not only for those that were originally designed for smartphones. Here we note that the maximum diagonal is a rather approximate parameter: models with the same screen size may have different actual dimensions.
Full HD (1080p)
Full HD (1080p) video recording capabilities supported by the stabiliser's camera.
Full HD has a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. To date, this format is considered to be almost optimal in terms of the ratio between image quality and technical requirements: it noticeably surpasses HD in terms of image detail and, at the same time, does not require such capacious storage drives as 2K and especially 4K standards.
Quad HD
Quad HD (2K) video recording capabilities supported by the stabiliser's bundled camera.
Specifically, the 2K standard includes video formats that have a resolution of more than 1920 pixels horizontally, but do not reach 4K (see the relevant paragraph). 2K stabiliser's cameras usually operate at a resolution of 2704x1520 pixels.
Ultra HD (4K)
The ability to record 4K Ultra HD video.
There are no uniform resolution requirements in 4K; 3820x2160 is considered the minimum value for modern consumer video equipment (2 times more than Full HD on each side and 4 times — in the total number of pixels), but higher values are also found — for example, 4096x2160.
Recording in Ultra HD 4K allows you to get very clear and detailed images. However, to properly work with such video, powerful hardware and capacious drives are required.
