Ikan DS1 Beholder DSLR Gimbal Review – Worth Your Money?
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We will review the Ikan DS1 Beholder Gimbal,a 3 axis handheld camera stabilizer designed for the larger DSLR and mirrorless cameras to achieve smooth, steady footage.
About the Gimbal
The Ikan DS1 is equipped with brushless gimbal motors to stabilize all types of movement on a tilt-and-roll axes.
It will provide incredibly smooth footage while shooting either handheld, walking, or in any situation you might find yourself in while the camera is moving.
The DS1 can support up to 3.8 pounds (1750 grams) of camera.
A various range of cameras are well-suited for the DS1 including the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera, Sony a7S, Canon 5D Mark III, the Panasonic GH4 as well as most Smartphones.
The gimbal has a 3/8″-16 thread mounted at the bottom of the handle.
It is perfect for mounting the DS1 to any tripod, monopod, or slider.
Real life use
The Ikan DS1 Gimbal has a built-in 5 way joystick control that offers a complete command over pan/tilt and any other mode choice.
Select from “Lock,” “Follow,” and adjust Pan and Tilt.
There is also an USB porting station on the handle that can be implemented to power your Smartphone or small LED light.
The Gimbal also comes with a quick to release balancing plate, a USB LED light.
It has an offset camera mount with a travel case to ensure you device is secure when you take it with you on your outings.
When fully charged the batteries only lasted about 3 hours, which is less than some other brands.
Apart from that, and the fact there wasn’t any charger with the device, everything was perfect with extremely good videos.
Pros
- Extremely well made and looks great.
- Carrying case for when you take it out.
- Can connect to most cameras and Smartphones.
- Extremely compact as all the wires are hidden away inside the device
- Beautiful steady butterfly motion videos
- Good to go once you have added your device.
Cons
- Can be difficult to balance the camera.
- Doesn’t come with a charger.
- The batteries don’t last as long as other Gimbals.
- The packaging is quite flimsy.
- More expensive that some other models.
Overall review
The Ikan DS1 might be a little more expensive that some other brushless Gimbals but don’t let that mask the fact that the device is a super little product.
The stabilizer gives you an extremely smooth video and the modes are very easy to get use to.
The only downsides that we can see if the fact you will need to purchase a 20 dollar charger for the device and the batteries didn’t last for longer than 3 hours.
With that being said, it’s no big deal to charge them back up again as it should only take a few hours.
If you want to take your filming to the next level, we would certainly advise you to take a look at the Ikan DS1 Gimbal.
Once you somehow manage to get it balanced it works as advertised. It really isn’t easy to calibrate. The rear plate will also block most DSLR viewfinders (although not a big issue as you most likely won’t use the viewfinder while in video mode)