The folks at Freefly have a new gimbal but it’s not what you would expect from the pro-oriented company. Freefly is entering an entirely new market with the Movi. The system is designed specifically to use with an iPhone. With every new release, the iPhone’s video and photography quality have increased.
Freefly is taking full advantage of this with Movi. Movi has a handle with controls that communicate with the iPhone and gives the user a lot of control. From the demo videos, it looks like the app really takes over control of the iPhone’s camera and makes it a more seamless operation. The side handle with multiple buttons should make changing settings and modes easier as well. Putting the controller off to the side allows the Movi to stand up on a flat surface. A case and lenses are also available to make the MOVI a complete fluid video capturing machine.
- Majestic Mode. Toggle between presets as well as the ability to turn on and off horizon for more creative control
- Echo Mode. Add a start, end point, and duration. Movi performs the move. You can walk with the MOVI and have a parallax-like move.
- Timelapse. Create a lockdown or a moving timelapse.
- Movielapse. Slows Movi’s moves down by 10 times. This is a pretty cool effect.
- Orbit. Pick your center framing and MOVI will stay in the position as you walk around the subject.
The consumer market has lots of gimbals for smartphones however the type of controls Freefly is adding comes right from their pro camera gimbals. This basically is a truly high-quality cinematic stabilizer for mobile use. With mobile content creation being such a major player now, it makes perfect sense for them to enter this segment.
VORTEX is a personal project by Tim Sessler, shot on the iPhone 8 and Freefly Movi. Filmed within 48h in NYC. Read more about the project on their blog: brooklynaerials.com/blog/
For the Movi, Freefly is also recommending Moment lenses which are a popular choice for mobile photography & videography with high-quality glass elements. A 60mm telephoto and a 3x wide angle. both retail for $99.
To mount the lenses and give a little more protection to the iPhone you will need to use the Moment case. It comes in several sizes from iPhone 6 to the iphone X. The case retails for $29.99.
Moment has a complete line up of lenses & accessories for iOS & Android devices. You can check out the full range at their website.
Will it work with other smartphones? Probably not, the app will probably be required. As of now, the iPhone is the only option. Hopefully other smartphones will be supported. Freefly is known for the software as much as the hardware. I think this sets them apart from other gimbal manufacturers.
Movi will ship March 2018 and retails for $299. You can order form Freefly webstore and dealers worldwide.
What is a little confusing to me is using “Movi” as the product name since MōVI is also recognized as Freefly’s main gimbal product. Yes, they are spelled slightly different but still confusing.
I think this is a really great move by Freefly. I mean come on! Us production/filmmaker folks are all going to have one of these in our kit. I can’t wait to try one out myself. What do you think? Let’s talk in the comment section below.
