As the cameras on our smartphones get more powerful with every new iteration, shooting high quality video that can easily rival something that is shot on an expensive DSLR camera is now a reality. With proper lighting and some slick editing, you can elevate boring home video quality footage into what can easily pass as professionally shot video. The bad news is that if you are aiming to be the next YouTube or TikTok sensation, you are going to need something extra to stand out from all the rest. With the Pivo Pod Red, it is now possible to add effects like motion tracking and double take to your videos with little skills or effort required on your part. Best of all, you can operate the device all on your own. It is like having your own personal robotic camera assistant.
While I don’t shoot much videos on my own, I am one of those who is perfectly comfortable in front a camera but put a person behind the camera, I’ll get all clunky and awkward. On the other hand, working on my own means that my videos are static and far less interesting. The Pivo Pod Red is a motorized turntable with a universal mounting for a smartphone in either portrait or landscape orientation. It uses a rather impressive AI algorithm that pans the camera left and right to automatically keep the subject in frame as long as you don’t move too fast. You can track a face, a body, a moving object and for some reason, there is also a horse tracking mode. This allows you to shoot a dynamic video that pans around to follow you as you move around. The resulting video feels like it has been captured by a cameraman.
The auto-tracking feature alone will add a lot to your videos. However, the Pivo Pod Red has a few other features up its sleeve. The companion app has some built-in effects for adding to your videos. The Double Take effect creates quick video changes and is often used for quick makeup or costume changes. The Many Me feature lets you take multiple shots of yourself and stitch them all up into a single shot. It can even be done in video form. Magic Edge makes effects like instant transformation videos when jumping from one half of the screen to the other. It is possible to create these video effects using video editing software but with the app, it literally takes seconds to setup and shoot these effects. This saves your time and let you concentrate on creating videos, not editing them.
The other uses for the Pivo Pod Red include shooting panoramas and time lapse videos. These are probably less useful for content creators but can be useful for a travel blogger for example. Interestingly, the pod also doubles up as a turntable for shooting 360 degrees product shots.
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So, would I recommend the Pivo Pod Red? If you are new to content creation for social media, this is a great little device. However, ultimately it depends on the type of content you create. For one, it is not a cheap product. Some may even call it a glorified turntable. In my opinion, a lot of the value comes from the auto tracking feature. If you are going not going to be making much use of this feature, it might not be worth it.
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