Here's my thoughts on the future of cameras.

[DownUnder]

I reckon gimbals are gunna be history. The Parrot beebop or whatever it's called uses a large fisheye camera. I reckon a 360 degree camera will get rid of the need of gimbals. The parrot is definitely the way forward. All stabilised by software. I reckon dji will be looking into this for sure.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

I guess it might depend on your flying style/speed/movements. I shoot action stuff and I need to stop, start, change directions quickly a lot. It's hard to imagine a camera and software being able to keep a steady shot... but I suppose with enough processing power anything is possible.

 

[RJDMKV]

Software stabilization will never be practical beyond the use of hobbyists, nothing can beat optical stabilization for pro uses especially because of the nature of optics, fisheyes introduce heavy distortion and warping that can only be corrected by heavily compromising on quality and resolution, that aside of the fact that they lack the natural appeal of longer focal length optics, selective depth of field, etc. gimbals have only just started to become accessible to the masses, there are an infinity of possibilities for improvements, one of the many would be a gimbal stabilized zoom lens f.i. But these are just my 2 cents

 

[RoyVa]

The gimbal will remain. It is only used to stabilise the video and photo shots by keeping the camera level in both directions. With out it you would see every movement and correction of direction and angles the quad makes. Don't think its going away for a long long time. Its to valuable for doing Its job. Want to see what its like without it, then go to settings in you app and turn on FPV flying and then youll see what I mean. Video Wil be all jerky and angles will be that of craft and not smooth. Nope need the gimbal