Race for the best Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhone photo stabilizer has begun

Taking a good picture with a smartphone is made problematic by issues of “camera shake,” and accordingly several Kickstarter projects have sprung up to supply stabilizers for those who want to turn their Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone into a crisp HD camera. Two professional, technically superior examples are the Hando stabilizer and the Elephant Stabilizer, the former an effort from Thousand Oaks, California and the latter an entry from Kumamoto, Japan.

The Hando stabilizer began its Kickstarter drive on June 25th, and set it to run for 45 days, ending on Saturday, August 9th, 2014. The overall funding goal is $90,000, and the resulting product was to be a large, sturdy pistol grip with a platform on top that would accept a variety of smartphones, including the Apple (AAPL) iPhone. Sensors provided feedback to a computer brain, which then tilted the Hando platform in both the roll axis and the pitch axis, keeping the smartphone steady regardless of movements by the device’s user.

handoElephant Stabilizer’s Kickstarter began later, on July 15th, 2014, and is set to run for just 30 days, ending on August 14th. The funding goal is $50,000, which will go towards making a minimalistic, lightweight stabilizer much smaller than the Hando. The palm-sized grip attaches to a hemispherical mounting that secures the iPhone in place with three tabs. Rather than including a complete, bulky logic board, the Elephant connects directly to the iPhone itself, where an app senses the smartphone’s movement and corrects pitch and roll for a steady picture or film.

The relative success of these two similar projects shows that consumers prefer lightweight convenience when it comes to Apple (AAPL) iPhone stabilizers. After an initial wave of donations, the Hando has completely failed to come anywhere near its goal, and is stalled at $23,858 out of $90,000 on August 6th, 2014, just three days short of the Kickstarter’s end.

The Elephant Stabilizer, on the other hand, has been funded past its goal, achieving $52,514 in crowdfunding out of $50,000 a full eight days before it is due to end. The numbers of backers are also telling, with 84 backing the Hando compared to 549 backing the Elephant.

The relative price of the two devices is another important point, with the retail price of the Elephant apparently set at $79 and the Hando at $275. Though the Hando is likely sturdier due to its larger size, and possibly more versatile in the smartphones it will receive, the Elephant wins in the fields of affordability, portability – and, seemingly, crowdfunding appeal.