HoverAir’s crowdfunded Versa turns a gimbal camera into a drone

Slide down the cover, lock the camera into its flight kit and the 163-g handheld device becomes a small autonomous drone. That is HoverAir’s Versa, a crowdfunded camera from the Shenzhen company that wants one device to cover the two moments of a trip: filming from the hand, then lifting off for an aerial view.

In handheld mode, the Versa combines a three-axis mechanical gimbal — a motorized stabilizer for the camera — with a 1/1.3-inch-type CMOS sensor. HoverAir says it can record up to 4K 60 fps, with 10-bit HDR at 4K 30 fps, and claims up to 17.5 stops of dynamic range. A rotating 1.64-inch OLED screen, dual microphones, a speaker and 64 GB of built-in storage keep the camera usable even when it never leaves the ground; microSD cards up to 1 TB are supported.

The transformation comes from the 67-g flight kit, which adds propellers and a protective cage around them. The complete aircraft weighs about 230 g and is rated by HoverAir for around 14 minutes of flight per battery, with speeds of up to 36 km/h. Palm takeoff and landing, automatic tracking and modes such as Orbit, Bird’s Eye, Zoom Out and OmniTerrain are designed to remove the need for a conventional remote control.

So what changes in practice? A traveler can use the Versa as a pocket-sized vlogging camera, then add the flight kit for a hands-free follow shot or a wider view, without carrying a separate camera and drone. That convenience comes with limits: the company’s flight-time figures are claims for a product that has not formally launched, and HoverAir has not published a complete account of the sensing hardware behind its promise of tracking near obstacles. Crowdfunding also carries delivery risk.

HoverAir opened the Indiegogo campaign on August 18. Early-bird pricing started at around US$469 for the camera alone, while shipping was estimated to begin from October, followed by a wider retail rollout in fall 2026. The Versa is therefore not a replacement for a dedicated gimbal camera or a mature drone; it is a bet that sharing the same camera, battery and processing system can make aerial filming easier to carry and quicker to start.