DJI Osmo Mobile 3 Smart Phone Gimbal Review

DJI Osmo Mobile 3 Smart Phone Gimbal Review

DJI Osmo Mobile 3 Review: Is that the New Folding Design A Game Changer?

DJI’s roots could be in manufacturing drones, but today’s average consumer better knows them for his or her camera gimbals.

Released in January 2018, the DJI Osmo Mobile 2 went on to become the best-selling smartphone gimbal. It shook things up by slashing the first Osmo Mobile’s $299 tag to only $129.

A year and a half has passed, and therefore the DJI Osmo Mobile 3 has finally landed. The smartphone gimbal landscape is additionally very different to what it had been some time past, with an abundance of cheap Osmo Mobile 2 imitations and more technologically impressive gimbals being released by the likes of Zhiyun and Freefly.

Given today’s fiercely competitive and crowded gimbal market, does the Osmo Mobile 3 do enough to stay DJI before the competition? Or has the space to really innovate on a smartphone gimbal already reached its limits?

Let’s take a glance and determine.

 

DJI Osmo Mobile 3 Smart Phone Gimbal Review

What Is It For?

If there’s one thing you'll back when it involves subsequent iPhone, Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel, it’s that the phone’s camera are going to be upgraded.

The latest phone cameras not only take super high resolution photos, but they will also record crisp 4K video at 60 frames per second.

Many vloggers, streamers and amateur filmmakers are dropping their DSLRs and camcorders to use their phone as their primary recording device.

But videographers have always needed some method of stabilization for moving shots. Camera shake can render an otherwise well-shot video unwatchable. Built-in bitmap stabilization (EIS), and in some cases more sophisticated optical image stabilization (OIS), is improving, but they’re simply not ok for creating publishable content.

The DJI Osmo Mobile 3 may be a 3-axis gimbal stabilizer designed to eliminate camera shake. So whether you’re abroad and filming a walking tour of a replacement city, or on the rear of a bumpy safari truck ride, you'll make certain that footage will begin looking silky smooth.

How Does It Work?

The way during which a gimbal just like the Osmo Mobile 3 works is sort of technical, but the short answer is that it uses three motors readjust the orientation of your mounted phone in three axes—pan, tilt and roll. Sensors detect the shake and a computer chip then calculates the required adjustments to stay the camera stable.

If you’re curious about learning about the tech behind gimbals, confirm to see out this post which explains exactly what a gimbal is and the way it works.

Pricing

At just $119 MSRP, the DJI Osmo Mobile 3 is more price-competitive than ever. Sure, it’s not the drastic $150 discount we saw going from the first Osmo Mobile to the Osmo Mobile 2, but at $119 the Osmo Mobile 3 manages to compete with budget gimbals, despite bringing during a whole raft of latest and exclusive features.

DJI also offer the Combo Pack for $139, which incorporates a politician DJI tripod and carry case.

 

DJI Osmo Mobile 3 Smart Phone Gimbal Review

Finally, A Foldable Gimbal

Despite all the new offerings hitting the market, it’s difficult to differentiate all the gimbals from each other .

They pretty much all look an equivalent and performance an equivalent , but a couple of different buttons and differences in stabilization performance and reliability.

The Osmo Mobile 3, however, finally breathes some life into the stale market by having the ability to fold inwards and effectively half its length.

The first of its kind, the foldable design is extremely much a welcome change. Say what you would like , but there’s no denying that the iPhone and Android gimbals we’ve seen thus far are far too unwieldy. Not only are they too long, but their awkward form makes it impossible to pack them during a space-efficient way.

This might sound like an insignificant change, but let me assure you it's anything but. The Osmo Mobile 3 takes something that wont to be so beastly you’d only carry it if you knew you’d be shooting video, to something that you simply can chuck within the bag on the off chance you would possibly want to spontaneously record some video.

What Else Is New For The Osmo Mobile 3?

DJI have thankfully brought back the trigger at the rear of the handgrip which mysteriously went missing on the Osmo Mobile 2. This trigger are often held right down to keep your optical lens pointing at an equivalent target, or alternatively boost motor speed to form the camera snap to wherever you’re remarking with none lag.

They’ve also updated the micro-USB port to the newer USB Type-C standard, which reduces the charging time and also means you don’t got to carry around an old Micro-USB cable around with you. There’s also a USB 3.0 port at the side of the gimbal, which suggests you'll also use it as a powerbank to charge your phone.

While the shorter rubberized grip is arguably less ergonomic than its predecessor’s, it’s now tilted forward slightly meaning you don’t need to constantly have your wrist slightly snapped back to stay the gimbal upright. Overall, it feels easier to use.

Compatibility

The Osmo Mobile 3 is compatible with most iPhones and Android smartphones, including bigger, phablet sized ones. However, those hoping to use it with the instant fisheye lens attached to their phone will want to form sure the entire weight of their phone and Moment lens remains below 230g.

For full software compatibility with the DJI Mimo app, you'll ask this list.

Mounting Your Phone

The DJI Osmo Mobile 3 makes use of an adjustable spring-loaded clamp to secure your phone. you merely pull apart the clamp, slide the phone in and therefore the clamp will securely grip your phone.

DJI has ditched the set-it-and-forget-it balance adjustment knobs that were present on the Osmo Mobile 3’s predecessors. Instead, to perfectly balance the phone, you’ll need to fiddle with the position of your phone within the clamp whenever you mount it. It’s a touch more fidgety, but nothing quite a minor inconvenience.

Controlling The Osmo Mobile 3

Unlike some gimbals which are lined with various buttons and dials, the Osmo Mobile 3 features a very minimalist control scheme.

A mode/power button, shutter button, zoom slider, configurable trigger and a joystick to electronically adjust pan and tilt is all there's thereto .

Although i prefer the clean layout, it does have a learning curve as you’ll need to remember exactly the way to access all the functions. for instance , to modify between portrait and landscape mode requires you to press the M button twice, to modify between rear and selfie cameras requires you to press the trigger 3 times. Remembering all the right combinations are often quite difficult.

The other quibble is DJI’s decision to travel with a zoom slider over a zoom wheel that another gimbals feature. The slider makes zooming in and out slightly less smooth, unless you've got a rock steady thumb.

Shooting Modes

The DJI Osmo Mobile 3 features 3 gimbal modes: Follow, Tilt Locked and FPV:

• Follow: the foremost frequently used mode, your gimbal will follow movements within the pan (side to side) and tilt (up and down) axes but lock the roll axis in order that the image is perfectly straight and parallel to the horizon.
• Tilt Locked: Rather confusingly named, this is often essentially what other gimbals call pan-following. It locks the lean and roll axes in order that only pan movements are followed. Good when you’re filming while running and don’t want to negate unwanted up and down movements.
• FPV: This keeps all 3-axes unlocked, albeit smoothes everything out. this might be useful when filming on a rollercoaster or on a all-terrain bike , where you would like to make more immersive footage.

 

DJI Osmo Mobile 3 Smart Phone Gimbal Review

Stabilization Performance

Despite being one among the littlest iPhone/Android gimbals around, the Osmo Mobile 3 still offers great video stabilization.

Comparing footage with the Zhiyun Smooth 4 and Hohem iSteady Mobile, the Osmo Mobile delivered smoother footage than the iSteady Mobile but was slightly less stable than the graceful 4.

The difference between all three tested gimbals was almost completely unnoticeable, though. It only became apparent when the camera was fully zoomed in and capturing things within the distance, at which point the graceful 4 footage was slightly more smooth.

Range Of Movement

If there’s one compromise which has been made for the sake of its foldable design, it’s the gimbal’s range of movement. Let’s compare its range of movement with its predecessor’s.

As you'll see, the bounds of the gimbal’s mechanical movements are a touch more arbitrary than before.

In practice, this isn’t really a drag in the least , but feels a touch odd knowing that the bounds in pan and tilt aren't equal in each direction.

Battery Life

Most of the newest smartphone gimbals have A battery life that far exceeds the realistic needs of anyone, and therefore the Osmo Mobile 3 is not any exception.

Like its predecessor, the Osmo Mobile 3 features a 2450mAh battery which will last for 15 hours under ideal conditions. this suggests you'll spend the day recording video and still be left with enough juice to charge your phone via the USB 3.0 port.

DJI Mimo App

Software is one among the areas where a DJI gimbal really beats the competition. The new DJI Mimo app which was born with the discharge of the DJI Osmo Pocket, replaces the older DJI Go app.

With the iOS/Android app, you'll take photos, record video and do some fancier things like timelapses, hyperlapses and movie shots.

There’s also the new ActiveTrack 3.0 technology, which uses AI to trace a person’s movements. It’s one among the foremost sophisticated algorithms around, although it admittedly does still lose track under some very specific parameters.

DJI Mimo also features some things which simply aren’t found on the software of other gimbals. for instance , Story Mode combines clips and stills into a replacement video complete with its own soundtrack, while Gesture Control means you'll wave at the camera for it to automatically snap a photograph .

More serious filmmakers might want to use the third-party FiLMiC Pro app, which has some more advanced filmmaking modes missing from DJI’s own app.

Conclusion

Pros:

• Foldable design is revolutionary
• Great stabilization performance
• Industry-leading software

Cons:

• Zoom slider rather than zoom wheel
• No balance adjustment knob

The DJI Osmo Mobile 3 isn’t perfect. it's a zoom slider rather than a zoom wheel, doesn’t have a balance adjustment knob and its range of mechanical movement isn’t as large as a number of the competition.

However, I’d choose this gimbal over all the opposite iPhone/Android gimbals any day of the week. Its folding design is revolutionary, and it’s almost inevitable that other gimbal manufacturers will imitate and begin making their own foldable gimbals. But beyond portability, it performs fantastically as a stabilizer, doesn’t have any major issues and its software is just the simplest within the business.

Overall, DJI have seriously impressed me with the Osmo Mobile 3 and it’s difficult to ascertain how the competition will react as long as the gimbal even manages to be competitive on price.

Rating: 4.5/5

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