Zhiyun Smooth 4 Smartphone Gimbal Review

Zhiyun Smooth 4 Smartphone Gimbal Review 

Zhiyun are one among the most important handheld gimbal producers on the market and its not surprising that the new Zhiyun Smooth 4 is already being touted because the DJI Osmo Mobile 2 killer. With an identical price point and packing in additional features than the Osmo Mobile 2, it certainly looks like the Zhiyun Smooth 4 features a good shot at becoming the smartphone gimbal to possess today.

In this review of the Zhiyun Smooth 4 gimbal stabilizer I’ll be watching exactly what it does, share my first impressions, undergo its various controls and shooting modes before finishing with my verdict. It’s a rather longer review so please bear with me!

What’s It For?

The latest iPhones and Androids are now packing powerful cameras that take incredible photos and are capable of recording crisp 4K video at 60fps.

It’s therefore no wonder that a lot of people are ditching their bulky DSLR cameras and video recorders and doing everything using their smartphone.

If you’re starting to take shooting video on your phone seriously, you’ll little question have some experience handling camera shake. albeit your phone features fantastic optical image stabilization (OIS), the very fact is that if you’re traveling and filming, camera shake are going to be noticeable.

 

Zhiyun Smooth 4 Smartphone Gimbal Review

The Zhiyun Smooth 4 may be a 3-axis gimbal stabilizer that's designed to almost completely eliminate camera shake. By mounting your phone on the gimbal, three brushless motors will rotate three pivots in 3-axes—pan, tilt and roll. These rotations are opposite to camera shake, thereby keeping your camera steady.

I go into more detail about the tech during this article, but hopefully you've got a transparent understanding of why you would possibly want to film with a motorized gimbal just like the Zhiyun Smooth 4.

First Impressions

The Zhiyun Smooth 4 comes packaged during a somewhat unremarkable grey styrofoam box that's lightweight and durable .

The only accessories included are a charging cable and little but functional tripod.

The charging cable is USB-C type and its nice to ascertain Zhiyun adopting the newest technologies unlike the bulk of gimbals (including the DJI Osmo Mobile 2) which still feature a Micro USB port. you'll finally say goodbye to carrying around two USB cables.

Right off the bat, the Zhiyun Smooth 4 looks bigger and more advanced than other gimbals. Whereas the DJI Osmo Mobile 2 is compact and only includes the bare essential controls, the graceful 4 has numerous buttons and dials to play with.

A nice feature is that the gimbal’s arm will lock itself into position once you line it up with the gimbal’s head. meaning you won’t have the arm and clamp freely swinging about when it’s not getting used .

It also features a stylish blue LED battery indicator and sleek metal Zhiyun strip at the highest which make it one among the more aesthetically pleasing gimbals around. However, the Zhiyun Smooth 4’s plastic construction means its build quality is nothing particularly special.

Compatibility

I found it incredibly easy to mount the varied phones I tested the graceful 4 with. Its adjustable spring loaded clamp means you merely got to open up the clamp and it'll then grip the phone into place once you abandoning .

With a maximum supported payload of 210g, the Zhiyun Smooth 4 is compatible with most smartphones, including bigger ones just like the Samsung Note 9. However, the 208g iPhone XS Max pushed the graceful 4 to its limits and caused some balancing issues.

When you first setup the Zhiyun Smooth 4 with a replacement device, you'll want to loosen the screw at the rear of the clamp and slide the clamp along the rails into an edge that best balances your device when the gimbal is held upright. The gimbal will electronically level your device when switched on, but it'll overwork the gimbal’s motors and impact battery life if you don’t balance it well within the beginning.

Is the Smooth 4 compatible with GoPros and other action cameras?

The Zhiyun Smooth 4 unofficially supports GoPros. I had no problem fitting my GoPro within the clamp and recording with it. The setup is way from ideal, however. this is often because many of the graceful 4’s buttons and other functions are rendered unusable.

Controlling the Zhiyun Smooth 4

Unlike the DJI Osmo Mobile 2, the Zhiyun Smooth 4 is loaded with various controls on the hand grip. this suggests you rarely need to resort to touching your phone’s display to vary settings just like the exposure level or resolution.

The dial on the left of the hand grip are often wont to adjust the main target and digital zoom. Most gimbals don’t allow you to physically adjust the main target , so this feature will tempt those more creative filmmakers. The digital zoom was very smooth and didn’t have the increments you regularly notice with other gimbals featuring a physical digital zoom control.

Zhiyun Smooth 4 Smartphone Gimbal Review

The button within the center of the controls will activate the camera’s flash when pressed, again providing the user with more convenience. Although I didn’t find yourself using it much, there are definitely situations where you would like to modify on the sunshine while recording.

Being able to access menus, concentrate and out, activate the flash then forth using controls on the gimbal saves tons of your time and hassle.

However, there's one big caveat—most of those functions only work when you’re using the ZY Play app. The ZY Play app is decent and its current revision has solved various issues it wont to have with Android users. However, I personally don’t like numerous of the gimbals features being tied to the app.

Missing Joystick

Many gimbals feature a joystick which may be wont to electronically pan and tilt the camera. The DJI Osmo Mobile 2 features this, and Zhiyun’s very own older Smooth Q also does.

However, DSLR gimbals and therefore the high end Movi Cinema Robot for smartphones don’t feature pan/tilt joysticks.

So is it an Enormous Deal or Not?

Personally, I consider having a joystick to be a touch of a gimmick that has somehow become a trend for smartphone gimbals. In my opinion, panning and tilting together with your own hand is a component of the fun. Using these joysticks within the past have also been very clunky experiences.

Whatever your stance on joysticks could also be , just remember that the graceful 4 doesn’t have one.

Shooting Modes

The 3-axis Zhiyun Smooth 4 has three basic gimbal shooting modes.

The first is pan and follow, which keeps the horizon level. In other words, the gimbal will follow your movements left and right (in the pan axis) but counteract any movements which point the camera up or down.

The second mode is following mode which suggests it'll follow your movements within the pan and tilt axis. However, it'll lock the roll axis, meaning if the camera rolls to the left or right, the gimbal will counteract those movements to stay the camera parallel to the bottom .

The last mode is locked mode where all 3 axes are locked. this suggests the Zhiyun Smooth 4 will hold your camera’s orientation and stay focused on its target. this is often useful when recording what’s happening at the stage during a concert or once you mount it on a vehicle.

PhoneGo Mode

A neat little feature of the graceful 4 is that the “PhoneGo” mode which will be activated by pressing the trigger button at the rear of the grip. This essentially makes the gimbal more aware of movements by increasing the motor speed. It’s nice once you want to capture the fast changes of direction in your recording.

Photo Modes

Using the ZY Play app makes it easy to require many sorts of photo.

• Single shot photos (very simple because of a fanatical snap button on the gimbal)
• Panorama shots (180-degree panoramas and 3×3 panoramas)
• Timelapses and Motion Timelapses
• Vertigo Effect

The vertigo effect mode may be a photography effect that I haven’t seen the other smartphone gimbals feature. It’s a pleasant little camera effect, although I didn’t find myself twiddling with it fairly often .

FiLMiC Pro App – A Supported Third-Party App

The ZY Play App must be wont to unlock the complete potential of the Zhiyun Smooth 4, so most of the people find yourself using this app to record their videos.

Fortunately, the app is one among the higher gimbal companion apps. Despite previously having serious issues on Android, many of the larger issues are resolved.

However many of us , including myself, simply don’t like using the gimbal companion apps to film video. Let’s be honest, they’re simply not the simplest around, and we’re prepared to sacrifice the some gimbal functions to use better shooting software.

Fortunately, Zhiyun has partnered with the blokes over at FiLMiC to offer the Zhiyun Smooth 4 native support for the FiLMiC Pro app. this is often an incredible third-party app that you simply actually want to use and now you'll adjust settings using the Zhiyun Smooth 4’s own controls.

 

Zhiyun Smooth 4 Smartphone Gimbal Review

Performance

The Zhiyun Smooth 4 provided great all-around image stabilization that lives up to its name. Whether walking or running, the camera shake was completely eliminated. Its stabilization quality was definitely on par with the DJI Osmo Mobile 2.

The motors were very responsive, and activating the “PhoneGo” mode can make them even snappier sometimes you would like to emphasize speed in your films.

Battery Life

The Zhiyun Smooth 4 features inbuilt lithium ion batteries which may record for up to 12 hours.

That puts it among the highest gimbals for battery life, and most of the people won’t need to worry about the batteries being a problem .

It’s slightly disappointing that despite its excellent battery, the Zhiyun Smooth 4 can’t double up to function as a transportable powerbank—unlike another gimbals.

Filming with the Zhiyun Smooth 4

It’s easy to shoot in both portrait and landscape modes, meaning those Instagram stars eager to directly upload video to the platform will haven't any problems.

I also found myself using the bundled tripod accessory to function as an extension for the handgrip. By doing so, I had a simple time taking low angle shots, without the necessity to bend down as i might normally do.

However, i will be able to say that my experience of filming with the Zhiyun Smooth 4 wasn’t quite as pleasant as other acclaimed gimbals, which was due to the way it felt in my hands.

The Zhiyun Smooth 4 felt a touch awkward within the hands for 2 reasons. Firstly, its ergonomics simply aren’t that good. Second, the sheer number of controls meant i used to be constantly watching which button to press instead of focusing my attention to more important matters like the way to frame the shot.

Conclusion

Pros

• Good image stabilization
• Highly responsive and quiet motors
• Wide range of video and photo shooting modes
• Ability to vary recording settings on the fly using the gimbal’s controls

Cons

• Some functions only work when using the ZY Play app
• Too many controls are going to be confusing for a few
• Ergonomics

Overall, the Zhiyun Smooth 4 may be a stunning piece of kit that's a really worthy competitor to the acclaimed DJI Osmo Mobile 2.

Within this price range, the Zhiyun Smooth 4 and DJI Osmo Mobile 2 are definitely the smartphone gimbals to think about .

The Zhiyun Smooth 4 offers more features for the ‘technical’ filmmaker who is consistently adjusting small settings while recording. You not got to touch your phone’s screen, since the Zhiyun Smooth 4 has physical controls for that.

However, the Zhiyun Smooth 4’s control scheme felt a touch complicated and even excessive. the truth is most of the people will just want to hit the record button and ditch the gimbal. So for many people, the more compact, ergonomically superior and simpler DJI Osmo Mobile 2 is perhaps a far better bet.

Rating: 4/5

Looking for a gimbal for your iPhone? inspect my list of recommended gimbals for iPhone.