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Zhiyun Smooth 5 review: Professional level gimbal for content creators
Earlier in December, I posted my review of the Zhiyun Smooth Q3, a great compact gimbal for creators who get out and about, shooting on the go in portrait or landscape as situations dictate. The new Smooth 5is a larger gimbal for those who regularly shoot in planned recording sessions.
The Zhiyun Smooth 5 is available for $169 and $219. The $219 combo package comes with some additional goodies; a protective bag, fill light and filters, ZY Cami one-year prime service card, and a wrist strap. The protective bag is well constructed, but I'm not sure the combination package is worth the additional $50 price.
See also: Best camera phone 2021: Take the best photos and videos.
Gimbals provide 3-axis stabilization with internal motors that activate after you mount your phone and then turn on the gimbal. The gimbal stabilizes tilt, pan, and roll while also providing various controls on the gimbal to pan, zoom, and move through various camera options. Your smartphone is connected via Bluetooth to the gimbal, and the smartphone software lets you view the content while customizing the shooting options and perspectives. The gimbal also acts as a selfie stick or even as a tripod and is an essential tool for video creators.
Zhiyun Smooth 5
pros and cons
- Solid build quality and construction
- Capable of holding larger phones
- Included tripod attachment
- Full-featured smartphone software
- Lots of buttons and controls
- Limited battery life
- Does not fold up to compact size
Hardware
I was sent the Zhiyun Smooth 5 combo package to evaluate and appreciate the opportunity to check out the carrying/storage bag and one magnetic mounting light with four color filters. You can mount two lights on the Smooth 5, and eventually, you will be able to buy a second at a $36 price.
I opened up the retail package to check out the combination package and then charged up the gimbal via the USB-C port on the back of the handle. The USB-C port is covered by a silicone port cover and can be a bit of a pain to remove. There is also a USB-C port on the upper arm that is used to charge up your smartphone. This can be useful if you happen to be recording and need to get a session completed, but with just 2,600mAh capacity in the gimbal, I wouldn't rely on charging up your smartphone for every recording session.
The Quick Start Guide is essential reading material that will show you how to fully unlock, extend, and setup your gimbal for use. There are 16 indicators, buttons, dials, and controls on the Zhiyun Smooth 5, so you need the guide to make sure you understand what each serves to control. It takes using the gimbal several times to get the hang of all of the controls, but once you have it down, then you will realize the gimbal is quite capable and powerful. I find the buttons and controls to be well-positioned too and easily accessible while holding the gimbal in my right hand.
It's just a few steps to setup the hardware, including unlocking the tilt, pan, and roll axis. Note that the pan axis lock is a physical switch on the backside of the gimbal positioned above the USB-C charging port. The tilt and roll axis parts are unlocked by rotating the arm to move the locking nub outside of the beveled lock.
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Slide apart the smartphone clamp; it has rubber braces on either side and inserts your phone with the rear cameras facing away from you. The entire inside of the smartphone clamp has soft rubber material to protect your phone, with a deep ridge for securing larger phones. Make sure to check the phone's buttons, so you line up the holder without interference and accidental activation of the buttons.
The Zhiyun Smooth 5 does not support rotating between portrait and landscape orientation with buttons or controls. Manual rotation is required to switch orientations, and with an orientation switch, rotate the phone holder into position and lock it in place; you must also rebalance the phone manually. The roll axis arm has a physical lock switch to move back and forth to achieve balance before turning on the gimbal. Once the gimbal is turned on, then the motors will work to balance things, but if you don't get balance close, then the motors will have to work hard to try to achieve balance and battery life will be greatly reduced. It's fairly easy to move and adjust the roll axis arm to achieve balance, and then you can also slide the phone mount for fine tuning.
The Smooth 5 retail package includes a small tripod mount, both standard and combo. This screws into the bottom of the gimbal. It is only 3.5 inches long, so it doesn't turn the gimbal into a selfie stick, but the three legs extend out and create a stable platform for smartphone photography.
Once the phone is mounted and balanced, turn on the Zhiyun Smooth 5 and watch the motors kick in to balance the gimbal. Launch the ZY Cami software on the phone, and then you can control the capture experience with all of the controls on the gimbal.
See also: Best Android phone 2021: Top expert picks.
The roll axis lock, USB-C port, and trigger button are found on the back of the Smooth 5. The trigger button is used to toggle SmartFollow, reposition the phone, enter selfie mode, and enter Go mode. Different button presses activate these functions so check out the Quick Start Guide.
A large focus/zoom wheel and button are positioned on the left side of the gimbal and are pretty distinctive on the gimbal. The button switches between focus and zoom while the wheel lets you quickly control the level of each. It's a handy controller if you use zoom while recording.
The power button, function button, and a 1/4-inch threaded hole are located on the right side of the gimbal. The function button is customizable in the ZY Cami app, so you can set it to something you use on a regular basis. The side threaded hole can be used for a stabilizer or extension bar.
On the primary, front, side of the gimbal, we find the mode indicator light, menu button, mode button, capture button, joystick, adjustment wheel with four buttons, and the center fill light button. The four buttons around the adjustment wheel are used for resolution/frame rate, ISO/exposure adjustment, display, and photo album.
Specifications
- Light: Magnetic attachment capable of mounting top and bottom lights with color filters, up to 3W each
- Smartphone capacity: Up to 300 grams
- Smartphone thickness: Up to 10 mm
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.2
- Battery: 2600mAh for 4.5 to 12 hours of battery life and two hours to fully charge
- Dimensions: 311 x 168 x 52 mm
- Weight: 615g
Software
You can use the gimbal alone as a stabilizer for your phone, but you won't experience all of the special effects and creative options unless you use the included software. The ZY Cami software is available for Android and iPhone models and provides you with a full capturing and editing alternative to the camera software on your phone. There are options for video, photo, pano, dolly zoom, timelapse, hyper-lapse, and smart options. I've seen reports of software instability, but in my testing, with Android phones, the ZY Cami software has performed flawlessly.
The main use of a smartphone gimbal is to capture video content, and the mode button on the gimbal is focused on this experience. Pan follow mode (PF) means that the tilt and roll axis motors are locked, and the pan axis follows the movement of the stabilizer handle. The joystick is used to control the tilt and pan axis in this mode. When Lock mode (L) is enabled, the three motors are locked and will not follow the movement of the stabilizer handle with the joystick again controlling tilt and pan. In Follow mode (F), the roll axis motor is locked with the tilt and pan axis motors following the movement of the stabilizer handle. The Point of View mode (POV) is pretty radical in that all three motors follow the movement of the stabilizer handle. In Vortex mode (V), the tilt axis motor rotates upward by 90 degrees while the tilt, roll and pan axis motors follow the rotation of the handle. Push the joystick to the left or gith to control the rotation of the pan axis. In Go Mode, the camera pans and tilts following the movement of the gimbal at a fast speed while the roll axis is locked.
The ZY Cami app also has a powerful editor that lets you fully edit your captured content right on your phone. You can trim your video, add music, add subtitles, add stickers, change playback speed, reverse the video, zoom, rotate, add filters, modify colors, and more. The Prime service, one year is included with the combo package, provides you access to online editing, online video storage, and more templates for advanced editing of your videos.
User guides, tutorials, and content from other creators are all contained within the ZY Cami app. Viewing other content is good for inspiration and for providing ideas of how you can improve your content too.
Zhiyun Smooth 5 smartphone gimbal review: in pics
Experiences and conclusions
I shot videos using the Zhiyun Smooth 5 with a OnePlus 9 Pro, Google Pixel 5a, and Sony Xperia Pro-I. The phone clamps securely, and the smooth silicone/rubber material protects the finish on the phones. If it is not a bulky case, you can even mount your phone in a case, as long as the thickness is less than 10mm.
Even with heavy phones, the tripod is very secure and stable. This is especially useful when shooting a panorama where the gimbal moves through various angles to capture perfect shots. When I just turn my body to capture panoramic shots, I tend to move up and down, so it's nice to have a stable platform with flawless execution for this shooting mode.
The Zhiyun Smooth 5 folds down into a secure form, but it is not nearly as compact as the Smooth Q3 or DJI gimbals. However, it feels great in the hand with sturdy materials, rubber-coated handle grip and easily accessible controls. There are a lot of controls, so spend time using them before you head out for your shooting sessions.
It isn't really a gimbal for beginners with an overwhelming number of buttons, wheels, and controls. There is a solid Quick Start Guide in the retail package with the full user manual in the ZY Cami app to further define the buttons and available shooting modes. Experiment with the modes and get to learn the controls before you start shooting your content.
Overall, I was pleased with the Zhiyun Smooth 5 gimbal's performance, build quality, and powerful shooting/editing software. It's a bit pricier than comparable gimbals, but if you will be using the zoom/focus control wheel, then it may be worth the price premium for you. It is not that portable for packing on day trips for unplanned video capture, but it is a solid option for planned recording sessions.