Zhiyun Smooth 5 review: Professional level gimbal for content creators

Earlier in December, I posted my evaluate of the Zhiyun Clean Q3, a excellent compact gimbal for creators who get out and about, taking pictures on the go in portrait or landscape as predicaments dictate. The new
Clean five

is a bigger gimbal for individuals who frequently shoot in prepared recording periods.

The Zhiyun Clean five is
available for $169 and $219

. The $219 combo package deal comes with some more goodies a protecting bag, fill gentle and filters, ZY Cami a person-12 months primary service card, and a wrist strap. The protecting bag is perfectly manufactured, but I’m not confident the mix package deal is worthy of the more $fifty price tag.


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Gimbals deliver three-axis stabilization with internal motors that activate right after you mount your phone and then convert on the gimbal. The gimbal stabilizes tilt, pan, and roll even though also providing several controls on the gimbal to pan, zoom, and move via several digital camera selections. Your smartphone is connected via Bluetooth to the gimbal, and the smartphone application lets you look at the information even though customizing the taking pictures selections and perspectives. The gimbal also acts as a selfie adhere or even as a tripod and is an critical instrument for video creators.

Like

  • Good establish high-quality and design
  • Able of keeping bigger telephones
  • Involved tripod attachment
  • Total-highlighted smartphone application

Never Like

  • Tons of buttons and controls
  • Confined battery daily life
  • Does not fold up to compact dimensions

Hardware

I was sent the
Zhiyun Clean five combo package deal

to appraise and take pleasure in the possibility to verify out the carrying/storage bag and a person magnetic mounting gentle with four color filters. You can mount two lights on the Clean five, and at some point, you will be in a position to purchase a next at a $36 price tag.

I opened up the retail package deal to verify out the mix package deal and then billed up the gimbal via the USB-C port on the back of the tackle. The USB-C port is coated by a silicone port protect and can be a little bit of a agony to get rid of. There is also a USB-C port on the upper arm that is used to cost up your smartphone. This can be useful if you materialize to be recording and have to have to get a session done, but with just 2,600mAh ability in the gimbal, I wouldn’t count on charging up your smartphone for every single recording session.

The Speedy Commence Guidebook is critical studying materials that will exhibit you how to totally unlock, extend, and setup your gimbal for use. There are 16 indicators, buttons, dials, and controls on the Zhiyun Clean five, so you have to have the guideline to make confident you realize what each and every serves to regulate. It requires using the gimbal various occasions to get the dangle of all of the controls, but when you have it down, then you will realize the gimbal is really capable and impressive. I uncover the buttons and controls to be perfectly-positioned much too and simply accessible even though keeping the gimbal in my right hand.

It can be just a several measures to setup the hardware, such as unlocking the tilt, pan, and roll axis. Be aware that the pan axis lock is a bodily swap on the backside of the gimbal positioned over the USB-C charging port. The tilt and roll axis sections 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 both aspect and inserts your phone with the rear cameras going through absent from you. The full within of the smartphone clamp has delicate rubber materials to defend your phone, with a deep ridge for securing bigger telephones. Make confident to verify the phone’s buttons, so you line up the holder without the need of interference and accidental activation of the buttons.

The Zhiyun Clean five does not assistance rotating involving portrait and landscape orientation with buttons or controls. Manual rotation is essential to swap orientations, and with an orientation swap, rotate the phone holder into posture and lock it in put you must also rebalance the phone manually. The roll axis arm has a bodily lock swap to move back and forth to attain balance ahead of turning on the gimbal. As soon as the gimbal is turned on, then the motors will do the job to balance things, but if you will not get balance near, then the motors will have to do the job really hard to try to attain balance and battery daily life will be enormously decreased. It can be quite uncomplicated to move and alter the roll axis arm to attain balance, and then you can also slide the phone mount for fantastic tuning.

The Clean five retail package deal features a little tripod mount, both regular and combo. This screws into the base of the gimbal. It is only three.five inches extensive, so it does not convert the gimbal into a selfie adhere, but the three legs extend out and create a secure system for smartphone images.

As soon as the phone is mounted and balanced, convert on the Zhiyun Clean five and observe the motors kick in to balance the gimbal. Start the ZY Cami application on the phone, and then you can regulate the seize experience with all of the controls on the gimbal.


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The roll axis lock, USB-C port, and result in button are found on the back of the Clean five. The result in button is used to toggle SmartFollow, reposition the phone, enter selfie manner, and enter Go manner. Unique button presses activate these features so verify out the Speedy Commence Guidebook.

A large concentration/zoom wheel and button are positioned on the still left aspect of the gimbal and are really unique on the gimbal. The button switches involving concentration and zoom even though the wheel lets you immediately regulate the degree of each and every. It can be a helpful controller if you use zoom even though recording.

The energy button, functionality button, and a 1/four-inch threaded gap are found on the right aspect of the gimbal. The functionality button is customizable in the ZY Cami application, so you can established it to anything you use on a frequent basis. The aspect threaded gap can be used for a stabilizer or extension bar.

On the major, front, aspect of the gimbal, we uncover the manner indicator gentle, menu button, manner button, seize button, joystick, adjustment wheel with four buttons, and the heart fill gentle button. The four buttons about the adjustment wheel are used for resolution/body level, ISO/publicity adjustment, display, and photo album.


Requirements

  • Gentle: Magnetic attachment capable of mounting top rated and base lights with color filters, up to 3W each and every
  • Smartphone ability: Up to 300 grams
  • Smartphone thickness: Up to ten mm
  • Connectivity: Bluetooth four.2
  • Battery: 2600mAh for four.five to 12 several hours of battery daily life and two several hours to totally cost
  • Proportions: 311 x 168 x 52 mm
  • Pounds: 615g

Computer software

You can use the gimbal on your own as a stabilizer for your phone, but you would not experience all of the special consequences and artistic selections until you use the involved application. The ZY Cami application is available for Android and Apple iphone styles and supplies you with a complete capturing and modifying alternate to the digital camera application on your phone. There are selections for video, photo, pano, dolly zoom, timelapse, hyper-lapse, and wise selections. I have witnessed experiences of application instability, but in my tests, with Android telephones, the ZY Cami application has executed flawlessly.

The key use of a smartphone gimbal is to seize video information, and the manner button on the gimbal is targeted on this experience. Pan comply with manner (PF) means that the tilt and roll axis motors are locked, and the pan axis follows the motion of the stabilizer tackle. The joystick is used to regulate the tilt and pan axis in this manner. When Lock manner (L) is enabled, the three motors are locked and will not comply with the motion of the stabilizer tackle with the joystick once more managing tilt and pan. In Adhere to manner (F), the roll axis motor is locked with the tilt and pan axis motors pursuing the motion of the stabilizer tackle. The Stage of View manner (POV) is really radical in that all three motors comply with the motion of the stabilizer tackle. In Vortex manner (V), the tilt axis motor rotates upward by ninety levels even though the tilt, roll and pan axis motors comply with the rotation of the tackle. Thrust the joystick to the still left or gith to regulate the rotation of the pan axis. In Go Method, the digital camera pans and tilts pursuing the motion of the gimbal at a speedy velocity even though the roll axis is locked.

The ZY Cami application also has a impressive editor that lets you totally edit your captured information right on your phone. You can trim your video, insert new music, insert subtitles, insert stickers, adjust playback velocity, reverse the video, zoom, rotate, insert filters, modify shades, and additional. The Primary service, a person 12 months is involved with the combo package deal, supplies you entry to online modifying, online video storage, and additional templates for highly developed modifying of your video clips.

Person guides, tutorials, and information from other creators are all contained within just the ZY Cami application. Viewing other information is good for inspiration and for providing strategies of how you can improve your information much too.

Activities and conclusions

I shot video clips using the Zhiyun Clean five with a
OnePlus nine Pro

,
Google Pixel 5a

, and
Sony Xperia Pro-I

. The phone clamps securely, and the smooth silicone/rubber materials guards the finish on the telephones. If it is not a bulky case, you can even mount your phone in a case, as extensive as the thickness is less than 10mm.

Even with weighty telephones, the tripod is extremely safe and secure. This is especially useful when taking pictures a panorama where the gimbal moves via several angles to seize fantastic pictures. When I just convert my physique to seize panoramic pictures, I are likely to move up and down, so it can be good to have a secure system with flawless execution for this taking pictures manner.

The Zhiyun Clean five folds down into a safe kind, but it is not virtually as compact as the
Clean Q3

 or DJI gimbals. On the other hand, it feels excellent in the hand with strong components, rubber-coated tackle grip and simply accessible controls. There are a ton of controls, so devote time using them ahead of you head out for your taking pictures periods.

It is not seriously a gimbal for newcomers with an overpowering variety of buttons, wheels, and controls. There is a solid Speedy Commence Guidebook in the retail package deal with the complete consumer manual in the ZY Cami application to further more define the buttons and available taking pictures modes. Experiment with the modes and get to discover the controls ahead of you get started taking pictures your information.

In general, I was pleased with the Zhiyun Clean five gimbal’s overall performance, establish high-quality, and impressive taking pictures/modifying application. It can be a little bit pricier than equivalent gimbals, but if you will be using the zoom/concentration regulate wheel, then it may be worthy of the price tag quality for you. It is not that moveable for packing on day visits for unplanned video seize, but it is a solid solution for prepared recording periods.

Maria J. Danford

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