Zhiyun Smooth 5 review: Professional level gimbal for content creators

Before in December, I posted my assessment of the Zhiyun Clean Q3, a terrific compact gimbal for creators who get out and about, taking pictures on the go in portrait or landscape as scenarios dictate. The new
Clean 5

is a greater gimbal for those people who regularly shoot in prepared recording sessions.

The Zhiyun Clean 5 is
available for $169 and $219

. The $219 combo offer comes with some further goodies a protecting bag, fill light and filters, ZY Cami 1-12 months key support card, and a wrist strap. The protecting bag is nicely built, but I am not positive the combination offer is well worth the further $fifty price tag.

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Gimbals provide three-axis stabilization with inside motors that activate after you mount your telephone and then convert on the gimbal. The gimbal stabilizes tilt, pan, and roll while also supplying numerous controls on the gimbal to pan, zoom, and shift via numerous camera alternatives. Your smartphone is related by using Bluetooth to the gimbal, and the smartphone application allows you view the content while customizing the taking pictures alternatives and perspectives. The gimbal also functions as a selfie stick or even as a tripod and is an vital device for movie creators.

Components

I was sent the
Zhiyun Clean 5 combo offer

to appraise and value the opportunity to check out the carrying/storage bag and 1 magnetic mounting light with 4 colour filters. You can mount two lights on the Clean 5, and inevitably, you will be equipped to buy a second at a $36 price tag.

I opened up the retail offer to check out the combination offer and then charged up the gimbal by using the USB-C port on the back of the manage. The USB-C port is protected by a silicone port protect and can be a bit of a soreness to take away. There is also a USB-C port on the higher arm that is applied to cost up your smartphone. This can be beneficial if you come about to be recording and want to get a session completed, but with just 2,600mAh potential in the gimbal, I would not depend on charging up your smartphone for each individual recording session.

The Quick Start Guide is vital looking through product that will demonstrate you how to entirely unlock, extend, and setup your gimbal for use. There are sixteen indicators, buttons, dials, and controls on the Zhiyun Clean 5, so you want the information to make positive you realize what each individual serves to control. It will take employing the gimbal numerous times to get the cling of all of the controls, but after you have it down, then you will know the gimbal is very capable and strong. I uncover the buttons and controls to be nicely-positioned far too and effortlessly accessible while holding the gimbal in my correct hand.

It truly is just a several steps to setup the components, which include unlocking the tilt, pan, and roll axis. Be aware that the pan axis lock is a physical change on the backside of the gimbal positioned previously mentioned the USB-C charging port. The tilt and roll axis elements are unlocked by rotating the arm to shift the locking nub outside the house of the beveled lock.

Slide aside the smartphone clamp it has rubber braces on either side and inserts your telephone with the rear cameras going through away from you. The complete inside of the smartphone clamp has soft rubber product to defend your telephone, with a deep ridge for securing greater telephones. Make positive to check the phone’s buttons, so you line up the holder without the need of interference and accidental activation of the buttons.

The Zhiyun Clean 5 does not assist rotating concerning portrait and landscape orientation with buttons or controls. Handbook rotation is required to change orientations, and with an orientation change, rotate the telephone holder into situation and lock it in position you have to also rebalance the telephone manually. The roll axis arm has a physical lock change to shift back and forth to reach harmony prior to turning on the gimbal. At the time the gimbal is turned on, then the motors will do the job to harmony factors, but if you don’t get harmony shut, then the motors will have to do the job tough to check out to reach harmony and battery existence will be enormously decreased. It truly is rather effortless to shift and modify the roll axis arm to reach harmony, and then you can also slide the telephone mount for wonderful tuning.

The Clean 5 retail offer consists of a small tripod mount, both of those normal and combo. This screws into the base of the gimbal. It is only three.5 inches lengthy, so it does not convert the gimbal into a selfie stick, but the 3 legs extend out and generate a steady platform for smartphone pictures.

At the time the telephone is mounted and balanced, convert on the Zhiyun Clean 5 and check out the motors kick in to harmony the gimbal. Launch the ZY Cami application on the telephone, and then you can control the seize practical experience with all of the controls on the gimbal.

See also: Best Android telephone 2021: Top rated skilled picks.

The roll axis lock, USB-C port, and result in button are discovered on the back of the Clean 5. The result in button is applied to toggle SmartFollow, reposition the telephone, enter selfie manner, and enter Go manner. Different button presses activate these features so check out the Quick Start Guide.

A significant concentrate/zoom wheel and button are positioned on the still left side of the gimbal and are fairly unique on the gimbal. The button switches concerning concentrate and zoom while the wheel allows you speedily control the degree of each individual. It truly is a handy controller if you use zoom while recording.

The electric power button, operate button, and a 1/4-inch threaded hole are found on the correct side of the gimbal. The operate button is customizable in the ZY Cami application, so you can established it to some thing you use on a standard basis. The side threaded hole can be applied for a stabilizer or extension bar.

On the principal, front, side of the gimbal, we uncover the manner indicator light, menu button, manner button, seize button, joystick, adjustment wheel with 4 buttons, and the heart fill light button. The 4 buttons about the adjustment wheel are applied for resolution/frame amount, ISO/publicity adjustment, display, and photo album.

Requirements

• Mild: Magnetic attachment capable of mounting top and base lights with colour filters, up to 3W each individual
• Smartphone potential: Up to three hundred grams
• Smartphone thickness: Up to 10 mm
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.2
• Battery: 2600mAh for 4.5 to 12 hours of battery existence and two hours to entirely cost
• Proportions: 311 x 168 x 52 mm
• Excess weight: 615g

Software package

You can use the gimbal alone as a stabilizer for your telephone, but you would not practical experience all of the specific consequences and imaginative alternatives unless of course you use the bundled application. The ZY Cami application is available for Android and Apple iphone styles and provides you with a complete capturing and editing different to the camera application on your telephone. There are alternatives for movie, photo, pano, dolly zoom, timelapse, hyper-lapse, and clever alternatives. I have found reviews of application instability, but in my tests, with Android telephones, the ZY Cami application has executed flawlessly.

The most important use of a smartphone gimbal is to seize movie content, and the manner button on the gimbal is targeted on this practical experience. Pan follow manner (PF) means that the tilt and roll axis motors are locked, and the pan axis follows the movement of the stabilizer manage. The joystick is applied to control the tilt and pan axis in this manner. When Lock manner (L) is enabled, the 3 motors are locked and will not follow the movement of the stabilizer manage with the joystick all over again managing tilt and pan. In Follow manner (F), the roll axis motor is locked with the tilt and pan axis motors subsequent the movement of the stabilizer manage. The Issue of See manner (POV) is fairly radical in that all 3 motors follow the movement of the stabilizer manage. In Vortex manner (V), the tilt axis motor rotates upward by ninety levels while the tilt, roll and pan axis motors follow the rotation of the manage. Press the joystick to the still left or gith to control the rotation of the pan axis. In Go Mode, the camera pans and tilts subsequent the movement of the gimbal at a quickly speed while the roll axis is locked.

The ZY Cami application also has a strong editor that allows you entirely edit your captured content correct on your telephone. You can trim your movie, insert new music, insert subtitles, insert stickers, alter playback speed, reverse the movie, zoom, rotate, insert filters, modify hues, and much more. The Prime support, 1 12 months is bundled with the combo offer, provides you entry to online editing, online movie storage, and much more templates for state-of-the-art editing of your videos.

User guides, tutorials, and content from other creators are all contained inside the ZY Cami application. Viewing other content is excellent for inspiration and for supplying tips of how you can improve your content far too.

Experiences and conclusions

I shot videos employing the Zhiyun Clean 5 with a
OnePlus 9 Pro

,
Google Pixel 5a

, and
Sony Xperia Pro-I

. The telephone clamps securely, and the clean silicone/rubber product guards the complete on the telephones. If it is not a bulky case, you can even mount your telephone in a case, as lengthy as the thickness is much less than 10mm.

Even with large telephones, the tripod is very secure and steady. This is primarily beneficial when taking pictures a panorama wherever the gimbal moves via numerous angles to seize ideal pictures. When I just convert my system to seize panoramic pictures, I are inclined to shift up and down, so it truly is wonderful to have a steady platform with flawless execution for this taking pictures manner.

The Zhiyun Clean 5 folds down into a secure form, but it is not nearly as compact as the
Clean Q3

 or DJI gimbals. Even so, it feels terrific in the hand with strong resources, rubber-coated manage grip and effortlessly accessible controls. There are a ton of controls, so commit time employing them prior to you head out for your taking pictures sessions.

It isn’t definitely a gimbal for novices with an mind-boggling number of buttons, wheels, and controls. There is a strong Quick Start Guide in the retail offer with the complete person manual in the ZY Cami application to more determine the buttons and available taking pictures modes. Experiment with the modes and get to discover the controls prior to you start out taking pictures your content.

All round, I was pleased with the Zhiyun Clean 5 gimbal’s performance, construct good quality, and strong taking pictures/editing application. It truly is a bit pricier than similar gimbals, but if you will be employing the zoom/concentrate control wheel, then it may well be well worth the price tag premium for you. It is not that moveable for packing on working day journeys for unplanned movie seize, but it is a strong selection for prepared recording sessions.