Turn your phone into a slick steadicam
Tired of shaky camera footage? This fancy gimbal gives you that silver screen sheen
Many of us point and click and snap everywhere we go thanks to the ubiquity of the smartphone. Increasingly, the video cameras on these phones are approaching professional quality capable of filming in slow-motion and high-definition.
Anyone though, who’s ever filmed a communion or wedding day knows that making our amateur filmmaking efforts look like a pro’s is still a tricky task.
Enter the gimbal. Cameramen have used these steadying gadgets for years to produce that incredibly smooth footage as the camera follows actors through all sorts of onscreen action. A gimbal allows the camera to twist and turn but keep it steady to produce that cinematic look that amateur filmmakers have craved.
The Zhiyun Smooth 3 is the gimbal for the rest of us. Unpacking it reveals the gimbal which is just over 300mm long. It looks like a very sophisticated selfie-stick, but this has a whole host of sophisticated electronics inside. As well as the gimbal itself, there’s a battery and a USB cable for charging and connecting to you PC.
The Smooth 3 has a grip style clamp at the top for mounting your smartphone. Cleverly designed to be agnostic to the phone you use, I was able to fit smartphones of different dimensions. The clamp can also be rotated so you can mount your phone horizontally or vertically.
After powering up the gimbal, the ZY Play app binds your phone to the gimbal and you’re ready to go. With the app I was able to adjust various settings for video filming. For experienced photographers turning to a smartphone, the app has ISO, white-balance and style filters. However, it also has built-in features for time lapse, panoramic shooting and long exposures. Using the Smooth 3 is incredibly intuitive. After initially getting a feel for how it works, you’ll find yourself getting more ambitious with how you film. There are three modes the gimbal works in and these are accessed easily from the handle via the small built-in joystick. These allow you to pick