The world’s smallest powered smartphone gimbal is perfect for the selfie-obsessed
- The Smooth X from Zhiyun is a folding powered gimbal that allows phone camera users to shoot smoother moving videos, and will support any smartphone gimbal can track a moving object and will start with a gesture, but is less steady than three-axis gimbals.
- It can run for eight to 10 hours on one charge
Design and hardware
The Zhiyun Smooth X makes a compromise to achieve its petite size. It is only a two-axis gimbal, meaning it can “pan” (horizontal left or right) and “roll” (rotate); it lacks the third axis, “yaw” (looking up and down a vertical plane).
To that end, the Smooth X has an extendable “neck” – just like a selfie stick – that extends up to 260mm (10.2 inches). It can also support the phone in landscape (sideways) and portrait (upright) orientations; the latter is crucial for shooting Instagram Stories or TikTok videos
The Smooth X’s grip has a small joystick nub to manually control axis movement, buttons to record, and a slider to zoom. The latter two buttons only work when paired with Zhiyun’s companion app.
Software and features
Zhiyun’s companion app is easy to use and works on both iOS and Android. It connects with the gimbal via Bluetooth, and once synced, the aforementioned record and zoom buttons can control the app’s native camera app.
Source: www.scmp.com
