TL;DR: We tested the ZHIYUN Smooth 5S AI smartphone gimbal and found it to be a nifty tool that eliminates the need for an assistant while you shoot a video, even if you’re moving around.
Smartphones have come a long way. Once upon a time, you could not trust a smartphone with professional video content creation, but that has since changed. Modern smartphones shoot 4k and 8k video and are valid choices for video creation. And there is a whole support system of tools to help you along the way. The ZHIYUN Smooth 5S AI smartphone stabilizer gimbal is one of such tools.
The ZHIYUN Smooth 5S AI has lots of useful features and is powerful as an electronic smartphone stabilizer. Those tools include an all-in-one control panel, different shooting modes, built-in flash light, attachable magnetic fill light, orthogonal 3-axis balance, and support for apps.
Table of Contents
Design and Build
The Smooth 5S AI feels solid in the hand. It gives the impression of good quality, even premium, production. The design has clean lines, gradient textures and accents everywhere. There is nothing about it that so much as whispers cheap or low quality. The grip is good as well.
There is a joystick to control the movement of the gimbal while in use. In a similar way, there are other controls for capturing photos and recording, switching between modes, putting on the fill light, zooming in and out, adjusting exposure, ISO, and other variables. This is a full-on high tech gadget for video capturing.
Super Video Stabilization
Video Stabilization is the basis of a smartphone gimbal in the first place and the ZHIYUN Smooth 5S AI gimbal does a fine job of it. Whether it is navigating stairs, walking, running, jumping, crawling while recording, it smoothens out the output, producing videos that you will enjoy watching.
The Outstanding Feature
One of the features that distinguishes the ZHIYUN Smooth 5S AI gimbal from its predecessor and from many other smartphone gimbals is the AI tracker. This feature enables the gimbal to track your body movements and follow you both vertically and horizontally as you move around.
The AI tracker eliminates the need for an assistant to hold the smartphone or gimbal while you shoot a video, even if you’re moving around.
And the best part is that you do not need any complicated setup or app to use this feature. We have had a unit of the Smooth 5S AI with us for some weeks and we have put it to the test to see how it works. I share the story below.
ZHIYUN Smooth 5S AI included accessories
We got the Combo package of the ZHIYUN Smooth 5S AI gimbal. In the box is everything you need.
- Two pamphlets that include one quick start guide
- USB-C charging cable
- Tripod stand
- Magnetic AI tracker
- ZHIYUN Smooth 5S AI smartphone stabilizer itself
This is your complete mobile video recording equipment (apart from the smartphone). You can have a look at our unboxing video for a visual experience.
This are other packages. I am including more details about what the different packages include at the end of this review article.
Setting up the ZHIYUN Smooth 5S AI
The first step was to charge it. We plugged it into a power socket using the supplied USB-C cable. An LED light indicated that it was charging.
Once charged up, we were ready to go. Setting things up was smooth. First, we powered the Smooth 5S AI up using its power button. The Mode Display, a thin horizontal strip of LED light, came on to indicate that it was up and ready to run.
Next, we paired the gimbal with our chosen smartphone. It was as simple as opening the Bluetooth settings on the phone, selecting the Smooth 5S AI from the list of available devices and completing the pairing process.
And then, we placed the smartphone in the gimbal arms and made the necessary adjustments to get it balanced. Now, we were pretty much ready to go.
Hand gestures
The AI tracker is controlled with hand gestures and there are four of them.
- enable tracking with an okay hand gesture
- disable tracking with a stop hand gesture
- take a photo or start a video recording with a V (or victory) hand gesture
- stop a video recording with the same V (victory) hand gesture.
It sounded easy enough. It took me a bit of trying to get it right, but I eventually did. The AI tracking works whether you are using the front camera or the rear camera of your cellphone.
And it was exciting to see it at work. Years ago, you would need much more expensive equipment to be able to have this body tracking functionality. Yet, here it is now in an affordable, compact, easy-to-use smartphone stabilizer..
Apps
I mentioned earlier that the Smooth 5S AI does not need an app to use the AI tracker, and that is true. You can also do your video recording with the built-in camera app of your smartphone. This is how we have used the product so far.
However, the manufacturer has developed some apps that you can use for your video recording when using the Smooth 5S AI. The apps come with extra functions for more advanced users. I am convinced that most people just want things as simple as possible – something that works out of the box.
But more technical and more professional people will want to try out those apps for their extra functionality.
Download StaCam and/or ZY Play from the Google Play Store for use with your Smooth 5S AI.
Battery life
The manufacturer says that with a fully charged battery, the Smooth 5S AI will run for 26 hours if you are using only the gimbal. With the gimbal, AI tracker and one fill light, the claim is 7 hours of operation. And if you use it with three fill light running, the claim is 2 hours and 20 minutes of battery life. Expect real world usage to vary.
Where to buy
The Smooth 5S AI comes in three packages – Standard, Combo, and Pro.
The Standard package does not include the magnetic AI tracker. This is ideal for you if you don’t need the tracking feature. You will save some cash, too.
The Combo package is what we have shown you in this review article and in our unboxing video.
In addition to what is in the Combo package, the Pro package includes a magnetic fill light, coloured filters for the fill light, a lanyard, and a carry case.
You can buy the ZHIYUN Smooth 5S AI stabilizer from from Amazon.