Review on Zhiyun Smooth II Handheld Screens Warranty by Julie Valenzuela

This is truly a 4.9 star rating. I just couldn't give it 4.9 stars so I rounded up to 5 stars and I'll explain why in a few minutes. In fact, I really like the Zhiyun Smooth-II 3-axis gimbal. I think this is probably the best 3-axis gimbal for smartphones today. It looks and feels like a quality product. It was delivered exactly as described in the Revain description, with one notable exception. It contained a very good (Panasonic NCR18650B) 3400mAh (12.85Wh) flat Li-Ion battery which was not mentioned in the description. This battery is referred to as a "naked" battery because it has no protection against overcharging or deep discharging. The lack of protection circuitry isn't a bad thing, however, considering the gimbal isn't a high-performance device. So I'm grateful for the high-quality battery that came with it. By the way, this stabilizer requires a FLAT-TOP 18650 battery. I tried a button-down top and it did NOT fit. I highly recommend the battery that comes with this stabilizer (Panasonic NCR18650B Super Max 3.7V 3400mAh Li-ion Battery, Green). This is not the best high precision battery. But for this purpose it is ideal and has a very reasonable price. My only real complaint about this gimbal is that like any other 3-axis gimbal, it doesn't support the iPhone x Plus without a counterweight getting in the way and should be removed for storage. However, Zhiyun provides Zhiyun Smooth Series Live Vertical Shooting Suite Live Accessories for Zhiyun Smooth-C Smooth-II Live Video Show Handheld Gimbal with EACHSHOT cleaning cloth for this gimbal, which should solve this problem. At the time of writing this review, the kit is priced at $35. It's such an improvement that I have to wonder why they didn't just include the parts that make up the kit into the gimbal. This would make this gimbal the only one on the market that offers vertical recording options for a plus-size smartphone. I'm sure the marketers had their reasons. But that's the only thing stopping me from giving this stabilizer a perfect 5 stars. Smooth-II comes in a very neat Apple style packaging. I felt like I was dealing with a stable company that cared about its long-term image. I removed the battery and charged it with an external charger which I hope will turn off when the battery is charged. I would charge it in the gimbal with the cable that came with it, but don't know yet if there is an internal cutoff for the charging circuit and I was about to go to bed. I tested the stabilizer with a freshly charged battery. It was easy to learn even without a guide. I should mention that I finally read the instructions and found them clear, if a little short. I think most people should be able to figure them out and master the suspension in just a few minutes. In short, the power button is on the right side. Hold it for 3 seconds to turn it on or off. When connected to a smartphone app, this switch also acts as a photo shutter button or video start/stop button when you press and immediately release. modes. There are two main modes that you can switch between with a single press of the joystick. 1) What I call panning mode: This is the default or activation mode. It's also accessible with a single press of the joystick from the All Lock mode, which I'll describe. In this mode, the gimbal follows horizontal movement (left and right), but vertical movement is locked and controlled by the thumb joystick only. In this mode, rotating the gimbal left and right keeps the camera at the same height. If it pointed 15 degrees up, it would show 15 degrees throughout the pan regardless of whether the gimbal is tilted back and forth. The joystick is the only way to control the vertical angle of the camera. 2) All-Lock Mode: Accessed by a single press of the joystick from pan mode. This keeps the camera pointed in the same direction no matter how much you move the stick in either direction (inside the gimbal). In this mode, the joystick is the only way to change the camera angle. When you move the joystick up and down, the camera moves up and down. Moving the joystick left and right moves the camera left and right in the horizontal plane. A single press of the joystick will return the gimbal to its default mode. A NOTICE. Alternating single presses of the joystick toggle between each of the two main modes listed above. 3) All Follow Mode: Accessed by double-pressing the joystick from any of the main modes. In this mode, the camera will follow your movement of the gimbal, but this will be much smoother than you could do with your bare hand. Point the gimbal up and the camera will follow you. Rotate the gimbal to the left and the camera will follow you. In this mode the joystick has only one function. Moving the joystick left or right tilts the gimbal left (counterclockwise) or right (clockwise) on the Z-axis. A single press of the joystick will return the gimbal to the last selected main mode. 4) Reverse/Invert mode: Accessed by triple-pressing the joystick in Pan mode or All Follow mode ONLY. When you enter this mode, the camera rotates 180 degrees around the horizontal axis so that the main camera faces you. If you triple click the joystick and the gimbal doesn't go into reverse mode, just click the joystick again to go back to pan mode and it will remember you triple clicked the joystick and go into reverse mode . . This mode is suitable for selfies with the main lens of your smartphone as well as for upside down shots. For most head-down shots, all you need to do is tilt the gimbal towards the ground. However, if you try to shoot at certain vertical angles, you may hit one of the stabilizer's limits. For these types of shots where you push the limits of vertical mode, reverse/inverted mode is ideal. Although you can only enter Reverse mode from Pan or All Follow mode, you can press the joystick once while in Reverse mode and enter All Lock mode. Remember that you must be in Pan or All Follow mode to return facing forward. If you press the joystick three times and the gimbal doesn't rotate forward, just press the joystick again and it will rotate, just like entering reverse mode. Just remember that you MUST be in Main Pan or All Follow mode to enter or exit Reverse/Inverted mode. Personally, I can think of very few instances where I need reverse mode. But it's there when you need it. 5) Portrait mode (vertical): It can be accessed by simply tilting the gimbal to the tilt limit and it will switch to portrait mode. This is ideal for portrait format photos. But please, when recording videos, do not record in portrait orientation. Videos should always be recorded in landscape orientation unless your subject requires it (e.g. recording a video of Angel Falls). There is a portrait mode. Use it, but don't overdo it. Other Features: On the left is a micro-USB port that can be used to charge the battery or download firmware updates. On the right is a spring-loaded slide switch that only works with the Zhiyun app. Pull the switch down for more than two seconds to switch between photo and video mode in the app. Press the switch up for more than two seconds to switch between the front and rear cameras on your smartphone. In any of these modes, briefly press the switch up to zoom in on the active camera. Each subsequent press increases it a little further. Pull the switch down briefly to zoom out in the same increment. There is a standard 1/4 inch screw hole at the bottom, which allows you to mount the gimbal on a tripod or extension arm. I bought two extensions with mine and I can tell you that they give me the opportunity to take amazing pictures that I couldn't get any other way except maybe with a drone. Overcoming the only shortcoming: As mentioned at the beginning, there is a balancing problem with all smartphone stabilizers when it comes to big, big cell phones. Usually you need to add a counterweight to the end of one of the motors. But it doesn't allow you to fold the gimbal for storage. But even with the counterweight attached, my iPhone 6 Plus is still a bit heavy on the left when wearing the thin TPU case. Although the gimbal worked well, the iPhone wasn't perfectly balanced, I wanted it to be perfectly balanced without a counterweight. This is because the greater the phone/camera imbalance on ANY gimbal, the more battery the gimbal will consume while the phone/camera is held level. To maximize a gimbal's battery life, the phone/camera needs to be as balanced as possible. Here's what I did. This helps with ANY suspension where perfect balance is otherwise unattainable. disturb the movement of the suspension. Once I had the perfect balance, no counterweight on a motor, I attached them permanently with a product called X-Treme Tape X-Treme Tape TPE-X36ZLB Silicone Rubber Self-Adhesive Tape, 1" x 36", Triangular, Black. It ONLY sticks to itself, no glue, and is permanent. Some of these are worth keeping at home anyway. Now that I have extra weights attached to the gimbal, I don't need a bolt-on counterweight. This means I can lay the gimbal flat with the iPhone 6 Plus attached. It also means I can remove the iPhone case, attach the clip-on lens, and then use the screw-on counterweight to balance this setup. me the best of both worlds. I only wish they had made the gimbal wide enough to balance a plus smartphone without that bolt-on weight. For this I make a tenth star bracket. By the way, since the bail handle is pretty slick, I wrapped it with X-Treme tape and the handle is fine now. I'm attaching a photo showing where I added the weights. The duct tape is similar to electrical tape but it has no adhesive and only sticks to itself and this stick is permanent. The red arrows show where weights have been added. Added the on the clip to balance the phone from side to side. I'll try to post a video here in the next few days. In the meantime I hope this helps. I really like this gimball.