Zhiyun Smooth-4 (SMA04)

semi-professional

Upon close acquaintance with Zhiyun Smooth 4, it seems that it gravitates towards more serious professional camera stabilizers rather than multifunctional counterparts that are designed to work with smartphones.

High build quality

There is no selfie stick mode, for example, and the whole system comes in a fairly simple foam case. The body of the stabilizer is made of metal with plastic and assembled to the conscience: no backlash or squeaks, maximum reliability. Plus, there is a latch of one of the stabilizer axes, which prevents the design and the smartphone from hanging out when carried.

Advanced control system

The seriousness of the device is manifested in a sophisticated control system: there are standard start / stop buttons, switching modes of operation of the stub and calling the menu, plus a couple of additional buttons that conventional stabilizers for smartphones do not have. For example, one of them puts the stub in a kind of sports mode, when it instantly turns and spins, tracking a fast-moving object. There is also a button for tilt axis tracking or all axis tracking. This is more like the functions of the vaunted DJI Ronin-S.

Adjustment ring

Another cool feature from older brothers is a large ring on the side that allows you to control zoom and focus. However it only works with the ZY Play application, which sometimes behaves buggy on Android. It will be fixed with an update though. Also, there is no usual joystick for turning the camera, everything is done manually. This may seem inconvenient to some, but in fact it turns out faster and more accurately.

For serious photography

Therefore, Zhiyun Smooth-4 should be recommended to owners of top camera phones who are seriously interested in mobile shooting. For broadcasting on social networks and filming travel vlogs, it is better to take something simpler like FeiYu Tech Vimble 2 or Gudsen MOZA Mini-S.