AliExpress is giving out Zhiyun Cinepeer C11 Gimbal for $52.13 only. The handheld stabalizer which generally retails at $60 is now available at the discounted price of $52.13 only.

Zhiyun Cinepeer C11 is a gimbal/stabilizer specifically designed for smartphones. With this device, you can simply record your stories on the go without worrying about video and image quality. Compatible with iOS 10.0 and Android 5.0 or higher versions, the gimbal comes with an optimized C11 3-axis stabilizing system that helps you to take smooth and clear footage while minimizing shaky and grainy frames, as you move.

The gimbal comes with a 4-way joystick and features a variety of visual functions like dolly zoom, object tracking, panorama, timelapse, motion lapse, etc.  Designed to function in both portrait and landscape mode, Zhiyun Cinepeer C11 comes with 12 hours of battery life and even a Phone charging option.

Generally retailing at $60, you can now buy Zhiyun Cinepeer C11 Gimbal for $52.13 only. This limited-time offer comes with free shipping from the China warehouse and additional coupons from AliExpress. So go get your gimbal before the deal expires.

For more information on such exciting deals and offers check out our deals hub.

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Rising smartphone cameras 

In 2019, as powerful smartphone cameras become one of the most important phone features, it’s easier than ever to shoot great video with our phones. With a correct app and correct accessory, better shots will be much easier. The new released Zhiyun Smooth Q2 gimbal is no doubt that kind of correct accessory.

However, in our review videos, what we used to avoid filming with were phones. Though it’s the most convenient filming device, the shortages like a rolling shutter, poor stabilization, and low image quality made us give up the convenience. We generally used DSLR or mirrorless as part of a filming system. For our shoots, we use all kinds of filming tools, such as tripods, gimbals, and sliders. But thanks to the latest high-quality camera integrated into phones, using a phone to filming our review videos is becoming possible, especially when increasing accessories like gimbals are bringing it to another level. And after we received the Smooth Q2, it’s much sure that it stays not just as a possibility but more a choice.

Design

The Smooth Q2 is a 3-axis hand-held gimbal that is compatible with most smartphones (weight≤260g). Compared to its last generation, the Smooth Q, the Q2 is smaller to take less space of your backpack, which is even the smallest phone gimbal with full stabilization that I’ve ever seen. The smooth Q2 weighs 404 grams and is made from metal, so the build quality is excellent compared to the plastic of the Q1. And the rubber handle cover also leads to a comfortable experience when need to hold it for a long time.

For operation, the smooth Q2 cuts down all the controls to two buttons and one joystick, which is pretty intuitive and convenient. To start your filming, it’s pretty easy: install the phone, and make sure set the balance of the phone correctly, and then press and hold the power button for 2 seconds, and then use the joystick to choose a shooting mode you like. So that’s it.

Multiple modes&features

The Smooth Q2 supports 360 degrees of rotation and has 3-axis stabilization, containing a Tilt motor, a Roll motor and a Pan motor. Upgraded from the 3 modes of the smooth Q, the Q2 supports 5 shooting modes including a Pan-follow mode, a full-locking mode, a full-follow mode, a point of view mode, and a Vortex mode. Let’s see how it works with every mode.

The Zhiyun Smooth Q2 really takes care of any previous problems. They almost fix all the problems of the Q1, like body material, weight, operation, and phone-grip design. It seems that they are trying so hard to bring a final product to meet customers’ demand, easy operation for general users, professional stabilization for filmmakers.

No matter which mode we used, the gimbal keeps most movements incredibly smooth and stabilized. Even when you move the gimbal all around, the picture will remain stabilized with default pan-follow mode.

In the ‘point of view’ mode, it simulates a first-person perspective as a kind of special filming. It guarantees the fast reaction and smooth movement even when we move synchronously along three axes from all directions.

To switch from one mode to another one, all you need to do is to click the joystick and doable click for the last mode. Otherwise, the joystick enables the filmmaker to adjust the camera angle or pan in any direction with any shooting modes.

The Smooth Q2 supports a fast switch between ‘selfie mode’ and the others. Just dual-click the lower button, which is pretty a smart design for the vloggers to have interaction with the camera easily and smoothly.

With a quick Bluetooth connection with the native phone, the Smooth Q2 supports direct control over the phone camera app. As a result, if you prefer using phone cameras, you can easily control the photo/video shutter within fingertips on the gimbal.

Battery&charge

The gimbal can be charged via USB type-c and the battery lasts around 12-17 hours, which definitely can bring a reliable endurance when having outdoor filming. You can charge it with a USB charger or a power-bank. Otherwise, it can also provide power charging for your phone when filming.

Overall the Smooth Q2 has almost professional-quality stabilization and smooth movement in any direction. There is no perceived vibration or shake when using it during the shooting. the Zhiyun Brand is not just focusing on the hardware building, but also developing their exclusive software, the ZY Play app to expand their gimbals’ capacity. Like using the latest app, it supports a tracking mode to automatically stay focus and follow the movement of the target object. The Zhiyun team claims that they are testing the latest App for the final compatibility with the Smooth Q2, and it will come soon. We are really looking forward to seeing how the app can enhance the possibility of the Q2 gimbal.

Conclusion

In conclusion, according to the pricing of the Q1, we believe that without question, the Q2 will be an incredible value. Although we haven’t tested the compatibility with the action cameras like Gopros, Based on the Q1 solution, there should be no problem if you are thinking to let it work with those action cameras, but before that, you should buy an appropriate mount for the camera grip without block the lens or vision. Smooth Q2 has a 1/4’’ thread hole on the bottom so that you can mount it on a pole or tripod to access more special angles.

As a result, the Smooth Q2 gimbal is more like a product to help general users solve the main filming problems with great user experience. It allows you to start creating without the limitation of hardware, only if you have a powerful camera phone, and a Zhiyun Smooth Q2.

The post Zhiyun Smooth Q2 Review: the best&smallest phone gimbal in your pocket appeared first on Gizmochina.

I have reviewed quite a few smartphone and action camera gimbals over the time and | can tell you that they have become one of my favorite gadgets that allow me to shoot professional looking videos. The Zhiyun-Tech Smooth III is by far the best smartphone gimbal we have ever tested. Learn more in our full Zhiyun Smooth 3 review.

Check out Zhiyun’s YouTube channel

VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWrz3l8FgA0[/embedyt]

UNBOXING

The gimbal ships with some paperwork, a charging cable and a strap that can be attached to a high-quality gimbal case that I found to be really handy once I’m on the go.

DESIGN and FEATURES

The gimbal is made entirely of metal and it just screams quality. Everything is precisely assembled and it is really comfortable to hold it in one hand. Also, I love those those red accents that make the gimbal match with my Manfrotto camera supports.

The Smooth III is thicker and a bit heavier than the previous generation Smooth II gimbal but it looks less bulky than the budget Smooth Q.

If you want to start using it, you just have slide your phone in, make sure it sits nice and tight, press the power button for a few seconds and you are good to go.

It’s worth mentioning that the Smooth III has a built-in counterweight system, meaning that you don’t need to use any counterweights like on some other gimbals. There is an extendable axis to balance the gimbal by just one step.

The gimbal holds the phone in landscape mode, which is the mode I used most of the time. If you want to use the phone vertically e.g. for some live streaming services, you simply need to unscrew the screw holding the phone cradle to change the position. That is a huge upgrade over some other gimbals like the Smooth II since you don’t need to buy any extra accessories.

In fact, I used to vertical mode to mount my action camera even though this gimbal is designed for smartphones. I can’t say it worked perfectly once I started moving the gimbal but it can get the job done for some shots. Anyway, you can buy an action camera plate to make the gimbal work perfectly with action cameras.

There are a few control buttons on the gimbal that are clicky and tactile. The mode button allows you to switch from one mode to another.

The default mode is called the pan following mode and I used it most of the time. If you press the mode button once, the gimbal will enter the locking mode, which is great for smooth pan or tilt shots if you want to film a particular object. If you press the mode button twice, you will enter the pan and pitch following mode, where the gimbal moves towards the direction you point the camera to.  This mode works pretty well too. Even if you move the gimbal quickly, you will get a smooth shot since all the axes move slowly. The last mode is the selfie mode and it is triggered by pressing the mode button 3 times.

 You can also control the gimbal manually using the joystick and I found this feature to work great. However, I suggest you reducing the pan and tilt speeds in the app to get those nice slow cinematic shots.

You can use the gimbal either with your stock camera app or with the ZY Play app that is an upgraded version of the Zhiyun Assistant app, and control the phone over the Bluetooth using the buttons.

Obviously, you can take pictures or shoot videos, switch from the main to the front-facing camera and so on. Also, the rotating wheel is really cool once you want to zoom in or out quite smoothly. Also, the ZY Play apps offers some new cool features like a time-lapse, slow-motion, long exposure or panorama modes. You can also use an object tracking feature, which works quite well with moving objects. See the video review for a more detailed look at the camera app. 

I have to tell you that the footage looks just stunning as I was simply walking normally and I didn’t try to hold my hands steadily at all but the video still looks very smooth.

We made a quick comparison how the 4k video from my Samsung Galaxy S8 looks with the gimbal and without the gimbal while I’m climbing up and down the stairs. The difference was pretty obvious. I remember that the Smooth II gimbal started wobbling a little bit under very strong wind but the Smooth III now has 40% stronger motors and the gimbal works just fine even on a very windy day. That is really impressive.

I remember that the Smooth II gimbal started wobbling a little bit under very strong wind but the Smooth III now has 40% stronger motors and the gimbal works just fine even on a very windy day. That is really impressive. See the video review for video samples.

What I love is that the phone stays firmrly in the gimbal no matter how hard you move it, so you wont end up breaking your device.  Also, the Smooth III is very silent since it uses brushless motors.

The 1/4 screw mount on the bottom of the gimbal allows you to attach the gimbal to all sorts of accessories like tripods. What I love about the Smooth III is that it can stay vertically without any tripods.

BATTERY LIFE

The Zhiyun Smooth III has a replaceable 4600mAh battery that performs just great. The official claims are about 14 hours of continuous use and I can assure you that I was able to achieve similar results. That means that you won’t need to charge the battery very often.

Speaking of charging, it takes about 3 hours to fully charge the gimbal. One of my favourite features of the Smooth III is that you can charge your phone from the gimbal. However, you need to use the microUSB to microUSB cable, which is sold separately and the charging speeds are just 1A.

CONCLUSIONS

The Zhiyun Smooth 3 is by far the best smartphone gimbal I have ever tested. I’ve used it for about a month and it has been working absolutely fine. I love that it looks and feels premium, it has a ton of features and most importantly it stabilizes the video very well even under poor weather conditions.

The main shortcoming would be that there is no microUSB to microUSB cable included in the packaging, so you would need to buy it separately.

At the end of the day, the price of about $300 may sound steep for some but the Zhiyun Smooth III has everything to be called a great smartphone gimbal and thus, I can easily recommend it.

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