Zhiyun Smooth Q3 review

The Smooth Q3 is a budget 3-axis phone stabiliser which is fairly compact and lightweight. Plus it has a fill light and an affordable price.


DJI is perhaps the brand you’d think of first when considering a phone stabiliser, but Zhiyun is well established and offers a good range of its own gimbals, including the amazingly affordable 2-axis Smooth X, which has a built-in selfie stick.

If you want the stability of a three-axis gimbal, then the Zhiyun Smooth Q3 is Zhiyun’s answer. It doesn’t have the telescopic selfie stick, but it does have a built-in fill light, which helps when lighting conditions are less than ideal. Which they usually are if you’re indoors.

Features & design

  • 3-axis gimbal
  • Rotatable LED fill light
  • Tripod supplied in the box

At a glance you’d be forgiven for thinking you were looking at an Osmo Mobile: the Q3’s designers have clearly taken a lot of ‘inspiration’ from DJI’s stabilisers, from the shade of grey to the feel of the plastic itself. Even the peel-off stickers are exactly like DJI’s, though there are some differences between the Q3 and the OM3 and OM4. 

For one, the Smooth Q3 has an integral phone clamp – not magnetic – and instead of a fold-out arm, it opts for a sliding track that’s secured in place using a thumbscrew.

You might think you can use any position along the track that you fancy, but it has to be fully extended due to the electrical contacts at its end.

It’s relatively compact when collapsed, though you’ll have to buy the Combo kit if you want a carry case to protect it. At 340g, the Smooth Q3 is surprisingly lightweight, but build quality is good, and it feels sturdy.

The built-in battery lasts for 7 hours of normal use, and up to 15 hours  and is recharged via USB-C.

Unlike some of the company’s other gimbals, the Smooth Q3 has a joystick that you can use to pan and tilt your phone’s camera manually. Next to it are Mode and record buttons and, on the opposite side, the power button and a trigger button that has various functions. As we’ve come to expect from most phone gimbals, there’s a zoom slider  on the side but this – as ever – only controls digital zoom: it won’t swap between multiple cameras if your phone has them.

Shooting modes & app

  • Dolly zoom
  • Hyperlapse + timelapse
  • Panorama
  • Smart templates

Although you can pair the Q3 via Bluetooth and then use any camera app you like – such as your phone’s stock one – you get access to the full range of features through the ZY Cami app.

Again, there’s much similarity to DJI’s Mimo app here, so you have the option to track and follow subjects with SmartFollow 3.0 (DJI’s is called ActiveTrack 3.0), shoot photographic panoramas in 180 & 240° as well as grid formations for super-wide views.

There’s the Hitchcock-style dolly zoom which automatically applies digital zoom as you move forwards or backwards to keep the subject the same size, as well as timelapse (for use with the tripod) and hyperlapse, which is where you move around with the gimbal and shoot timelapse footage.

Strangely there’s also slow motion, but that’s a shooting mode that doesn’t really need a gimbal for stabilisation.

Price & availability

The zhiyun smooth Q3 price in Pakistan is 16,999 from khawajaphotos.pk, the Smooth Q3 is certainly good value. It’s considerably cheaper than DJI’s OM4, which makes it a lot more appealing.  

However, the Osmo Mobile 3 was just 19,500 from khawajaphotos at the time of writing. Although this doesn’t have a fill light, the fact DJI’s app is more polished (as well as the even lower price) makes it an even more attractive option for most people.

Verdict

The Smooth Q3 is a very good stabiliser, and could be exactly what you’re after if you just want to add a bit of polish to videos you shoot of yourself, especially because the fill light is a useful addition not found on the DJI OM3 and OM4.

Stabilisation is very decent overall, but you will need to learn how to use the various modes to get the best from it. For those who want to shoot more creatively, the ZY Cami app just isn’t as good as DJI’s, so the Osmo Mobile 3 is a better choice, so long as you don’t need a fill light.



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