Zhiyun

Zhiyun is a very young company, which only released its first handheld stabilizer product in 2015, but has occupied half of the global electronic stabilizer market in just one or two years. In the past few years, electronic stabilizers have changed from niche products for professional users to mass consumer goods sold at hundreds of yuan, and Zhiyun has largely led the technological progress and popularization of stabilizers.

Zhiyun stabilizer product line is very complete, mainly divided into mobile phone stabilizer Smooth series, camera stabilizer Yunhe series and action camera Evo series, the price is more affordable than Dajiang. The stabilization effect of Zhiyun stabilizer is outstanding among the competitors at the same level. The signature "Mad Dog Mode" allows the stabilizer to respond to the transition action quickly, switch the shooting angle quickly while maintaining the stability of the picture. It is very suitable for shooting fast motion scenes. This mode has higher requirements for motors and algorithms.

Smooth mobile phone stabilizer is the first product of Zhiyun to enter the market. It has gone through many iterations and has several models such as Smooth4, SmoothX, Smooth Q2, SmoothXS and Smooth Q3. Smooth X only supports dual-axis stabilization, and its shape is closer to the selfie stick. If you don't pursue cool shooting techniques, it is a cost-effective choice. Its upgraded version of SmoothXS has little change in function, and the unfolding mode of the PTZ has been changed from folding to sliding, which is more friendly to novices.

Smooth 4 has the most buttons in the same price products, rich adjustable options, professional control is the consistent style of Zhiyun. It also comes with a knob that allows you to follow focus, but it's limited for phone cameras with a very large depth of field, and Smooth4's size and weight are among the larger competitors in its class. The unique advantage of Smooth4 is that it has a very useful mode switching function. Press and hold the trigger button to enter the "mad dog mode" for a quick transition, and release it to return to the normal mode to maintain stability.

The Smooth Q2 is positioned to complement the Smooth 4, eliminating the focus knob and the less commonly used "Mad Dog Mode", but except for handling, the other configurations are higher than the Smooth 4. On the premise that the load is not reduced, the bare weight of Smooth Q2 is controlled at 380g, which is very light, and the three-axis is more free than Smooth 4, which is a rare mobile phone PTZ with unlimited heading axis. The upgraded version of Smooth Q3 has lighter weight and larger load capacity, with a new ZY CAMI APP, can use magic split, Smart templates and other functions, play more abundant, unfortunately, the cancellation of the design of the course axis is not limited.

When the phone is placed on the stabilizer, it sometimes needs to be switched to other application processing tasks, but the landscape operation is very inconvenient, and the operation range is too large to damage the motor. Smooth4 and Smooth Q2 only need to fold down the horizontal arm of the stabilizer and lock it, and the phone will return to the portrait state.

The stabilizer enters the standby mode at the same time, which is convenient for users to operate the phone. Although this function is simple, However, it can greatly improve the user experience, and competitors at the same level rarely provide similar standby functions. Mobile phone stabilizer has already entered the white-hot stage of price war, Smooth series promotion frequency is much higher than Dajiang Osmo, the price reduction can reach 200-300 yuan, which deserves our attention. In order to continue to sink the market, Zhiyun also launched a sub-brand "Cloud Catcher", featuring high cost performance, less product lines, only launched a C11, material and workmanship are not as good as Smooth series, but the price of 399 yuan is quite attractive.

Zhiyun has developed crane series stabilizers for camera platforms, which are deeply loved by consumers at home and abroad. Crane stabilizers are the most popular camera stabilizers at home and abroad in the past Dynasties, which can be said to lead the technical trend of camera stabilizers and are very representative. Yunhe 1, released in 2016, only has the function of increasing stability, which is called the most primitive first generation electronic stabilizer. Crane 2, released the following year, adapts to different cameras through the shutter line, and can directly adjust the main parameters of the camera, such as shutter, ISO and aperture, on the stabilizer handle. It is also the first stabilizer to support electronic focusing. Because of its focusing function, Crane 2 is also known as the second generation stabilizer.

Crane 2 S is an upgraded version of Crane 2, which improves perception in all aspects. Its load-bearing capacity is increased from 3.2Kg to 5Kg, which can carry almost all camera and lens combinations. In terms of disassembly and assembly design, Crane 2S is also unique. The special "Little Golden Hat" integrates safety locks and locking screws to ensure the safety of the camera. There is no need to replace the screws when switching between horizontal and vertical shooting, but the lens support frame needs to be installed when shooting vertically to prevent the lens from deflecting downward. Crane 2S also optimizes the POV shooting experience, which can achieve 360 ° global following, no longer limited to 45 °, and can shoot more cool shots.

If you are using a lighter camera, you can choose Crane M2, which weighs 500g and has a maximum load of 720g. It is compact and easy to carry. Lightweight is not the biggest feature of Crane M2, which is the first multi-purpose machine, equipped with adjustable width fixture, can fix the general motion camera, card machine and mobile phone, and then achieve stability.

The biggest difference between the third generation of Zhiyun stabilizer and the second generation is the addition of high-definition image transmission function, which can transmit the pictures taken by the camera to the mobile phone in real time. It is equivalent to connecting the stabilizer to the brain. Through the mobile APP, it can achieve rich functions, such as face recognition, object tracking, somatosensory control, etc., which greatly improves the operability of the stabilizer. In terms of operability, the third generation of Crane stabilizer is also the first to hold the pot, enriching the shape of the stabilizer, and the design conforms to ergonomics, which can save a lot of effort.

Crane3-lab is the first handheld PTZ equipped with a dual-focus external servo focus follower in the industry, which can focus and zoom at the same time. However, the design is still not mature. Optical zoom during shooting will change the center of gravity of the camera, which is equivalent to ineffective leveling. It is easy to overload the motor with large SLR such as 5D4, resulting in overheating and shutdown. If a large camera is used, optical zoom is commonly used in shooting. It is recommended to choose Crane 3s with a stronger motor. The maximum load is 6500 G. The camera can also be easily carried, but the image transmission system needs to be purchased separately.

Weebill LAB is equivalent to the deleted version of Crane 3-LAB, and the load is reduced to 3000 G. Although the load is still considerable, due to the limited size of the three-axis, it is not easy to level the larger cameras and lenses. In addition, the microbit LAB does not have an external servo focus follower and needs to be purchased by itself. The relatively affordable price also makes it stand out in the competition of lightweight camera PTZ. Weebill S mainly focuses on the micro single camera market, and is a strong competitor of DJI RSC2. Although there is still a gap with DJI in terms of software functions such as automatic tracking, weebill can complete most of the operations only by using the handle in the absence of APP connection, which is more convenient for fast follow-up shooting, and the actual experience can not fall behind. Weebill 2 has a 2.88-inch side folding display screen, which can use intelligent tracking function with scaly image transmitter AI, and can realize time-lapse photography and track video recording without APP.

Both Crane and Weebill can access ZY PLAY APP through mobile phones to achieve rich functions. APP can control stabilizer action through Bluetooth, with giant screen photography, fixed-point delay, mobile delay, long exposure dynamic delay, face object tracking and other functions. However, there is a big gap between Zhiyun's APP experience and Dajiang's. Its tracking function is easy to lose targets, and its reliability and ease of use need to be strengthened. As far as the stabilizer itself is concerned, Zhiyun belongs to the first-class level and has strong expansibility. It can be easily expanded with focus and image transmission. If you pursue the high performance of the stabilizer, love to taste fresh, and hope to take into account the cost performance, then Zhiyun will be the ideal choice.