This gimbal is a direct competitor to the dji om5, with a pretty much identical extending handle. So how do they compare overall? The first gimbal i ever bought was the smooth q, the next two versions, the smooth q2 and the q3. I found them to be less impressive, but as robert the bruce once said, if at first you dont succeed, copy dji just kidding, in fact, i dont think dji were the first ones to add an extending handle anyway. Well, proof is, in the duin, so lets have a taste Music as soon as i took it out of the case, i was impressed. I immediately had a good feeling about this gimbal. This is a foldable gimbal, but i think it folds up better and smaller than the previous version, the smooth q3, its definitely a more portable shape compared to the om5, its, not quite as nice to look at. In my opinion, the om5 has these sleek curves and even little bits of shiny chrome. The smooth q4 looks nice too, just not quite as pleasing to the eye in terms of practicality, the dune folds up better. The m5 has this locking mechanism, but it doesnt. Look too securely in place, so it can slide around, and when you try to unfold it, this part seems to just slide around, so you have to hold it in place as you unfold it. Apart from that, the om 5 fits together nicely and folds up slightly smaller one innovation for the smooth q4 is the smartphone clamp which opens out like petals of a flower.

My iphone 12 pro max fits in easily with about one and a half centimeters to spare the teeth of the clamp fit nicely over the square edges of the phone as well. So when you mount the phone you want, the metal fill light connectors to be at the top, with just a phone it balances very easily theres a trigger which is flush against the handle, even more so than the om5. This means it is slightly harder to find, but its no real issue power on and it snaps into action. First impressions motors seem smooth and powerful for a small gimbal. Switching between portrait and landscape is easy, and again it really has a snap to it to select mode on the smooth q4, like with most other during gimbals. There is a button on the handle and these indicator lights. There are the four regular modes that were used to pan, follow locked, follow and point of view. If you actually want to learn more about gimbal modes, how they work and when to use them check out my full guide to smartphone gimbals, and i also have a downloadable ebook on smartphone gimbals for members on patreon, when in point of view mode, one more tap Takes you into vortex mode youll know because the indicator light starts flashing in vortex mode, push up and down on the control, stick to rotate the camera for a spin shot because of the fold up design. You cannot get a full 360 degree.

Rotation, like you can on bigger gimbals, but its still enough to get a fun spin shot in vortex mode press again to return to pan follow mode. A double tap takes the gimbal back one mode. So if youre in follow mode, for example, it will go to locked mode press and hold the trigger to access go mode, and this makes the gimbal react faster to your movements, if youre filming sport or some kind of fast action that you need to follow. One last tip: if you long press the mode button it goes into standby and all the indicator lights switch on long press again to get out of standby. The om5 has a slider at the side of the handle to control zoom, but the smooth q4 has a wheel which you can just roll up and down in the zy cami app. We can adjust the zoom speed as well. Now i wouldnt use this zoom wheel personally, but you might – and there is a little bit of an issue with the dji om5, you press up the slider and it keeps zooming until you stop, but with the smooth q4 you have to keep rolling the wheel. If you stop rolling it, then it stops zooming to keep zooming in. You have to keep rolling away like this, which isnt going to be easy if youre trying to get a shot at the same time as well with the om5, a tap on the zoom slider switches, you between lenses or, if you zoom in a little and just Want to reset the default button, a simple tap on the slider does the job, but with the smooth q4, its pretty tricky to get back to the 1.

0 x, which is where the main camera is. So you have to use the screen. Both have control sticks, which you can use to adjust pan and tilt. So i noticed that the om5 did not have a touch sensitive control, stick, whereas the older om4 did, but what about the smooth q4? If the control stick is touch sensitive, it means you can make the camera pan faster or slower, depending on the shot that you want. If you press the stick very gently, you can get it to pan slowly, its pretty sensitive, so it does take a little bit of practice as usual. Double tap on the trigger button to recenter the phone like with the om5. The smooth q4 does have a limited tilt movement. This is because of the fold up design in pan follow mode. For example, the tilt axis is locked, but only to a limited degree. If i keep tilting eventually, it has to follow so again like the om gimbals to shoot a lifting crane style shot. You need to use a sideways motion, so its just a small thing, but the om gimbals all have this port for attaching a counterweight. So if you want to use a smartphone with a lens mounted, counterweight can help, but the smooth q4, like other zoo and gimbals, does not have that Music compared to the om5. I found the smooth q4s motors are nice and strong, but they also seem to have more of a snap to them.

So when you stop moving the camera, doesnt drift to a stop as it does with the om5 at least not as much now, i dont see this as wrong or right, because i use the own fires movement to ease out of a shot, especially if youre trying To shoot something slow and graceful, the smooth q4 just stops quicker, which you might prefer its certainly a subtle thing again, but i did see some people commenting that their om 5 kept drifting even after they stopped moving. Now my advice is to stop early and then let the gimbal ease into position on the final frame, but with the smooth q4 it eases into that final frame, just a bit faster. Of course, both gimbals have go or sport mode in the dji. If you want to remove this drift completely, both smooth q4 and the om5, have these extending handles, which are roughly the same length on both gimbals. They also both have an adjusting head which allows you to change the angle, so this is useful for using it. Like a selfie stick, if youre going to be filming yourself or taking photos of yourself, but if you look closely, you will see a difference. This is something that i noticed with the om5 when i first used it. The bottom pan motor sits at an angle. So when it rotates its, not rotating level with the horizon, and so the side motors have to kind of adjust.

For that reason, i usually lift it out slightly and then adjust this motor, so its level with the horizon. The smooth q4, on the other hand, isnt actually like that the motor is designed to be level which, to me seems like a smarter design. The combo version of the smooth q4 comes with a detachable fill light. This is exactly like the smooth 5., its magnetic, and it sits on top, and one difference is that as soon as you place it on it switches on immediately to change the level of brightness, you can just press in the wheel, the zoom wheel and, like a Button you can place the light facing forwards or backwards and its very easy just to switch it around theres. Also, the magnetic filters, like you get with the other zoom gimbals, which you can place over the light, and they have four different colors from what ive learned about maximum payloads on gimbals theyre. Really just to give you a rough idea. Dji says the om5 has a maximum payload of 230 grams plus or minus 60 grams, so thats somewhere between 170 grams and 290 grams. Meanwhile june says the smooth q4 has a maximum of 280 grams, so theyre, basically the same with my iphone 12 pro max. It works fine. I also tried adding a moment case and lens which, in total comes to 308 grams. Again, the gimbal seems to handle this weight without any real issue. The only problem occurs when i balance the phone and switch it on the bottom of the phone gets stuck when it tries to switch between landscape and portrait because of the size of the phone, but heres a way to get around that balance the phone as normal.

Then just tip the handle at an angle and now turn on triple tap the trigger to switch to landscape and now youre ready to get filming Music theres a few places where the om5 is the better gimbal theres, the zoom slider. The overall look, i would say, and a more compact design when folded and theres also the counterweight port. I also found that the om5 performed better than the smooth q4 when shooting a motion. Time lapse both gimbals, allow you to program a movement during a time lapse, shot, which is something that you can only do with a gimbal and overall, the om5 performs this task better and recently. I also found similar issues with the smooth five, so i guess this is a problem with the zed white cameo. However, jun says this is something theyre working on and should be fixed in future updates. If i had to choose between them the smooth q4 – probably just about, takes my vote, although theres not too much between them, the q4 motors seem more solid, stable and benefit from the better layout. I just think youll get smoother footage with this gimbal having the modes on the handle makes changing modes easier than the om5, as well as being able to see immediately which mode youre in and the clamp on the smooth q4 is really nice to use with the Om4 and 5 magnetic clamps can be a bit of a struggle getting a phone mounted as well.

When i have the case on my phone, it accommodates that fine, no problem, whereas with the om5 clamp it does feel like, were stretching it to its limit. That said, i found both gimbals could handle this big phone with case and lens, but i dont think you could add too much more like filters, for example, and now, if you opt for the combo version, you get this nice little solid case as well im. So thrilled that we had a record number of people joining us on patreon last month and its really great to know that people are enjoying the extra stuff that weve got there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FUkEfxzpLA