Best Gimbal for Android (Samsung 21, 22, etc)?

[Ewan Grantham]

Saw the news about the OM 6 today, and checking their compatibility page, most of the functions are only available for iOS and certain Huawei phones.

Zhiyun Smooth and others seem to have similar issues if you are using a Samsung and want the ease of focus and zoom from the gimbal's controls.

Can anyone recommend a good Gimbal that will work with a Samsung S21 Ultra or later models and actually supports more than just stabilization?

 

[Boomanbb]

Saw the news about the OM 6 today, and checking their compatibility page, most of the functions are only available for iOS and certain Huawei phones.

Zhiyun Smooth and others seem to have similar issues if you are using a Samsung and want the ease of focus and zoom from the gimbal's controls.

Can anyone recommend a good Gimbal that will work with a Samsung S21 Ultra or later models and actually supports more than just stabilization?

My Zhiyun crane M2 supports physical controls with the S21 ultra like zoom, tilt, stop/start, modes, etc. You are limited to their branded camera though so some of the video modes of your phone are not supported.

Based on their compatibility list, the smooth 5 should support all features on S21 ultra.

--
Ben Boozer
Disagree without being disagreeable

 

[Ewan Grantham]

My concern is that the Smooth 5 doesn't support the current S22 (at least according to their site), and so I question if they will support the upcoming S23. I'd like to future proof if I can.

Thanks!

 

[Boomanbb]

My concern is that the Smooth 5 doesn't support the current S22 (at least according to their site), and so I question if they will support the upcoming S23. I'd like to future proof if I can.

Thanks!

It's unlikely you will see a list of support until after those phones are in production and have been tested. I love my android phone but compatibility is hard to determine without testing each phone. Easier for vendors to test a single iPhone.

 

[ak_aka_ka]

While not the 21/22, basic controls with Pixel 5a/6/6P/7/7P work fine with DJI Mimo 1.8.8 (only P6 is listed as compatible): Focus/zoom wheel and front/rear camera flip and snap/record button all work as intended.

 

[ak_aka_ka]

What we have found quite useful for the OM6 has been the Hejnar H014 center indexed along three edges. The OM6 has three usable index points near the base (the seams along the side constitute two of the three) to assist in keeping the plate plane repeatable and true.


Hejnar PHOTO H014 w/ center indexing along three of the four plate edges

 

[Craig Gillette]

I'm considering replacing my current phone. We have a trip to Europe coming up and neither of our phones can take a second SIM or an E-SIM. Front runner as a replacement at this point is the Pixel Pro 7 (if nothing else, it will handle E-sims and isn't as expensive as some of the other higher end phones) but I could consider others. The Verizon version, depending on memory shouldn't cost too much more than the current which is almost paid off. Considering trying video with it (and my mirror-less) and was looking into gimbals, generally with an idea of "train" videos or pics. A gimbal suited to a phone seems likely much more convenient, easily packed and less obtrusive than trying to gimbal an A7Riv.

It seems the DJI Osmo Mobile 6 and Zhiyun Smooth-5 get a lot of comparisons, multiple videos, etc. The Diji is smaller, the Zhiyun is more capable (with limited study). But I haven't seen a lot of indications about compatibility with the recent Google 7 series and have seen some discussions of problems with Diji?

Any suggestions on which, if either, gimbal might be better suited to the Google phones, or reasonable alternatives phone or gimbal? The size of the Zyihun is a bit off-putting, the discussions of functional or compatibility problems with the Diji is as well.