Zhiyun Smooth 5S Review: The Smartphone Gimbal With Built-In Fill Light

Phone stabilization fixes small shakes and invents bigger ones. Walk while filming and the software warps doorframes, jellies the horizon, and crops the field of view to hide its own struggle. The Zhiyun Smooth 5S stabilizes mechanically: three motors hold the phone level while the hand below does whatever it does. The built-in fill light, magnetic clamp, and 10-hour battery turn it from an accessory into the phone’s video department.

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The Stabilization: Motors, Not Software

The three-axis gimbal holds the phone on brushless motors that counteract pitch, roll, and yaw in real time. The result is horizon-locked footage with full field of view: no crop, no warping, no jelly. Walking shots, stairs, and follow-cams come out level regardless of hand input.

Phone software stabilization still runs on top, and the combination reads as dolly-smooth. The motors also enable moves software cannot fake: smooth push-ins, controlled pans, and low-angle tracking with the phone inches from the ground.

The Fill Light: Built Into the Clamp

The phone clamp carries a built-in fill light that faces the subject when the phone faces them. Three color temperatures and stepless brightness cover indoor fill, dusk talking heads, and product close-ups. The light draws from the gimbal battery, not the phone’s, so recording time stays untouched.

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This is the feature that makes the 5S a vlogging rig rather than a stabilizer alone. Walk-and-talk content in dim streets and restaurants works without pocketing a separate light.

The Mount: Magnetic and Fast

The magnetic quick-release clamp lifts the phone off the gimbal in a second and snaps back aligned. Transitions between gimbal work, tripod shots, and handheld selfies happen without re-balancing, because the clamp remembers its position.

The side control wheel controls zoom through the companion app, the mode button cycles follow styles, and the trigger at the back re-centers or flips the phone to selfie orientation with a double press.

ActiveTrack and the App

ActiveTrack 5.0 follows a face through the frame as the subject moves, adjusting the motors without a worn tracker or tap-to-follow gestures that drop. The companion app adds ShotGuides, template-driven moves that automate pan and zoom combinations for social formats.

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Native camera apps keep working for pure stabilization. Creators who record through the native app for ProRes or cinematic modes lose tracking features but keep the motors and the light.

The Battery: Ten Hours and Reverse Charging

The 2600mAh battery runs ten hours of stabilizing, which outlasts any phone battery. The USB-C port reverse-charges the mounted phone at up to 6.5W: a full shooting afternoon ends with the phone fuller than it started if the gimbal carries the load.

Who should buy the Smooth 5S?

Vloggers and travel creators who walk while talking. The mechanical stabilization plus fill light covers the two failure points of phone video: shake and bad light.

Parents and event shooters who film moving subjects. ActiveTrack keeps kids and speakers framed without operating skills, and the ten-hour battery survives a full event day.

Anyone whose phone records beautiful 4K that looks amateur the moment they start walking. The gimbal is the missing hardware, and the 5S packs it with the light most creators end up buying separately.

Verdict

✅ Pros:

• True 3-axis mechanical stabilization with horizon lock
• Built-in fill light with color temperature control on the clamp
• Magnetic quick-release with position memory
• 10-hour battery with reverse charging for the phone
• ActiveTrack 5.0 subject following through the app
• Works with native camera apps for pure stabilization
• Lightweight at 545g with comfortable wrist strap

❌ Cons:

• Advanced features require Zhiyun’s app instead of native camera
• Phone case may need removal for the magnetic clamp alignment
• Motors whine audibly in quiet indoor recordings
• Folded size still too large for jacket pockets
• Control wheel feels loose compared to camera-grade gimbals
• Fill light washes out in daylight, useful mainly indoors and dusk

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