The DJI Osmo Cellular 2 is the favored drone firm’s most refined gimbal for smartphone cameras, sufficient that it may take digital camera stabilizers mainstream.
It is the sequel launching with less complicated controls, smarter stabilization choices and, most significantly, at a less expensive value of $129 (about £95, AU$164).
It is the DJI Osmo Mobile sequel that gives less complicated controls, smarter stabilization choices and, most significantly, a greatly-reduced value of $129 (AU$209, about £95).
The earlier model? Yeah, that launched for $299 (AU$399, about £220). On the new value of due to the superior design, the DJI Osmo Cellular 2 is definitely worth the improve, even even you probably have the previous mannequin. It supplies sufficient refinements over its predecessor to make the double-dip worthwhile.
Design
The Osmo Cellular 2 is a giant improve in design. It is made from high-strength nylon, which is lighter than the plastic and magnesium base of the earlier gimbal.
DJI has additionally modified the deal with to be extra ergonomic to your hand, making it extra perfect for lengthy recording periods.
On the underside is a 1/four normal accent mount for simply popping this factor on a digital camera tripod. DJI additionally sells a base, a tripod and an extension rod to differ up your photographs to call a couple of peripherals. You may mainly decorate your Osmo stabilizer virtually as a lot as you’ll be able to trick out a GoPro Hero 6.
Use Snapchat? No, not anymore? Okay, how about Instagram Tales? Properly, then you definately’re luck. DJI has constructed Osmo Cellular 2 with the ‘Tales’ era in thoughts, as you’ll be able to hold the cellphone locked to portrait-orientation mode by means of the gimbal holder. Nonetheless, it must be completed bodily by turning a knob on the again (and also you’re alleged to take off your smartphone every time). Sadly, there is not any on-the-fly button to alter between the 2 orientation modes.
It’s a must to take off your cellphone to change orientation
All the things else concerning the DJI Osmo Cellular 2 is less complicated because of the truth that there are fewer unnecessary controls – some buttons double up on capabilities, like the facility button and the mode switching button. There is a devoted recorod button and a thumbpad for clean pans, and you will find a brand new bodily zoom swap on the facet of the gimbal wand for zeroing in on tighter photographs.
Maybe probably the most welcome refinement to the Osmo Cellular 2’s design might be present in its new spring-loaded clamp, which lets you simply swap out telephones of all sizes, with out having to fiddle with screws each time. You don’t have to fret about your cellphone shaking free, both – these clamps will maintain on for pricey life. It even labored with all the present telephones we examined with it: iPhone X, iPhone 8, Google Pixel 2 and Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
Admittedly, we’d have appreciated some room on the gimbal to level a mic – the Osmo Cellular 2’s design doesn’t actually enable for the position of a chilly shoe mount, which might’ve been an extremely helpful addition for budding filmmakers and vloggers searching for each video stabilization and clear audio when outdoor.
Video samples
Utilizing the iPhone X, we had been in a position to obtain smoother-than-normal video whereas hurriedly strolling outdoors and at CES 2018 – not attempting to do something unnatural. With extra apply and pacing, you may get even higher outcomes.
You might at all times discover micro-shakes even in the very best situations, and that is absolutely dependent in your smartphone. Typically the gimbal and the cellphone optical picture stabilization (OIS) battle one another (the cellphone digital camera’s on-board OIS detects motion and tries to compensate). Turning off OIS is one answer, however sadly that is not an possibility on some telephones, just like the iPhone.
Person expertise
You’ll want to put in DJI’s Go digital camera app (obtainable for Android and iOS) and pair your gadget so as to use the zoom operate, or modify settings and choose completely different modes, although as soon as they gadget was paired, the report button labored effective from inside our iPhone’s native digital camera app.
Switching on the gadget sees it instantly spring into motion, routinely orienting and balancing the hooked up cellphone and permitting you to begin recording regular footage straight away.
The Osmo Cellular 2’s battery life has been prolonged to 15 hours – a large thrice higher than its predecessor. You may’t scorching swap the battery out anymore, however at 15 hours it is not a giant deal and there’s a brand new battery stage indicator we received use out of. We had been effectively warned.
The gimbal can even assist cost your cellphone by means of an ordinary USB port on the rear of the unit, and the gadget itself costs by way of a microUSB port. (Sorry USB-C followers – the brand new and by far superior reversible USB port not used on this era of the gimbal).
Easy strikes
Predictably, there’s a studying curve that comes earlier than you’ll be able to pull off candy steadicam photographs with the DJI Osmo Cellular 2. Don’t anticipate to be Goodfellas-era Scorsese proper out of the gate.
First, you’ll have to get acquainted with the fundamentals – although you’ll be capable to stroll and shoot straight away with little to no bouncing or bobble, getting the digital camera to level the place you need it to isn’t fairly so easy.
A conveniently-placed thumbpad allows you to pan your digital camera up and down and back and forth. By default, the panning velocity is sort of gradual (albeit very cinematic). You may modify the velocity of your pans from the DJI Go app’s gimbal settings. The app additionally allows you to select between Stroll and Sport scene modes, adjusting the looseness of the gimbal accordingly.
Utilizing the thumbpad takes somewhat getting used to, as you’ll discover that the cellphone will typically swing away from the motion that you just’re attempting to seize, or face towards a single path whilst you’re attempting to pan round.
In conditions like these, a single faucet of the mode button will horizontally lock the digital camera, providing you with higher management of the place you need the digital camera to face. Double tapping it’s going to middle your digital camera in case the gimbal wanders in its quest to slowly pan cinematically.
A triple-press of the mode button will swap you over to your cellphone’s front-facing digital camera. It makes narrating easily shot selfie movies straightforward, even when the expertise isn’t as excellent as we’d prefer it to be. You may invert the thumbstick controls, however can’t differentiate the inversion. Having the rear digital camera inverted and the front-facing digital camera regular could be perfect.
We’re additionally miffed that it’s unattainable to flip backwards and forwards between the 2 cameras whereas recording – one thing you are able to do on Fb Reside. This could make gimbal-based vlogging rather a lot simpler and scale back the quantity of instances we have to press report, cease, flip digital camera, and report repeatedly.
DJI’s new gimbal does boast synthetic intelligence. On this case, it makes use of AI for monitoring topics with a function referred to as Energetic Monitor, which might be set to low, center and excessive from inside the DJI digital camera app’s settings. DJI has additionally added Hyperlapse along with its returning movement lapse, panoramic and light-weight path modes.
After an hour or so, we began to get fairly assured with our dealing with of the DJI Osmo Cellular 2. We had been in a position to velocity stroll at a reasonably brisk tempo whereas nonetheless protecting our shot pretty regular. It was solely once we began to run that some digital camera bouncing turned unavoidable.
When the gimbal is powered up, it’s additionally potential to tilt the deal with in a lot of instructions whereas the cellphone itself stays utterly in-line. Nonetheless, there are limits to how far you’ll be able to tilt – in our exams, we managed to get the deal with to a 45-degree angle earlier than the gimbal hit its boundary.
Last verdict
The DJI Osmo Cellular 2 is healthier than the unique in each means – value, weight, good stabilization controls, battery life and adapting to the Tales portrait-mode era.
It is a lot of an enchancment and such a drop in value that it is the uncommon case wherein we would advocate upgrading even you probably have the unique mannequin. It formally goes on sale in February 2018, however there will be an unique pre-sale beginning right now, January 23, 2018 by means of the Apple Retailer initially.