I have been delving more into learning videography lately. For beginners, smartphone videography is a good step to experiment with the subject framing and camera movements to bring out some interesting effects. I have a previous post where I touched upon some video effects and editing. Do check it out here. This post is more about the features of the DJI OM 4 SE Gimbal which I purchased recently.
For those who aren’t aware of what a Gimbal is, in the context of videography, it is a pivoted support for your camera device. In a very oversimplified form, you can also think of it as an advanced form of a selfie stick! The primary advantage is the video stabilization that it offers by managing smooth control of hand movements. One of the primary differences between an amateurish shot and a professional shot (leaving aside all the advanced cinematography skills) is the controlled capture of the scenes, and a Gimbal helps you shoot smooth cinematic footage without needing more expensive professional equipment.
Let’s get to the DJI OM 4 SE Gimbal features. The packaging was perfect. It has a fantastic magnetic clip feature. The clamp that holds the phone has a magnetic back that sticks to the Gimbal. It is very sturdy and the magnet is powerful. So you do not have to worry about the phone accidentally falling off! Along with it, you get a tripod extension to attach to the Gimbal that can serve as an extended hold grip or a mini tripod. And finally, DJI provides a handy pouch to carry the gadgets.
There are a ton of modes. The primary ones are the Follow Mode, Tilt-Locked Mode, FPV or First Person View Mode, and Spin Shot Mode. The Follow Mode is the one you will use the most that follow the hand movement. The Tilt Locked Mode locks the horizontal alignment and is handy for scenarios like jib shots. The FPV Mode reflects how typically we see the world with all degrees of motion unlocked which can bring in some interesting results. And lastly, the Spin Shot Mode will help you get some cinematic swirl effects.
I won’t go into detail on the others, however as you can see above there are some common Slow Motion, TimeLapse, and HyperLapse modes. The Dyna-Zoom was something new to me. You would have observed it in movies where the subject focus remains constant while the background either zooms in or out. It creates those Vertigo effects which at times are a nice cinematic touch.
Then there are a set of customizations that you can make, for example, on the video frame rates. There is a whole science behind these to learn. Other than that, the Gimbal speed customizations are particularly helpful to tweak the movement stabilizations to your need of the scenario.
Now I must have played around with it for a few hours already. I took it out to capture some footage of the greenery around my place. Contrary to my original expectation, the stabilization does not come in automatically. The Gimbal is not a magic wand that will correct all your incorrect jerky handling of the video footage. One needs to keep practicing those smooth motions, still hands, and ninja steps as they call them! The Gimbal’s stabilizing movements can also be very deceptive initially and make you feel out of control, especially in the Follow mode. My initial shots went totally out of control as the Gimbal was acting upon its intelligence to go against my natural flow! But with some bit of practice, I started to get a hang. The Gimbal is quite sturdy, and at no moment do you feel like dropping your expensive smartphone.
Here is a scaled-down resolution video of some Gimbal work. The video is captured on iPhone 11. Some basic editing and post-processing of the shots were done in Photoshop CC.